Box Score

ST. CLOUD, Minn. - Saint John's hockey returned to conference play with a 5-2 win over St. Scholastica on Thursday, Jan. 20, at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud.

The Johnnies (9-5-1, 5-2-0 MIAC) jumped out to a 3-0 lead and scored a pair of empty-net goals to seal the victory in their first home game since Dec. 2.

Sophomore forward Lewis Crosby (Edina, Minn.) started the scoring with his team-leading 10th goal of the season 3:19 into the game and junior forward Jack Johnson (Bemidji, Minn.) tallied his first goal of the season, and 35th point in his 35th career game, with 3:54 remaining in the opening frame.

Junior forward Dan Wieber (St. Joseph, Minn.) made it 3-0 with his first goal of the season 3:54 into the second period.



St. Scholastica (6-6-1, 3-4-0 MIAC) erased the shutout on a power-play goal from Sam Fuss with 2:51 left in the second period and made it a one-goal game on Arkhip Ledenkov's seventh goal of the season 5:39 into the third period.

CSS was whistled for a five-minute major penalty with 10:49 to play but mustered only three shots on goal. SJU finished 0-for-5 on the man advantage (a total of 12:20).

The Johnnies thwarted the Saints' comeback attempt with two empty-net goals late in the third period. Crosby fired a long shot from deep in the Johnnies' defensive zone for his second tally of the night - and fourth multi-goal game of the season - at the 18:03 mark and freshman forward Garrett Smith (Eden Prairie, Minn.) ended the scoring with his first collegiate goal with 26 seconds remaining.

Senior goaltender Mac Berglove (Elk River, Minn.) made 24 saves to improve to 8-3-1 on the year as SJU out-shot CSS, 41-26.

The two teams complete the series with a 7 p.m. game on Friday, Jan. 21, at Mars Lakeview Arena in Duluth.