Box Score

ST. CLOUD, Minn. – St. Thomas scored three power-play goals and a shorthanded tally in a 5-2 win over Saint John's on Saturday, Jan. 28, at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud.

The two teams combined for 18 separate penalties, and 18 power plays, on the night. St. Thomas (10-5-4, 8-1-1 MIAC) went 3-for-10 on the man advantage, a total of 16:12 (27 percent of the game), Saturday night and 4-for-14 on the weekend. The Tommies entered the series with SJU (10-8-3, 5-5-2 MIAC) ranked 77th out of 78 NCAA Division III programs on the power play at 8.7 percent (6-for-69).

Johnny Panvica gave UST a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at the 11:15 mark of the first period. The Johnnies had 1:45 on a 5-on-3 but managed to record only one shot on goal, in addition to sophomore defenseman Sean Lang's (Apple Valley, Minn.) off the pipe, in the opening frame.

Brett Gravelle made it 2-0 in favor of UST with 4:31 left in the second period, but junior forward Sam Valerius (Maple Grove, Minn.) cut the Johnnies' deficit to one with a power-play goal, his team-leading seventh tally of the season, with 2:32 left in the frame.

D.J. Jones made it 3-1 with a power-play goal 47 seconds into the third period and Thomas Williams added a power-play goal of his own at the 7:37 mark. Brian LeBlanc lit the lamp with a shorthanded goal with 9:48 left.

Sophomore forward Garrett Riebling (Chanhassen, Minn.) ended the scoring with his second goal of the season at the 16:26 mark. Valerius was credited with the lone assist, his 40th career point.

Senior goaltender Tyler Nelson (Champlin, Minn.) made 28 saves in the loss.

The Johnnies take a week off before returning to competition with a pair of "home" games against Saint Mary's on Friday (7:30 p.m.) and Saturday (7 p.m.), Feb. 10-11, at the Municipal Athletic Complex (MAC) in St. Cloud.