Saint John's opens its final regular-season series against Concordia-Moorhead at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 20, at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud. The two teams end the schedule with a 4:30 p.m. puck-drop on Saturday, Feb. 22, at the Moorhead Ice Arena.

LIVE COVERAGE
-Thursday, Feb. 20 (in St. Cloud): Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM/95.7 FM) | Live Stats | Live Video

-Saturday, Feb. 22 (in Moorhead): Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM/95.7 FM) | Live Stats | Live Video

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (10-12-1, 7-6-1 MIAC) earned its first regular-season series sweep of Augsburg since 2016 last weekend.

at Saint John's 8, Augsburg 2 (Feb. 14)
The Johnnies broke a 2-2 tie with six unanswered goals to defeat Augsburg 8-2 last Friday (Feb. 14) at the HBNHC in St. Cloud. SJU erupted for four goals each in the second and third periods and 13 Johnnies recorded a point (four with three points apiece).

The home team followed a scoreless first period with four goals and hit the pipe twice in the second period. Junior defenseman Conner Couet (St. Michael, Minn.) opened the scoring with his second goal of the season – 4-on-4 – 4:45 in and senior forward Justin Thompson (Woodbury, Minn.) made it 2-0 2:25 later. 

The Auggies, however, battled back to tie the game at 2-2 with goals from Graham Harris (10:51) and Cole Schneider (16:15). The stalemate was short-lived though, as sophomore forward Chris Kernan (Maple Grove, Minn.) one-timed home a pretty pass from classmate Jack Wandmacher (St. Louis Park, Minn.) 15 seconds after Schneider's game-tying goal.

Sophomore forward Cam Boche (Lakeville, Minn.) gave the Johnnies a two-goal lead once again when he deflected a shot from the blue line from sophomore defenseman Parker Gnos (Excelsior, Minn.) with 1:33 left in the second.

Gnos started the four-goal third period with a seeing-eye shot for a goal 5:27 in and sophomore forward Jackson Bisson (Edina, Minn.) scored the first of two on the night during a delayed penalty at the 7:08 mark.

Sophomore forward Logan Lyke (Medina, Minn.) extended the lead to 7-2 with 6:44 remaining and Bisson ended the scoring with a power-play goal, his team-leading 10th tally of the season, 2:01 later.

Junior goaltender Jon Howe (Chanhassen, Minn.) made 35 saves for his fifth win of the season (5-6-1 record).

Saint John's 4, at Augsburg 1 (Feb. 15)
Ten different Johnnies recorded a point as SJU completed the series sweep of Augsburg with a 4-1 win on Saturday in Minneapolis.

Sophomore forward Jacob McPartland (Victoria, Minn.) put SJU on the scoreboard first with 3:23 left in the first period on a feed from behind the net by Boche.

Gnos made it 2-0 when his shot deflected off an Augsburg stick to the back of the net 3:24 into the third period, but Jake Hale cut the deficit in half for Augsburg with a sneaky shot off a faceoff win two minutes later.

Senior forward Spencer Rudrud (Eden Prairie, Minn.) padded the Johnnies' lead with his seventh goal of the season at the 10:21 mark and sophomore defenseman Sam Berry (St. Louis Park, Minn.) ended the scoring with a 6-on-4, shorthanded goal with an empty net with 11 seconds remaining. 

Senior goaltender Bailey Huber (Mahtomedi, Minn.) made 37 saves in the win.

EIGHT GOALS: The eight goals scored last Friday against Augsburg were the most for SJU in three years (an 8-3 win over Hamline on Feb. 7, 2022, at the Municipal Athletic Complex in St. Cloud) and the most against the Auggies since Jan. 12, 1990 – an identical score of 8-2 in Minneapolis.

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK: Gnos was named the MIAC Men's Hockey Defensive Player of the Week on Monday (Feb. 17) for his four-point (2g/2a) weekend – with a plus/minus rating of +4 – in last weekend's sweep of Augsburg. He currently leads SJU's defensemen with nine points (3g/6a) and is tied for the overall lead with two game-winning goals.

STAT COMPARISONS
Scoring Offense
3. SJU, 3.14 gpg. (3.00 overall)
6. CC, 2.79 gpg. (2.78 overall)

GAA
2. SJU, 2.40 (2.76 overall)
5. CC, 2.78 (2.78 overall)

Power Play
3. SJU, 21.1 percent/8-38 (15.9 percent/11-69 overall)
8. CC, 14.3 percent/6-42 (15.7 percent/13-83 overall)

Penalty Kill
1. SJU, 90.0 percent/36-40 (89.6 percent/60-67 overall)
5. CC, 83.0 percent/44-53 (81.0 percent/68-84 overall)

A LOOK AT THE COBBERS: Concordia (10-10-3, 6-5-3 MIAC) saw its unbeaten streak end at seven games (5-0-2 record) with a 6-2 loss at Bethel on Saturday (Feb. 15) in Blaine. Senior forward Isaac Henkemeyer-Howe leads the Cobbers in all three major statistical categories: goals (8), assists (11) and points (19). Senior forward Hunter Olson is next with 10 assists and 15 points, while junior forwards Joe Harguinedguy (5g/6a) and Caden Triggs (6g/5a) have 11 points apiece. Harguinedguy has four power-play goals. Sophomore goaltender Dane Couture is 10-7-3 with a 2.58 GAA and a .904 save percentage (470 saves).

LAST SEASON'S MEETINGS: The two teams split last season's series with the home team coming out victorious in each matchup. 

at Concordia 4, Saint John's 3 (Nov. 9, 2023)
SJU opened the 2023-24 conference schedule with a back-and-forth, 4-3 loss in overtime at Concordia back on Nov. 9 (2023). Cole O'Connell scored the game-winning goal for the Cobbers 53 seconds into the 3-on-3 overtime, minutes after 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. 
Henkemeyer-Howe gave the Cobbers a 1-0 lead with 1:22 left in the opening frame, 44 seconds after forward Lewis Crosby '24 hit the pipe on the other end of the rink. Senior forward Matt DeRosa (Alpharetta, Ga.), however, tied the game for SJU 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 McPartland tied the game with another wrap-around goal - his second tally in as many games - with 1:44 left before the second intermission.

Gnos 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.

Huber tied a then-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, 2023)
The Johnnies scored four goals on special teams – two on the power play and two shorthanded – in a 5-2 win over Concordia-Moorhead on Nov. 11 (2023) at the HBNHC. SJU built a 5-0 lead before the Cobbers erased the shutout with a pair of goals in the game's final 3:03.

Defenseman Jack Olsen '24 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.

Wandmacher made it 2-0 with his third goal of the young season two minutes later and Bisson 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 Lyke 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.

Howe 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.

SERIES HISTORY: The Johnnies are 50-38-7 against Concordia since the 1984-85 season, including a 17-5-2 record at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud. SJU has won or tied 37 of the last 52 meetings overall (34-15-3 record).