Box Score

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Mack Ohnsted's wrap-around goal 2:53 into the third overtime gave No. 14 Augsburg a 5-4 win over Saint John's in the MIAC Playoff Championship game on Saturday, March 5, in Minneapolis.

Ohnsted went up the left wing and drew SJU senior goaltender Saxton Soley (Elk Mound, Wis.) out of the net, but Soley's momentum on the fresh ice carried him away from the crease and Ohnsted stuffed the puck in on the other side of the net.

The game (102:53) was the third-longest in NCAA Division III history.

SJU gained leads of 2-0 and 4-2, but Augsburg scored two consecutive goals in the third period to force overtime. Augsburg (17-8-2, 11-3-2 MIAC) hit the pipe in the first overtime and SJU (13-10-4, 10-4-2 MIAC) had a goal disallowed halfway through the second overtime due to an alleged loose net off the moorings. 

Senior captain Andrew Commers (Edina, Minn.) scored a hat trick for SJU in the loss to finish with six goals in the final three games and 20 points (11g/9a) on the season. The hat trick was the first for SJU since Nov. 15, 2014 (Sekesi vs. St. Olaf) and the first in a postseason game since Matt Erredge '99 lit the lamp three times in a 10-2 win over Concordia-Moorhead on Feb. 27, 1999.

Commers stuffed in his ninth goal of the season 3:34 into the game to give SJU a quick 1-0 lead. Senior defenseman Tyson Fulton (Champlin, Minn.) and junior defenseman Daniel Tripicchio (Hudson, Wis.) were credited with the assists.

He made it 2-0 with a power-play goal, a nice one-timer from junior forward Kevin Becker (Roseville, Minn.), 4:10 later. Sophomore defenseman Zach Glienke (Eagan, Minn.) added the second assist on the goal, which was Commers' 10th of the season. 

Max Pernhem cut the deficit to 2-1 for Augsburg 6:37 into the second period and Luke Dietsch tied it with a power-play goal with 4:11 left in the frame. Dietsch's power-play tally snapped SJU's consecutive penalty-kill streak at 23.

Sophomore forward Sam Valerius (Maple Grove, Minn.) gave the lead back to SJU with his seventh goal of the season at the 18:10 mark of the second. Becker fed Valerius, who entered the offensive zone up the left wing and unleashed a pretty wrister to the far corner of the net.

Commers completed the hat trick and extended the Johnnies' lead to 4-2 with 16:07 left, on a feed from Glienke for his third assist of the night.

Eric Brenk made it a one-goal game with 13:46 left and Rory Vesel tied it at 4-4 with 6:57 left.

Senior goaltender Saxton Soley (Elk Mound, Wis.) made a career-high 57 saves in the loss, topping his previous high by 12 (45 saves in the scoreless tie against then-No. 2 St. Norbert (Wis.) on Jan. 8, 2015).

Augsburg out-shot the Johnnies 62-52 in the game, though SJU held a 24-21 edge after regulation.