Saint John's hockey begins MIAC play with a 7 p.m. game at Concordia on Thursday, Nov. 9, in Moorhead. The Johnnies return home to host the Cobbers at 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 11, at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud.

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

FREE STUDENT BUS SATURDAY NIGHT: Thanks to the SJU Senate, a bus will be available for CSB/SJU students for Saturday night's game in St. Cloud. 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 (1-2 overall) split last weekend's non-conference games at the Municipal Athletic Complex (MAC) in St. Cloud.

Then-No. 10 Wisconsin-Eau Claire 4, Saint John's 2 – Nov. 3 at the MAC
Then-No. 10 (now No. 5) Wisconsin-Eau Claire scored three-straight goals in the third period to defeat Saint John's 4-2 last Friday.

Following a scoreless first period, Tyler Herzberg gave UWEC a 1-0 lead on a tic-tac-toe play 5:27 into the second period. Junior forward Spencer Rudrud (Eden Prairie, Minn.) tied the game with a similar goal, thanks to assists from freshman forward Jack Wandmacher (St. Louis Park, Minn.) and junior defenseman Cooper Anderson (White Bear Lake, Minn.), 1:44 later.

Freshman forward Cam Boche (Lakeville, Minn.) gave the Johnnies a 2-1 lead with his first collegiate goal – a sharp wrister directly off a faceoff win from classmate Chris Kernan (Maple Grove, Minn.) – with eight minutes remaining in the frame.

Cade Lemmer took advantage of an SJU turnover in its defense zone with an unassisted goal 9:28 into the third period and Will Stauber scored what proved to be the game-winning goal, on the power play, with 4:26 remaining. Kyle Oleksiuk added an empty-netter with six seconds left.

Sophomore goaltender Jon Howe (Chanhassen, Minn.) made a career-high 40 saves in the loss as SJU was out-shot by a 44-29 margin, including a 19-5 mark in the opening period.

Saint John's 5, Northland (Wis.) 1 – Nov. 4 at the MAC
SJU topped Northland (Wis.) 5-1 for its first win of the 2023-24 season on Saturday. The Johnnies scored the game's first four goals, including two from Wandmacher in the second period.

Freshman forward Jacob McPartland (Victoria, Minn.) opened the scoring with his first collegiate goal at the 17:12 mark of the first period. Wandmacher followed suit with his first goal in an SJU sweater 48 seconds into the second period and added his second with 6:27 left in the frame. 

Junior forward Matt DeRosa (Alpharetta, Ga.) made it 4-0 just 1:18 after Wandmacher's second tally before the LumberJacks erased the shutout with a rebound goal at the 15:22 mark.

Sophomore defenseman Mason Campbell (Rosemount, Minn.) ended the game's scoring with a power-play goal - ending the Johnnies' drought to start the season (now 1-for-11) - halfway through the third period (10:37).

Junior goaltender Bailey Huber (Mahtomedi, Minn.) made 23 saves to even his season record at 1-1. The Johnnies posted a 40-24 advantage in shots.

A LOOK AT THE COBBERS: Concordia (3-0-1 overall) remained unbeaten with a pair of home wins last weekend. The Cobbers jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first 10 minutes of the first period en route to a 6-2 victory over Northland (Wis.) on Friday (Nov. 3) and tallied four third-period goals in Saturday's (Nov. 4) 4-0 shutout of Wisconsin-Superior. Junior forward Mason Plante leads the team with six points (2g/4a), while sophomore forward Joe Harguindeguy – the 2022-23 MIAC Rookie of the Year – is second with five (1g/4a). Senior goaltender Matt Fitzgerald, an All-MIAC selection last season, is 2-0-1 with a 0.97 GAA and a .955 save percentage (64 saves) in net so far in 2023-24.

LAST SEASON'S MEETINGS: The Johnnies swept last season's series against the Cobbers with a 12-4 goal differential.

at Saint John's 7, Concordia 3 – Nov. 10, 2022
SJU scored four goals on special teams, three on the power play (3-for-4) and one shorthanded, to win its home and MIAC opener 7-3 over Concordia last Nov. 10 (2022) at the HBNHC in St. Cloud. 

The two teams combined for five goals in the first period. Hanson O'Leary gave CC a 1-0 lead with a rebound goal 9:22 into the contest, but senior forward Lewis Crosby (Edina, Minn.) evened the score on a shorthanded breakaway 2:49 later. 

Cole O'Connell gave the lead back to the Cobbers with a power-play goal at the 15:07 mark, but SJU answered with two goals in the period's final 2:11. Forward Nick Michel '23 tied the game at 2-2 on a rebound following a shot from senior forward Max Borst (Edina, Minn.) at the 17:49 mark and forward Joe Papa '23 gave the home team its first lead of the game with 25.5 seconds left.

A pair of power-play goals from junior forward Cody Carlson (Buffalo, Minn.) sandwiched another tally from O'Connell to give SJU a 5-3 lead at the end of the second period. Forward Josh Maucieri '23 added a power-play goal of his own 4:49 into the third period and Borst ended the game's scoring with a pretty, tic-tac-toe goal from Crosby and Michel 1:22 later.

Howe made 25 saves to earn his first collegiate win in his second start. SJU outshot CC by a 31-28 margin, including a 25-16 advantage after the first period.

Saint John's 5, at Concordia 1 – Nov. 12, 2022
The Johnnies scored four more power-play goals, including three in the third period, to complete the sweep of Concordia with a 5-1 win on Nov. 12 (2022) in Moorhead. SJU went 4-for-5 on the man advantage to finish 7-for-9 (77.8 percent) in the two-game series.

Crosby opened the scoring for SJU with a power-play tally, his fourth goal of the season, 10:14 into the first period. Forward Dan Wieber '23 made it 2-0 with his first goal of the season seven minutes into the second period, but Ben Luedtke cut the lead in half with a shorthanded goal for the Cobbers 6:24 later.

Michel broke the game open with a pair of power-play goals, one during a 5-on-3 and another 5-on-4, 1:04 apart halfway through the third period. Junior forward Jackson Sabo (Rosemount, Minn.) ended the scoring with the fourth power-play goal, his first of the season, with 4:18 remaining.

Huber made a then-career-high 30 saves to improve 3-0 on the year. CC outshot SJU 31-20, but went 0-for-4 on the man advantage.

SERIES HISTORY: The Johnnies are 49-37-7 against Concordia since the 1984-85 season, including a 16-5-2 record at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud. SJU has won or tied 36 of the last 50 meetings overall (33-14-3 record).