Saint John's hockey opens a weekend series with Saint Mary's at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 2, at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center (HBNHC) in St. Cloud. The two teams conclude the two-game set at 7:05 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 4, in Winona.

LIVE COVERAGE
-Thursday, Feb. 2: Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM) | Live Stats/Live Video
-Saturday, Feb. 4: Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM) | Live Stats | Live Video

TICKET INFORMATION: Fans wishing to attend SJU hockey's home games at the HBNHC in St. Cloud must purchase tickets online. The ticket booths will not be open due to staffing. – Purchase Online Tickets

FREE STUDENT BUS ON THURSDAY!: Thanks to the SJU Senate, a bus will be available for CSB/SJU students for Thursday's home 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 6:20 p.m.

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (11-8-2, 7-4-1 MIAC) split its series with Augsburg but collected only two of the weekend's six points. The Johnnies earned a dramatic, comeback win in overtime 5-4 outdoors as part of Hockey Day Minnesota on Friday, but fell to the Auggies in a high-scoring 6-5 game Saturday night in St. Cloud.

Saint John's 5, Augsburg 4 (Jan. 27)
Sophomore forward Jackson Sabo (Rosemount, Minn.) gave Saint John's a 5-4 win with his third goal of the season, 2:16 into the 3-on-3 overtime, at Polar Lakes Park in White Bear Township. The goal came minutes after senior forward Nick Michel (Waconia, Minn.) tied the game at 4-4 with the goaltender pulled with 1:03 remaining in regulation.  

Most of the game's scoring came from two players - senior captain Auggie Moore (Edina, Minn.) and Augsburg senior 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. 

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.

Sophomore goaltender Bailey Huber (Mahtomedi, Minn.) made 29 saves to improve to 9-3-2 (6-2-1 MIAC) on a night that saw two Johnnies' goals waived off - one in the second period and another in the third.

Augsburg 6, at Saint John's 5 (Jan. 28)
SJU settled for the split with a high-scoring 6-5 loss to Augsburg on Saturday night at the HBNHC.

Twelve different Johnnies recorded a point and two - freshman forward Rob Christy (St. Paul, Minn.) and sophomore defenseman Danny Eckerline (Wayzata, Minn.) - scored their first collegiate goals in the defeat. SJU had a goal disallowed in the third period and Augsburg hit the pipe four times in the game.

Augsburg found the scoreboard first on a goal from Gavin Holland 6:22 into the contest, but the Johnnies took a 2-1 lead on power-play goals from junior forwards Max Borst (Edina, Minn.) and Lewis Crosby (Edina, Minn.). Borst lit the lamp with a pretty deflection in front at the 12:13 mark of the first period and Crosby made it 2-1 eight seconds into the second for his 20th point of the season.

Both teams scored three goals in the second period. The Auggies erased the deficit with two goals 1:14 apart before Eckerline's shot from the right point trickled through the goaltender's pads with 3:04 left in the frame. The visitors answered at the 19:18 mark, but Christy tied the game at 4 with 12 seconds left before intermission.

The Auggies broke the tie with two-straight goals in the third period before sophomore forward Matt DeRosa (Alpharetta, Ga.) ended the game's scoring with 9:39 remaining.

Freshman goaltender Jon Howe (Chanhassen, Minn.) made his seventh start of the season and stopped 33 shots. Augsburg finished with a 39-33 advantage in shots, including a 16-8 margin in the third period.

MOORE POINTS: Moore totaled five points (2g/3a) and a +4 in the split against Augsburg and now has 12 points (6g/6a), including three game-winning goals, in eight career games against the Auggies. The stat line gets even better this week, as the two-year captain has 13 points (6g/7a) in six career games against Saint Mary's, including eight (4g/4a) in three contests at SMU Ice Arena.

STAT COMPARISONS: SJU holds the statistical edge over SMU in three of the four major categories, except for on the penalty kill. The Cardinals have allowed four power-play goals in conference play – 90.9 percent (40-for-44) – but are at 76.6 percent (59-for-77) overall.

Scoring Offense
3. SJU, 3.83 gpg. (3.33 overall)
6. SMU, 3.09 gpg. (3.11 overall)

Scoring Defense
3. SJU, 2.67 gpg. (2.38 overall)
5. SMU, 3.09 gpg. (3.68 overall)

Power Play
4. SJU, 25.5 percent/12-47 (25.0 percent/22-88 overall *No. 9 in Division III)
5. SMU, 17.9 percent/7-39 (16.7 percent/12-72 overall)

Penalty Kill
2. SMU, 90.9 percent/40-44 (76.6 percent/59-77 overall)
8. SJU, 60.7 percent/17-28 (69.8 percent/44-63 overall)

A LOOK AT THE CARDINALS: Saint Mary's (9-9-1, 5-5-0 MIAC) earned a weekend split similar to Bethel last weekend, as the Cardinals fell by a 4-2 score Friday in Blaine and earned a 3-2 overtime win Saturday in Winona. The Royals built a 3-0 lead in the opener and sophomore defenseman Callahan Nauss gave SMU the win with his second goal of the season 2:06 into Saturday's overtime. Senior defenseman Kellen Tharaldson leads the team in assists (10) and points (12), and four others have 11 points. Junior forward Nikita Sheberov has a team-leading seven goals. Sophomore goaltender Matt Sankner is 6-2-1 with a 3.10 GAA and a .903 save percentage (299 saves).

LAST SEASON: The Johnnies went 2-1 against the Cardinals last season.

Saint Mary's 2, at Saint John's 1 (Nov. 18, 2021)
The Johnnies controlled the game by outshooting Saint Mary's with a 36-13 margin and winning 41 of the 62 faceoff draws, but hit the pipe twice and went 0-for-6 on the power play.

Sophomore forward Spencer Rudrud (Eden Prairie, Minn.) gave the Johnnies a 1-0 lead with his first collegiate goal, on a breakaway, 4:31 into the second period. Moore sent a long pass to Rudrud on the other blue line and he beat the goaltender with a forehanded shot.

Trevor Schroder tied the game for the Cardinals with a breakaway goal of his own at the 12:54 mark of the second. Kasyn Kruse scored what proved to be the game-winning goal for SMU with a deflection of Schroeder's shot atop the circle 8:23 into the third period.

The 13 shots on goal allowed were the fewest in a Johnnie loss since then-No. 4 Wisconsin-River Falls scored four goals on 14 shots in a 4-0 shutout of then-No. 11 SJU on Dec. 9, 2014.

Senior forward Henry Enebak (Lakeville, Minn.) hit the pipe in the first period and defenseman Max Osborne clanked the iron with three minutes remaining.

SJU was given a power play with 1:51 remaining, but Moore was called for an offensive-zone penalty (slashing) six seconds later. The Johnnies were given another opportunity when Sankner was whistled for delaying the game (purposely kicking the net off its moorings) with 10 seconds remaining. The visitors, however, pushed a loose puck out of SJU's offensive zone to end the threat.

Saint John's 3, at Saint Mary's 2 (OT; Nov. 20, 2021)
Moore gave the Johnnies a 3-2 win at Saint Mary's with his first goal of the season 2:14 into overtime in Winona.

The Johnnies gained leads of 1-0 and 2-1 thanks to a pair of power-play goals from Crosby, his fourth and fifth tallies of the season. He redirected a shot from junior defenseman Jack Olsen (Lakeville, Minn.) with 8:06 left in the first period and gave the lead back to SJU at the 16:11 mark of the second. The Cardinals tied the game at 1-1 four minutes into the second period and again with a power-play goal of their own 8:32 into the third.

Goaltender Mac Berglove '22 made 12 saves in the win, the 20th of his career.

at Saint John's 5, Saint Mary's 1 (MIAC Playoffs; Feb. 27, 2022)
SJU advanced to last year's MIAC semifinals with a 5-1 win over Saint Mary's last Feb. 27 at the HBNHC.

Junior forward Josh Maucieri (Crosby, Minn.) put SJU on the scoreboard first with a power-play goal, a drive from the top of the left faceoff circle to the top-right corner of the net, 5:56 into the game. 

Crosby put on the jets and scored his MIAC-leading 17th goal of the season on a breakaway 1:44 later.

DeRosa gave the Johnnies a three-goal cushion when his shot glanced off a Cardinal defenseman and into the net 11:47 into the second period.

SMU took advantage of a defensive-zone turnover by the Johnnies and erased the shutout on a goal from Nathan Solis 5:25 into the third period.

Moore, however, took advantage of a defensive-zone miscue by the Cardinals halfway through the final frame and ended the scoring with an empty-netter at the 16:40 mark (his 14th and 15th goals of the season). 

Berglove made 26 stops in net to earn his 30th career win (30-15-9 career record, 13-5-2 in 2021-22).

SERIES HISTORY: The Johnnies are 59-30-5 against the Cardinals since the 1981-82 season, including a 22-7-2 record under the direction of head coach Doug Schueller (since 2008-09). SJU has won 32 of the last 43 meetings overall (32-9-2 record), but is only 6-6-1 in the last 13 meetings at the HBNHC.