Box Score

ST. CLOUD, Minn. – Saint John's hockey and Saint Mary's played to a 3-3 tie on Friday, Nov. 30, at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center (HBNHC) in St. Cloud.

Both teams played a scoreless overtime to secure the tie, and a scoreless 3-on-3, but Tommy Stang gave Saint Mary's (0-8-3, 0-3-2 MIAC) the extra point in the conference standings with a goal in the final round of the shootout (1-0).

The Johnnies (5-3-3, 3-1-1 MIAC) had a pair of two goal leads, 2-0 and 3-1, but could not hold on.

SJU got off to a hot start with two goals and a 19-9 margin in shots in the first period. Junior forward Brady Heppner (Crookston, Minn.) opened the scoring 8:58 into the game with his team-leading fifth goal of the season. Senior forward Joe Chitwood (Carmel, Ind.) backhanded a pass off a face-off scrum to Heppner, in the left circle, who one-timed it to the back of the net. 

Senior defenseman Sean Lang (Apple Valley, Minn.) scored his first goal of the season at 11:16 of the first period, with the primary assist to Chitwood once again. Chitwood centered to Lang from behind the end line and Lang one-timed a shot from the right circle to the far corner. 

Senior forward Robb Stautz (Roseville, Minn.) made it 3-1 with his fourth goal of the season, shorthanded, at 16:08 of the second period. Sophomore defenseman Jake Dittel (St. Paul, Minn.) sent a pass through the neutral zone to senior forward Evan Okeley (Carmel, Ind.) and Okeley fed Stautz in the slot, who beat the goalie with a hesitation move. The goal was Stautz's fourth of the season and 45th career point.

The Cardinals' Alex DiBacco answered 32 seconds later on a 5-on-3 power play, however, and Jack Stang scored the equalizer with 1:41 remaining in the game.

Junior goaltender Andrew Lindgren (Minneapolis, Minn.) made 24 saves.

The Johnnies and Cardinals wrap up the weekend series at 2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 1, at the HBNHC.