Saint John's hockey plays host to No. 8 St. Scholastica at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 16, at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud and visits the Saints for a 7 p.m. puck-drop on Saturday, Nov. 18, at Mars Lakeview Arena in Duluth.

LIVE COVERAGE
-Thursday in St. Cloud (7 p.m.): Live Radio (WMIN-1010 AM) | Live Stats | Live Video
-Saturday in Duluth (7 p.m.): Live Radio (WBHR-660 AM) | Live Stats | Live Video

FREE STUDENT BUS THURSDAY NIGHT: Thanks to the SJU Senate, a bus will be available for CSB/SJU students for Thursday night's game at the HBNHC. The bus departs the SJU Abbey Bell Banner at 6 p.m. (then a pickup from Flynntown at 6:05 p.m.) and leaves CSB's HCC at 6:15 p.m. for a hopeful arrival of 6:45 p.m. at the HBNHC. The bus will depart at approximately 9:15 p.m. (after the game) to return students to the pick-up locations.

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (2-3, 1-1 MIAC) earned four of the six possible points in last weekend's split with Concordia-Moorhead.

at Concordia 4, Saint John's 3 (OT) – Nov. 9
The MIAC slate started with a back-and-forth, 4-3 loss in overtime for SJU last Thursday (Nov. 9) in Moorhead. Cole O'Connell scored the game-winning goal for the Cobbers 53 seconds into the 3-on-3 overtime, minutes after Caden Triggs tied the game at 3-3 with 2:03 remaining and the goaltender pulled.

A scoreless stalemate in the first period ended with a wild, two-minute span en route to intermission. 
Isaac Henkemeyer-Howe gave the Cobbers a 1-0 lead with 1:22 left in the opening frame, 44 seconds after senior forward Lewis Crosby (Edina, Minn.) hit the pipe on the other end of the rink. Junior forward Matt DeRosa (Alpharetta, Ga.), however, tied the game at 1-1 with an unassisted wrap-around - his second goal of the season and ninth of his career - with 51 seconds remaining.

Kevin Ness gave the lead back to CC 9:14 into the second period, but freshman forward Jacob McPartland (Victoria, Minn.) tied the game with another wrap-around goal - his second tally in as many games - with 1:44 left before the second intermission.

Freshman defenseman Parker Gnos (Excelsior, Minn.) gave the visitors their first lead of the game on a simple shot toward the net from the left boards, his first collegiate goal, 4:53 into the third period.

Junior goaltender Bailey Huber (Mahtomedi, Minn.) tied a career high with 41 saves for SJU, which earned a point in the MIAC standings with the overtime loss (two points for Concordia). CC out-shot the Johnnies by a 45-29 margin, including 18-6 after the second period, and the two teams combined to go 0-for-5 (SJU: 0-2, CC: 0-3) on the power play.

at Saint John's 5, Concordia 2 – Nov. 11
The Johnnies scored four goals on special teams – two on the power play and two shorthanded – in a 5-2 win over Concordia on Saturday night (Nov. 11) at the HBNHC. The home team built a 5-0 lead before the Cobbers erased the shutout with a pair of goals in the game's final 3:03.

Senior defenseman Jack Olsen (Lakeville, Minn.) opened the scoring with his first goal of the season (fifth of his career) during a 5-on-3 power play 12:09 into the game.

Freshman forward Jack Wandmacher (St. Louis Park, Minn.) made it 2-0 with his third goal of the young season two minutes later and freshman forward Jackson Bisson (Edina, Minn.) scored on a shorthanded breakaway 4:37 into the second period.

Crosby lit the lamp for the 25th time in his SJU career halfway through the second period (10:33), on the power play, and freshman forward Logan Lyke (Medina, Minn.) tallied his first collegiate goal – shorthanded – 8:32 into the third period.

Adam Brown put CC on the scoreboard with 3:03 remaining and Hunter Bjorge ended the game's scoring with 1:27 to play.

Sophomore goaltender Jon Howe (Chanhassen, Minn.) made 27 saves to earn his first win of the season.

SJU entered the game 1-for-13 (7.7 percent) on the power play and finished 2-for-5 on the night. The penalty kill, meanwhile, went 6-for-6, including 1:43 of a two-man advantage. The Cobbers finished with a 29-28 edge in shots thanks to a 15-8 margin in the third period.

TWO PPG & TWO SHG: The last time SJU scored two power-play goals and two shorthanded goals in the same game occurred Feb. 15, 2002 - a 7-1 win at Bethel in the regular-season finale. Mike Possin (1g/4a) and Rick Talbot (2g/3a) each had five-point games.

The last time the Johnnies tallied two shorthanded goals in a game was Feb. 1, 2013 - a 6-0 home win over Saint Mary's. Both shorthanded goals were scored by Justin Hochsprung, 1:50 apart near the end of the second period (17:14 and 19:04). SJU also scored two shorties the game prior on Jan. 26 (a 5-1 home win over Hamline, John Haeg at 9:52 of the first period and Nick Senta - 3-on-5 - with the goaltender pulled at 15:46 of the third).

STAT COMPARISONS
Scoring Offense
-CSS, 4.2 gpg.
-SJU, 3.0 gpg.

GAA
-CSS, 2.40
-SJU, 2.59

Power Play
-CSS, 21.1 percent (4-for-19)
-SJU, 16.7 percent (3-for-18)

Penalty Kill
-SJU, 88.2 percent (15-for-17)
-CSS, 82.6 percent (19-for-23)

A LOOK AT THE SAINTS: The defending MIAC regular-season champion, St. Scholastica (5-0, 2-0 MIAC) remained unbeaten with a pair of close wins – 2-0 (Nov. 9 in St. Peter) and 4-3 (Nov. 11 in Duluth) – over Gustavus Adolphus last week. Both goals in Thursday's win came in the first period, while the two teams tallied a pair of goals in the third period Saturday night. GAC cut it to 4-3 with a power-play goal at the 19:49 mark. Three senior forwards – Nathan Adrian (2g/5a) and twin brothers Arkhip (2g/5a) and Filimon (0g/7a) Ledenkov – lead the team with seven points apiece. Arkhip and Filimon were named to the ACHA All-America first team last season, while senior goaltender Jack Bostedt – the MIAC Defensive Player of the Year – earned second-team honors. Arkhip totaled 48 points (21g/27a) last season and was named the MIAC Offensive Player of the Year. Bostedt is 4-0 with a 2.00 GAA and a .930 save percentage (106 saves) so far this season. Adrian, Filimon (13g/29a), senior forward Carsen Richels (19g/21a) and fifth-year defenseman Alec Severson (4g/11a) also earned All-MIAC honors in 2022-23. CSS moved up six spots to No. 8 in the latest USCHO.com Top 15 poll released Monday (Nov. 13).

LAST SEASON: CSS picked up four of the six points against SJU last season.

St. Scholastica 5, at Saint John's 2 – Nov. 18 (2022)
The Johnnies outshot St. Scholastica 47-31 on net (80-44 overall) in a 5-2 loss at the HBNHC. SJU entered the contest with the country's top power play at 48 percent (12-for-25) but went 0-for-4. The Saints, meanwhile, took the ice at 4.8 percent (1-for-21) and finished 2-for-4 on the man advantage.

Forward Nick Michel '23 gave SJU a 1-0 lead with his team-leading sixth goal of the season 14:25 into the game. Crosby won an offensive-zone faceoff back to Michel, who beat the CSS goaltender with a shot along the ice.

The Saints tied the game on a goal from Filimon Ledenkov, his first of three on the evening, with 55 seconds left in the opening frame. His twin brother, Arkhip, sent a shot wide of the net, but the rebound bounced off the end boards to Filimon in front for the game-tying goal.

Senior forward Max Borst (Edina, Minn.) gave SJU a short-lived lead, 2-1, with a shorthanded goal 2:07 into the second period. Crosby stole the puck in the offensive end and unleashed a shot on net, and Borst cleaned up the rebound.

CSS, however, scored a power-play goal 37 seconds later and added two more goals, including another on the man advantage, in the period's final two minutes to take a 4-2 lead into intermission. Filimon Ledenkov took advantage of an SJU turnover at its own blue line with 1:57 left in the second period and SJU was penalized on the scoring play, which led to a power-play goal from Tyler Hinterser 1:21 later.

Filimon Ledenkov completed the hat trick on an empty-net goal with 1:15 remaining in regulation. SJU posted a 22-7 shot advantage in the third period but could not capitalize. Howe made 26 saves in the loss.

t-Saint John's 2, at St. Scholastica 2 (OT) – Nov. 19 (2022)
SJU picked up two crucial points in the conference standings with a 2-2 tie and shootout win at St. Scholastica in Duluth. Forward Jack Johnson '23 gave SJU the extra point in the MIAC ledger with a goal in the fifth round of the shootout.

Following a scoreless first period, CSS gained a 1-0 lead with a 5-on-3, power-play goal from Filimon Ledenkov – his fourth tally of the weekend – 8:28 into the second frame. 

Michel tied the game at 1-1 with a power-play goal, his team-leading seventh tally and 10th point (7g/3a) in six games this season, 4:31 into the third period.

Forward Joe Papa '23 gave the visitors their first lead of the game, 2-1, with his fourth goal of the season 4:30 later on a feed from Olsen.

The Saints, however, sent the game to overtime with an extra-attacker goal – with the goaltender pulled – from Nathan Adrian with 42 seconds remaining in regulation.

Huber made 27 saves to remain unbeaten with a 3-0-1 record this season. The Johnnies again outshot the Saints by a large margin, 47-29.

SERIES HISTORY: The Johnnies have an 18-14-2 record against St. Scholastica on the ice since 1988, but the series is tied at 9-9-3 this century. CSS has won five of the last seven meetings at the HBNHC.