Box Score

MENDOTA HEIGHTS, Minn. – Saint John's dropped a hard-fought 2-0 decision at St. Thomas on Friday, Jan. 27, at the St. Thomas Ice Arena in Mendota Heights.

The Tommies (9-5-4, 7-1-1 MIAC) broke a scoreless tie with two third-period goals, a power-play tally with 8:22 left and an empty-netter with 11 seconds remaining.

Nineteen of the last 22 meetings between the two schools have been decided by two goals or less (4-9-6 SJU record).

SJU (10-7-3, 5-4-2 MIAC) sophomore Garrett Riebling (Chanhassen, Minn.), a 5-foot-8, 160-pound forward, was whistled for a roughing penalty at the 9:48 mark of the third period.

Michael Dockry, UST's leading scorer (8g/8a) and older brother of junior defenseman Sam Dockry (Burnsville, Minn.), scored what proved to be the game-winning goal on that power play with 8:22 remaining. The Tommies entered the game 77th out of 78 NCAA Division III teams on the power play at 8.7 percent (6-for-69) and went 1-for-4 Friday night.

The Johnnies gained a power play with 2:45 left but did not register a shot on net, including a 6-on-4 advantage with the goaltender pulled for the final 48 seconds of the man advantage.

Thomas Williams iced the win for UST with an empty-net goal at the 19:49 mark.

Senior goaltender Tyler Nelson (Champlin, Minn.) made 33 saves in the loss. UST overcame a 13-11 shot deficit in the first period to produce a 24-11 margin in the final two periods (35-24 total). The Johnnies, however, out-shot UST even strength, 23-22.

Freshman forward Brady Heppner (Crookston, Minn.) hit the pipe with 6:15 left in the second period.

The Johnnies return home to host the Tommies for a 7 p.m. game on Saturday, Jan. 28, at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud.