Box Score

NORTHFIELD, Minn. – Saint John's hockey ended its regular-season schedule with a 3-2 win at St. Olaf to clinch its fifth-consecutive appearance in the MIAC Playoffs on Saturday, Feb. 11, in Northfield.

The Johnnies (13-9-3, 9-5-2 MIAC) built a 3-0 lead and held on for the win. SJU has its bye next week and will learn of its postseason seed and opponent after next weekend's games. 

The playoff berth is SJU's sixth in the last seven (full) seasons and 24th overall in the MIAC Playoffs, which were established for the 1985-86 season. 

Senior forward Joe Papa (St. Charles, Ill.) opened the scoring for SJU with his fifth goal of the season with 7:38 left in the first period. A shot from the left point from senior defenseman Dan Wieber (St. Joseph, Minn.) was blocked and Papa took possession of the puck in front, spun and scored.

Senior forward Nick Michel (Waconia, Minn.) made it 2-0 with his 15th goal of the season and 25th of his SJU career 2:33 into the second period and sophomore forward Jackson Sabo (Rosemount, Minn.) scored what proved to be the game-winning tally, his fourth goal of the season, halfway through (9:26) the frame.

Jonathan Panisa erased the shutout with 8:06 left in the second period for St. Olaf (11-10-2, 5-8-1 MIAC) and Spencer Light made it a one-goal game seven minutes into the third. STO looked to have tied the game with 33.7 seconds remaining, but an Ole was in the crease and took out sophomore goaltender Bailey Huber's (Mahtomedi, Minn.) feet from beneath him. Huber made 17 saves, including a huge stop on a point-blank shot from the slot in the game's final seconds, to improve his season record to 11-4-3 (8-3-2 MIAC).

SJU posted a 26-19 advantage in shots and both teams went 0-for-2 on the power play.