Johnnie Hockey opens a weekend series against Gustavus Adolphus at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 7, at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud. The two teams then face off at 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 8, in St. Peter.

LIVE COVERAGE
-Friday, Feb. 7 (in St. Cloud): Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM/95.7 FM) | Live Stats | Live Video

-Saturday, Feb. 8 (in St. Peter): Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM/95.7 FM) | Live Stats | Live Video

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (8-11, 5-5 MIAC) settled for the series split with Hamline last weekend.

at Saint John's 4, Hamline 2 (Jan. 31)
SJU scored the game's final two goals for a 4-2 victory over Hamline last Thursday (Jan. 30) in St. Cloud. 

Senior forward Justin Thompson (Woodbury, Minn.) scored what proved to be the game-winning goal, his third tally of the season and 20th point as a Johnnie, with 3:04 left in the second period.

Junior defenseman Conner Couet (St. Michael, Minn.) ended the scoring with his first goal of the season and second of his SJU career 2:22 into the third.

The Johnnies gained a 2-0 lead in the second half of the first period with a pair of goals on special teams. Sophomore forward Jackson Bisson (Edina, Minn.) found the back of the net on the power play, his sixth tally of the season, 13:11 into the game on a one-timer from Thompson.

Senior captain Matt DeRosa (Alpharetta, Ga.) then found sophomore forward Jackson Borst (Edina, Minn.) on the blue line for a shorthanded, breakaway goal 2:07 later. The shorthanded goal was SJU's first of the season and Borst's 15th career point.

Tanner Rausch cut the deficit in half, 2-1, when he put away his own rebound with 2:33 remaining in the opening period and Brandon McNamara tied the game for HU with a power-play goal 5:05 into the second.

The Pipers recorded 10 of the game's final 11 shots on goal but could get past senior goaltender Bailey Huber (Mahtomedi, Minn.), who made 28 saves to improve to 4-4 on the season.

Both teams went 1-for-4 on the man advantage and SJU finished with a 36-30 margin in shots.

at Hamline 5, Saint John's 2 (Feb. 1)
The Pipers built a 3-0 lead and scored two empty-net goals after Bisson cut the deficit to 3-2 with a pair of power-play goals for SJU in the third period. 

Calvin Knight gave the home team a quick 1-0 lead 1:35 into the game and Brock Carls extended the lead five minutes later (6:32). Will Matzke gave HU a 3-0 advantage 5:58 into the second period.

The Johnnies finally broke through when Bisson lit the lamp with his first of two power-play goals, his second tally of the series, 24 seconds into the third period. 

He cut the Johnnies' deficit to one (3-2) with his team-leading ninth goal of the season with 3:15 remaining. 

The Pipers, however, took advantage of the empty net with goals from Carson Simon (18:47) and Jonah Mortenson (19:35). Huber made 30 saves in the loss.

STAT COMPARISONS
Scoring Offense
1. GAC, 4.30 gpg. (3.84 overall) *No. 13 in Division III
t3. SJU, 3.00 gpg. (3.00 overall)

GAA
1. GAC, 2.30 (2.47 overall)
4. SJU, 2.70 (3.10 overall)

Power Play
2. SJU, 24.1 percent/7-29 (16.4 percent/10-61 overall)
3. GAC, 24.0 percent/6-25 (21.2 percent/14-66 overall)

Penalty Kill
2. SJU, 86.2 percent/25-29 (86.2 percent/49-56 overall) *No. 10 in Division III
6. GAC, 79.3 percent/23-29 (85.9 percent/55-64 overall) *No. 14 in Division III

A LOOK AT THE GUSTIES: Gustavus Adolphus (12-7, 8-2 MIAC) split a pair of overtime games last weekend against Bethel: W, 4-3 on Friday (Jan. 31) in St. Peter and L, 4-5 (Feb. 1) in Blaine. Senior forward Jack Suchy touts a +13 and leads the team in all three offensive categories: goals (11), assists (12) and points (23). Sophomore forward Hunter Newhouse is next in goals (10) and points (18) – with a team-best four game-winning goals – while freshman forward Jack Wineman is tied with Suchy with 12 assists and is third in points (16). Freshman Colin Androlewicz (5-3, 2.33 GAA, .898) and sophomore Marko Belak (6-4, 2.57, .887) have nine starts in goal each.

LAST SEASON: The Johnnies swept the Gusties for the fifth-straight season in 2023-24.

at Saint John's 3, Gustavus Adolphus 2 (Jan. 5, 2024)
SJU tallied all three goals in the first period and held on for a 3-2 win over Gustavus at the HBNHC.

Forward Max Borst '24 gave SJU, which scored two goals on its first three shots on net, a quick 1-0 lead on a shot from the left faceoff circle 39 seconds into the game for his second goal of the season and 16th of his career.

Senior forward Garrett Smith (Eden Prairie, Minn.) deflected a shot from senior defenseman Cooper Anderson (White Bear Lake, Minn.) with 5:16 elapsed for his first tally of the season and second of his career.

Sophomore forward Jacob McPartland (Victoria, Minn.) made it 3-0 when he one-timed a short pass from sophomore defenseman Parker Gnos (Excelsior, Minn.) for his third goal of the season with 35 seconds remaining in the frame.

Connor Mahony erased the shutout for Gustavus with a power-play goal halfway (9:54) through the second period and Stanislav Danaev cut the visitors' deficit to one 1:16 later, seconds after the Johnnies failed to record a shot on goal during a 3-on-1 rush.

Junior goaltender Jon Howe (Chanhassen, Minn.) made 32 saves, including three with an extra skater on the ice (and the goaltender pulled) during the final minute of play, to even his season record at 3-3-1.

The Gusties posted a 13-6 shot advantage in the third period to finish with a 34-32 edge for the game. GAC went 1-for-5 on the power play and killed off all three opportunities for SJU, which saw its power-play drought increase to six games (7.7 percent/4-for-52 this season).

Saint John's 5, at Gustavus Adolphus 1 (Jan. 6, 2024)
Twenty-four hours after SJU scored three first-period goals in last night's 3-2 win, the Johnnies tallied two more to gain a 2-0 lead in St. Peter. Defenseman Jack Olsen '24 opened the scoring with a 5-on-3, power-play goal - his third tally of the season and seventh of his career - 8:50 into the game. The power-play goal was the Johnnies' first since Nov. 24 and snapped a 0-for-25 drought.

Senior forward Matt DeRosa (Alpharetta, Ga.) then made it 2-0 with his team-leading sixth goal of the season 2:51 later.

Jackson Borst padded the Johnnies' lead with his first collegiate goal with 3:04 remaining in the second period and Smith made it 4-0 with his second goal in as many nights 3:03 into the third period. Kylar Fenton, however, erased the shutout for GAC 16 seconds after Smith's tally.

DeRosa ended the game's scoring with his second goal of the night at the 14:02 mark of the third period.

Huber made 22 saves in the win, including six on the penalty kill as the Gusties went 0-for-6 with a man advantage.

SERIES HISTORY: SJU has won 11 in a row against Gustavus – a 15-2-2 record over the last 19 meetings – and leads the series with a 45-13-9 record since 1995. The Johnnies are 27-5-3 against the Gusties at home since the 1992-93 season, including a 25-4-3 mark in the last 32 games at the HBNHC.