Box Score
ST. CLOUD, Minn. – Saint John's hockey broke a 1-1 tie with three goals over the game's final 5:44 to top No. 13/14 St. Thomas by a 4-1 score on Friday, Feb. 9, at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud.
Junior forward
Garrett Riebling (Chanhassen, Minn.) scored what proved to be the game-winning goal on a wicked wrister at the 14:16 mark of the third period, 25 seconds after sophomore goaltender
Andrew Lindgren (Minneapolis, Minn.) denied UST's Brett Gravelle, the reigning MIAC Men's Hockey Athlete of the Week, on a breakaway attempt.
SJU (14-6-2, 9-4-0 MIAC) out-shot the Tommies (14-7-1, 9-3-1 MIAC) by a 37-20 margin, including a 17-6 advantage in the third period alone, and 10 different Johnnies recorded a point in the win.
Senior forward
Tyler Dunagan (Maple Grove, Minn.) padded the Johnnies' lead with a rebound goal 46 seconds after Riebling's tally and sophomore forward
Brady Heppner (Crookston, Minn.) seal the victory with an empty-netter, his team-leading 12th goal of the season, with three seconds remaining. Dunagan's goal was the 20th of his career.
Lindgren made 19 saves to improve to 9-3-1 (6-2-0 MIAC) on the year. He missed the first 1:48 of the third period due to an equipment issue.
Frankie Spellman put UST in front with his first goal of the season 16:29 into the game, but junior forward
Mitch Fritz (St. Cloud, Minn.) tied it 1:21 later on a rebound goal, his fifth tally of the season and 15th of his career.
Lindgren denied the Tommies' Tanner Barnes, a transfer from Division I Wisconsin, on a penalty shot with 6:38 left in the second period and UST had a goal disallowed due to an offensive-zone interference penalty with 5:29 remaining in the second frame. The Tommies entered Friday's contest riding a seven-game win streak.
Both teams went 0-for-3 on the power play. SJU had 1:27 of a 4-on-3 power play and 23 seconds of a 5-on-3, late in the second period and into the third.
The two teams wrap up the weekend series at 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 10, at the St. Thomas Ice Rink in Mendota Heights.