Box Score
ST. CLOUD, Minn. – Saint John's hockey broke a 2-2 tie with a pair of third-period goals in a 4-3 non-conference win over Wisconsin-Stout on Saturday, Nov. 3, at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center (HBNHC) in St. Cloud.
Twenty-four hours after SJU surrendered a 2-0, third-period lead to Wisconsin-River Falls in an eventual 2-2 tie, the Johnnies assumed the role of third-period go-getters Saturday. River Falls scored a 7-3 win Saturday night at No. 10/11 Augsburg.
Sophomore forward
Tanner Dufault (Kasson, Minn.) opened the scoring with his second collegiate goal, and second of the weekend, 7:48 into the second period for SJU (2-1-1 overall).
Stout (2-2-0 overall) answered, however, with a game-tying goal from Mathias Ahman three minutes later and Gavin Smith gave the visitors a 2-1 lead at the 13:30 mark.
Junior forward
Brady Heppner (Crookston, Minn.) tied the game at 2-2 with a breakaway goal, thanks to an outlet from sophomore defenseman
Jake Dittel (St. Paul, Minn.), with 2:48 left in the second. The goal was Heppner's team-leading third of the young season.
Senior forward
Evan Okeley (Carmel, Ind.) gave SJU a 3-2 lead with his second goal in as many games, a rebound off his initial shot on goal, 6:18 into the third period. Freshman forward
Davis Kirkendall (Hamel, Minn.) padded the Johnnies' lead with what proved to be the game-winning goal, the first tally of his collegiate career, at the 10:28 mark.
Stout made it interesting, with the goaltender pulled, on a goal from Arturas Laukaitis with 1:49 remaining.
Senior forward
Garrett Riebling (Chanhassen, Minn.) had a goal disallowed during a 5-on-3 power play 2:32 into the second period. The referees ruled that Riebling intentionally kicked in the puck with his skate.
Sophomore
Mac Berglove (Elk River, Minn.) made 32 saves to improve to 2-0-0 on the year (7-3-1 career record).
Stout posted a 35-21 advantage in shots. Both teams were 0-for-4 on the power play.
SJU is now 15-5-1 against the Blue Devils since 1971, including a current seven-game unbeaten streak (6-0-1 record) in the series.
The Johnnies open MIAC play with a 7 p.m. game Thursday, Nov. 8, against Hamline (0-4-0 overall) at the HBNHC.
