Saint John's opens its series with Hamline at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 29, at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud and visits the Pipers for a 7 p.m. game on Friday, Jan. 30, at the TRIA Rink in St. Paul.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
-Thursday, Jan. 29 in St. Cloud: Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM) | Live Stats | Live Video
-Friday, Jan. 30 in St. Paul: Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM) | Live Stats | Live Video
 
A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (8-5-4, 3-2-3 MIAC) tallied only one of the six possible points last weekend against Saint Mary's.
 
t-Saint John's 2, at Saint Mary's 2 (OT; SMU, 1-0; Jan. 22)
SJU scored the first and last goals of regulation and senior goaltender Jon Howe (Chanhassen, Minn.) made clutch saves down the stretch, but five SMU power-play opportunities to the Johnnies' one gave the Cardinals room to score a pair of goals in the second period. The Johnnies went scoreless and Saint Mary's found the back of the net on its second shootout attempt to earn the extra point in the conference standings.
 
Senior defenseman Michael Spinner (Prior Lake, Minn.) scored his first goal of the season and the fourth of his career on a shot from the point for the first lead 9:04 into the game. The Johnnies' line of freshman Tyler Smith (Carver, Minn.), freshman Seth Terhell (Cambridge, Minn.) and senior Rob Christy (St. Paul, Minn.) rotated the puck around the Cardinal zone before Smith moved it up to senior defenseman Zach Enebak (Lakeville, Minn.) at the blue line. Enebak fed his defensive partner Spinner, who beat SMU freshman goaltender Adam Prokop on the slide through traffic.
 
Howe made six first-period saves, including a back-door robbery on the Cardinals' first power play of the game, to keep the visitors ahead at the break.
 
SJU was issued a 5-minute major penalty with 10.9 seconds left in the first period, and held Saint Mary's to three shots on goal with the player advantage after SMU entered the game seventh in NCAA Division III on the power play at 28.0 percent (21-for-75).
 
While the Johnnie PK held through the major penalty, the home team evened the score at one apiece on their fourth power-play opportunity of the game after SJU was whistled for too many men on the ice. A redirect from junior Carter Newpower, cousin of Johnnie sophomore forward Jordan Newpower (Lino Lakes, Minn.), beat Howe midway through the second.
 
The Cardinals took a 2-1 lead two minutes later, as a long pass beat the Saint John's defense and Howe was unable to cash in another back-door save on Joona Juntunen, who entered Thursday's game as the MIAC's leading scorer with 29 points (14g/15a).
 
Junior forward Chris Kernan (Maple Grove, Minn.) forced SJU's fourth overtime game of the season with a tying goal 13 minutes into the final period of regulation. After a shot from junior forward Jackson Bisson (Edina, Minn.) sailed high and wide of the net, the bounce off the boards landed on the stick of classmate Jack Wandmacher (St. Louis Park, Minn.), who delivered a quick pass across the crease to Kernan to tap in for his fourth goal of the season and 15th of his career.
 
Each team had a fair share of chances in the extra period, but SMU saved the best scoring opportunity for last, forcing Howe to face a breakaway 20 seconds ahead of the ensuing shootout. Howe saved the initial shot from Colin Tushie on the rush and sprawled for two quick blocks on the other side of the net from Juntunen to set up his third shootout of the season.
 
Freshman forward Carter Krenke (Bloomington, Minn.), senior forward Jackson Borst (Edina, Minn.) and Wandmacher missed on their three shootout opportunities, while SMU's Newpower scored the decider to earn his team an extra MIAC point.
 
Saint Mary's scored its 29th power play goal of the season on one of their five attempts, while the Johnnies came up empty on just one opportunity. The SJU penalty kill played nearly half a period (11:41) of ice time and managed five shots on goal, while allowing just six.
 
Saint John's led in shots (29-21) and faceoffs (28-23), while Howe finished with 19 saves, including three in OT.
 
Saint Mary's 3, at Saint John's 1 (Jan. 24)
Penalties cost SJU once more, as a Johnnie was whistled for a 5-minue major early in the first period – the second major penalty of the weekend – which led to the Cardinals' first goal of the game. Saint Mary's scored another four minutes later and an empty-netter to end the game after withstanding a flurry of attempts from the Johnnies in the second and third periods.
 
The major penalty came 3:23 into the contest and SMU took advantage of the power play less than a minute later when Joona Juntunen scored his first of two goals on the night. SMU followed with a nifty passing play 4:35 later to beat Howe and carry a 2-0 lead into the second period.
 
Kernan cut the lead in half with his fifth goal of the season and second of the series 2:27 after the first intermission. Wandmacher gathered a SMU rebound and sent the breakout pass to Kernan who took a quick shot that snuck under the elbow of Cardinal goalie Adam Prokop.
 
Saint John's out-shot the visitors 34-19 in the final two periods, including a 20-7 margin in the final 20 minutes. Eleven different Johnnies had a shot on goal in the third and the home team generated a number of quality scoring chances, but were ultimately denied by Prokop in the crease. SJU was awarded a power play amidst a surge of offensive pressure at 8:12 of the third period, but it was nullified three seconds later with a call against the Johnnies off the faceoff.
 
SJU pulled Howe for the extra skater with 1:48 remaining in regulation and generated three shots, including two off the stick of Bisson, but Juntunen eventually broke free to skate in his MIAC-leading 17th goal of the season into the empty net.
 
Howe finished with 31 saves between the pipes while his counterpart Prokop made 44. Senior captain Mason Campbell (Rosemount, Minn.) led Saint John's with seven total shots on goal.
 
STAT COMPARISONS (ranked by conference play)
Scoring Offense
5. SJU, 3.25 gpg. (3.53 overall)
7. HU, 2.40 gpg. (2.29 overall)
 
GAA
2. SJU, 2.42 (2.71 overall)
8. HU, 3.63 (4.08 overall)
 
Power Play
4. SJU, .227/5-22 (.208/10-48 overall)
5. HU, .216/8-37 (.217/15-69 overall)
 
Penalty Kill
7. HU, .757/28-37 (.742/46-62 overall)
8. SJU, .704/19-27 (.712/42-59)
 
A LOOK AT THE PIPERS: Hamline (4-11-3, 4-4-2 MIAC) snapped a nine-game winless streak (0-6-3 record) with a 2-0 shutout of Augsburg on Saturday (Jan. 24) in St. Paul. Freshman defenseman Tristen May-Robinson leads the team in assists (10) and points (13), followed by junior forward Will Matzke (3g/9a), junior forward Brock Carls (4g/7a) and junior forward AJ Carls (6g/4a). Junior goaltender Keaton French has made eight of the team's 17 starts in net and is 2-5-1 with a 4.04 GAA and an .865 save percentage (211 saves). Freshman goaltender Cade Chapman (1-1-2, 2.15 GAA, .935 save percentage) recorded the 29-save shutout Saturday against the Auggies.
 
LAST SEASON'S SERIES: The two teams split the 2024-25 series with the home team claiming the win in each game.       
 
at Saint John's 4, Hamline 2 (Jan. 30, 2025)
SJU scored the game's final two goals for a 4-2 victory over Hamline last Jan. 30 (2025) in St. Cloud. Forward Justin Thompson '25 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. Senior 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. Bisson 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.
 
Captain Matt DeRosa '25 then found Borst 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 not get past goaltender Bailey Huber '25, 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, 2025)
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.
 
SERIES HISTORY: The Johnnies are 60-29-8 against the Pipers since the 1981-82 season, including a 19-7-5 record in the last 31 meetings (8-2-3 at SJU, 8-5-2 at HU and 3-0 at a neutral site).