Box Score

ST. CLOUD, Minn. – Saint John's hockey battled back from a 3-0 deficit but fell to Saint Mary's in overtime, 4-3, on Saturday, Dec. 1, at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud.

Ryan Stoynich scored the game-winner for SMU (1-8-3, 1-3-2 MIAC), the team's first of the season, 29 seconds into overtime.

The Cardinals raced out to a 3-0 lead late in the second period, ending junior goaltender Andrew Lindgren's (Minneapolis, Minn.) afternoon (16 saves on 19 shots) in favor of sophomore goaltender Mac Berglove (Elk River, Minn.).

Sophomore forward Tanner Dufault (Kasson, Minn.) put the Johnnies (5-4-3, 3-2-1 MIAC) on the board with 3:59 left in the second period, his third goal of the season. 

Junior forward Brady Heppner (Crookston, Minn.) cut the deficit to one with a power-play goal at 3:36 of the third period. Sophomore defenseman Travis Brown (Otsego, Minn.) threaded the needle to pick up the one-timer's primary assist. 

Heppner scored again 1:08 later to tie the game at 3-3, on a carbon-copy of the first goal with a one-timer from the right circle. Junior forward Wagner (St. Francis, Minn.) picked up his second assist of the game and fourth of the weekend, while senior forward Joe Chitwood (Carmel, Ind.) earned his third assist of the series. 

SJU out-shot the Cardinals 27-24 and controlled the face-off dot, winning 47 of 72 draws (65.3 percent). Wagner won 16 of 17 to lead the Johnnies and finished 35 of 42 (83.3 percent) on the weekend. 

Berglove finished with four saves on five shots and suffered the loss (2-2-1).

The Johnnies return to non-conference play with a 7 p.m. game against St. Scholastica next Saturday, Dec. 8, at Mars Lakeview Arena in Duluth.