Saint John's hockey visits Augsburg in the MIAC Playoff semifinals at 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25, at the Ed Saugestad Rink in Minneapolis. – Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM) | Live Stats/Live Video

TICKET INFORMATION: Admission is $10 for adult and $2 for any student (5 years old and younger are free). There is no senior discount. MIAC passes will be honored, though no other passes will be accepted. Augsburg's ticket sales are online-only here. 
 
A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (13-9-3, 9-5-2 MIAC) ended its regular-season schedule with a tie (shootout loss) and win over St. Olaf back on Feb. 10-11.

t-at Saint John's 2, St. Olaf 2 (OT; STO, 1-0)
SJU scored two goals in the game's final four minutes to tie St. Olaf 2-2 on Feb. 10 at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud. The Oles earned the extra point in the conference standings with a 1-0 win in the shootout thanks to a goal from Jonathan Young in round two.

Junior defenseman Jack Olsen (Lakeville, Minn.) cut the deficit to 2-1 for SJU with a power-play goal - a shot from the left point six seconds into the man advantage - with four minutes remaining in regulation. The goal ended the Johnnies' frustration, as the home team controlled play for most of the game and outshot the Oles 36-18 after the first period. 

The swing in momentum led to another goal from Olsen, from nearly the same spot with the extra attacker on the ice, with 1:15 left. Sophomore forward Spencer Rudrud (Eden Prairie, Minn.) and junior forward Lewis Crosby (Edina, Minn.) provided the assists on both goals.

Senior forward Nick Michel (Waconia, Minn.) hit the pipe twice, once during a power play in the second period and another in the third, and was denied on a mini breakaway with 36.5 seconds left in regulation.  

A defensive-zone turnover turned into a one-timer goal for St. Olaf, Brendan Darby to Jonathan Panisa, to open the scoring with 3:30 left in the first period.

SJU recorded the first eight shots of the second period and eventually finished with a 17-7 margin in the frame, but the Oles' Sean Walsh made it 2-0 with a sharp-angle shot that glanced off the backside of sophomore goaltender Bailey Huber (Mahtomedi, Minn.) and into the net with 2:24 left before intermission. Huber finished with 24 saves to move his season record to 10-4-3.

SJU finished with a 42-26 advantage in shots and killed off all three STO power plays, including a 5-minute major in the third period.

Saint John's 3, at St. Olaf 2
The Johnnies clinched their fifth-consecutive appearance in the MIAC Playoffs with a 3-2 win on Feb. 11 at St. Olaf. SJU built a 3-0 lead and held on for the win. 

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.

Michel 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 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 Huber's 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'S MIAC PLAYOFF HISTORY: The Johnnies are making their fifth-consecutive MIAC Playoff appearance (not counting the COVID-shortened 2020-21 campaign), sixth in the last seven (full) seasons and 24th overall (established for the 1985-86 season). SJU is 21-22-3 in MIAC Playoff games.

STAT COMPARISONS
Scoring Offense
2. AUG, 3.81 gpg. (3.44 gpg.)
3. SJU, 3.50 gpg. (3.20 gpg.)

Scoring Defense
1. SJU, 2.69 gpg. (2.44 gpg.)
4, AUG, 2.88 gpg. (2.76 gpg.)

Power Play
3. AUG, 22.6 percent/14-for-62 (23.0 percent/23-for-100 overall *No. 11 in Division III)
4. SJU, 20.6 percent/13-for-63 (22.1 percent/23-for-104 overall)

Penalty Kill
5. AUG, 80.6 percent/50-for-62 (81.6 percent/71-for-87 overall) 
9. SJU, 67.4 percent/29-for-43 (71.8 percent/56-for-78 overall)

A LOOK AT THE AUGGIES: Augsburg (14-9-2, 10-5-1 MIAC) took a five-game win streak into its final regular-season series vs. St. Scholastica last weekend (Feb. 17-18), with an opportunity to win the conference title, but collected one of the six possible points with a 5-5 tie (1-0 shootout loss) at home and a 4-1 defeat in Duluth. Senior forward Austin Dollimer leads the team in assists (18) and points (28), while senior forward Gavin Holland is next with a team-best 13 goals and 23 points. Sophomore goaltender Samuel Vyletelka is 10-5-1 with a 2.48 GAA and a .906 save percentage (367 saves).

A MONTH AGO: SJU split its series with Augsburg back on Jan. 27-28 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, 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)
Sabo 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 Michel 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 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.

Huber 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 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.

SERIES HISTORY: The Johnnies are 46-41-2 against the Auggies since the 1986-87 season: 19-16-2 in St. Cloud, 19-22 in Minneapolis and 8-3 at a neutral site. SJU is 8-10-1 in the last 19 meetings and the two teams have split their MIAC series each of the past four seasons.

The Johnnies are 5-5 in their last 10 meetings in Minneapolis, but are 0-4 all-time against the Auggies on their home ice in the MIAC Playoffs. The Auggies edged SJU 2-1 in four overtimes the last time these two teams met in the postseason – the MIAC Playoff championship game – on March 2, 2019, in Minneapolis.