Box Score
ST. CLOUD, Minn. – Saint John's hockey completed the weekend sweep of Gustavus Adolphus with a 6-2 win on Saturday, Feb. 15, at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center (HBNHC) in St. Cloud.
Thirteen of the Johnnies' 19 skaters recorded a point and senior goaltender
Andrew Lindgren (Minneapolis, Minn.) made a season-high 47 saves in the win, the 30th of his career. The victory, coupled with St. Olaf's 5-3 win tonight at Saint Mary's, clinched the SJU's third consecutive MIAC Playoff appearance, fourth in the last five seasons and 22nd overall (established for the 1985-86 season).
SJU (10-8-5, 7-3-4 MIAC) jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first period. Defenseman
Adam Orn (Ramsey, Minn.) started Senior Night with a bang, his second goal of the season, 8:42 into the contest.
The Johnnies followed that with three goals over a 2:01 span. Sophomore forward
Davis Kirkendall (Hamel, Minn.) made it 2-0 with his ninth goal of the season at the 11:47 mark before SJU net a pair of goals during a 4-on-4. Junior forward
Tanner Dufault (Kasson, Minn.) tallied his second goal of the weekend with 6:33 left in the opening frame and junior defenseman
Travis Brown ripped home a one-timer 21 seconds later.
Caleb Anderson erased the shutout for Gustavus (10-10-3, 6-6-2 MIAC) with his MIAC-leading 16th goal of the season 8:57 into the second period. The sway in momentum was short-lived, however, as freshman forward
Jack Johnson (Bemidji, Minn.) lit the lamp for the fifth time this season 12 seconds later.
The Gusties' Tyler Ebner cut the Johnnies' lead to 5-2 on a power-play goal, with seven seconds left in the man advantage, at the 18:52 mark of the second period. GAC gained another power play 30 seconds later, but two Gusties were called for penalties at the same whistle with four seconds remaining. Despite the limited time, SJU took advantage of the 4-on-3 power play off the faceoff. Senior forward
Kyle Wagner (St. Francis, Minn.) won the draw at the right circle to the sideboard, where junior defenseman
Jake Dittel (St. Paul, Minn.) corralled the puck and found junior forward
Ryan Kero (Hermantown, Minn.) alone in the slot for a one-timer and his team-leading 10th goal at the horn (though the referees put 0:00.1 back on the clock after the goal).
.SJU is now 24-6-3 against the Gusties at home since 1992-93 (22-4-3 in the last 29 meetings at the HBNHC).
The Johnnies wrap up the regular-season schedule with a pair of road games this Friday (7 p.m.) and Saturday (2 p.m.), Feb. 21-22, at Saint Mary's in Winona.
