Box Score

ST. CLOUD, Minn. – Senior forward Sam Valerius (Maple Grove, Minn.) gave Saint John's a dramatic 2-1 non-conference win over Wisconsin-Eau Claire with his fourth goal of the season, scored with 2.9 seconds left in overtime, on Thursday, Jan. 11, at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud.

Valerius crashed the net and took advantage of a slowed shot from junior forward Garrett Riebling (Chanhassen, Minn.) with a redirect through the goaltender's five-hole.

The victory snapped a string of three consecutive ties and a 10-game winless streak for SJU (10-3-2 overall) in the series. Prior to Thursday night's heroics, the last Johnnie win over the Blugolds occurred Jan. 6, 2006 (2-0 in St. Cloud).

Sophomore goaltender Andrew Lindgren (Minneapolis, Minn.) made 32 saves in the game, the Johnnies' first in 34 days, to improve to 5-2-1 on the season.

SJU capitalized on a power play, which was awarded seven seconds after a UWEC (10-7 overall) power play expired, when sophomore forward Kyle Wagner (St. Francis, Minn.) took advantage of traffic in front of the net for his second tally of the season 12:05 into the game. Valerius and junior forward Robb Stautz (Roseville, Minn.) tallied the assists.

Colton Wolter tied it at 1-1 for UWEC with a power-play goal of his own 11:57 into the second period.

The Johnnies take on No. 3 Wisconsin-Stevens Point at 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 13, at the Anoka Ice Arena in Anoka.