Box Score

By Frank Rajkowski, SJU Writer/Video Producer

WHITE BEAR TOWNSHIP, Minn. – For Saint John's University sophomore Jackson Sabo (Rosemount, Minn.), Friday night felt a bit like a journey back in time.

The Johnnies were playing Augsburg outdoors under the lights at Polar Lakes Park in White Bear Township as part of Hockey Day in Minnesota weekend. 

And it reminded Sabo of days gone by.

"This was so cool," he said. "It was just like when I was growing up playing hockey on the pond in my backyard. It's such a great feeling. There's nothing like it."

Especially when you deliver the way Sabo did when it mattered most. It was his goal 2:16 into overtime that lifted SJU to a dramatic 5-4, come-from-behind victory over the Auggies in MIAC action.



"It's cool, but this is really a team win," said Sabo, who drove in and poked the puck past Augsburg goalkeeper Jack Robbel for his third goal of the season, this one ending the 3-on-3 overtime set up when senior teammate Nick Michel (Waconia, Minn.) scored with the goaltender pulled with 1:03 left in regulation to tie the game 4-4.

"Anyone of our guys could have scored that last goal. I'm just grateful to be out here with this great group of players."

That group improved to 7-3-1 in conference play and 11-7-2 overall with the victory, which came on a night that saw two Johnnies' goals waived off - one in the second period and another in the third.

"Our guys did a great job of fighting through that adversity," said SJU coach Doug Schueller, a White Bear Lake High School graduate who was back on his home turf. "I was really proud of them. They didn't let those (disallowed) goals get to them. 

"They just kept fighting and came up with a big win."

Most of the scoring Friday came from two players - senior captain Auggie Moore (Edina, Minn.) and Augsburg senior forward Gavin Holland. Moore scored twice in the first period - his first goal putting his team up 1-0 and his second making the score 2-1 after Holland had scored on the power play. But Holland struck again on the power play in the second and notched the hat trick with an even-strength goal early in the third period that put his team on top 3-2.

SJU senior forward Jack Johnson (Bemidji, Minn.) scored to tie the game at 3, but a goal by Augsburg senior Erik Palmqvist at the 15:39 mark of the third period allowed his team to retake the lead. 

Which is where things stood until Michel came up big late.

"That's a huge goal," Schueller said. "We had a belief we could score at any moment. But to get that there was really nice."

Then it was left to Sabo to finish things off.

"(Goaltender) Bailey (Huber) made a couple of crazy saves just to get me that opportunity," Sabo said. "He was really the MVP of that one."

Huber (Mahtomedi, Minn.) finished with 29 saves, including four in overtime for the Johnnies, who play host to Augsburg to complete the home-and-home series at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud. 

Hockey Day in Minnesota weekend, meanwhile, continues with three outdoor high school games broadcast on Bally Sports North Saturday morning and afternoon.

"This was a big win for our program," Schueller said. "We needed it. We don't have a lot of MIAC games left. So every game and every point are big."