Saint John's hockey opens a key series against Gustavus Adolphus at 7 p.m. this Friday, Feb. 6, in St. Peter. The two teams wrap the weekend with a 7 p.m. puck drop on Saturday, Feb. 7, at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud.

LIVE COVERAGE
-Friday, Feb. 6 in St. Peter: Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM) | Live Stats | Live Video
-Saturday, Feb. 7 in St. Cloud: Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM) | Live Stats | Live Video

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (10-5-4, 5-2-3 MIAC) earned a sweep of Hamline, 4-2 and 6-2, last weekend (Jan. 29-30).

at Saint John's 4, Hamline 2 (Jan. 29)
Junior forward Cam Boche (Lakeville, Minn.) scored twice and the Johnnies held steadfast through the final minutes of the third period to clinch their series-opening victory over the Pipers. SJU surrendered a pair of power play goals late in the third, but a full-ice shorthanded empty-netter from senior defenseman Conner Couet (St. Michael, Minn.) sealed the win as time ticked down.
 
Senior goaltender Jon Howe (Chanhassen, Minn.) and his Hamline counterpart on the other end of the ice each made double-digit saves to keep the two teams deadlocked at 0-0 at the end of the first period.

Boche broke the shutout 5:29 into the second with his first power play goal of the season. After senior captain Mason Campbell's (Rosemount, Minn.) shot drifted wide of the net, freshman defenseman Cashen Naeve (Independence, Minn.) picked up the rebound on the half-wall and found Boche all alone in the slot who drilled it into the left corner of the net. SJU's lead held for the rest of the period, as Howe tacked on 12 more saves to his total.

A Campbell shot from the point helped SJU score the first goal of a five-goal third, as junior Logan Lyke (Medina, Minn.) tucked away his team-leading ninth goal of the season off a rebound in front 3:39 after the second intermission.

Boche scored his second of the game and the eventual game-winner halfway through the final frame, intercepting a bad Piper pass and maneuvering to his backhand to beat HU goaltender Cade Chapman.

Saint John's was penalized four times after Boche's goal, and Hamline converted twice with the player advantage. The Johnnies were whistled for too many men on the ice with 29 seconds to play in regulation and the Pipers pulled Chapman for the extra skater. Lyke drew the puck to the half-wall for Naeve who touched it to his defensive partner Couet. Couet launched the puck down the center of the ice to clear the zone and found the back of the empty net to erase any hopes of a Piper comeback.

Four Johnnies finished with two points apiece and Howe earned his eighth victory with his fifth 40-save performance of the season.

Saint John's 6, at Hamline 2 (Jan. 30)
The Johnnies scored three goals in a span of six minutes to pull away from the Pipers and dominated the play of the game despite nearly half a period of penalty minutes. Eleven different players had a point in the win, including a three-point outing for senior defenseman Michael Spinner (Prior Lake, Minn.) and a two-goal game for freshman forward Carter Krenke (Bloomington, Minn.).

Krenke started the scoring in a relatively mild first period, tallying his eighth goal of the season 5:16 after the first puck drop. After he and classmate Jordan Larkee (St. Paul, Minn.) nearly converted on the rush, a failed Hamline clear ended at the point on the stick of Spinner. Krenke redirected Spinner's shot for the Johnnies first lead of the game.

Hamline knotted it at one at the end of the first, as Tyler Jordan converted on the power play off an uncontested shot in the slot.

SJU broke the 1-1 stalemate with three goals in the first nine minutes of the second period, including two on back-to-back shifts. Krenke gave the lead back to SJU for good with his third goal of the season 2:53 into the second period. After a Hamline rush, sophomore defenseman George Moore III (Edina, Minn.) cruised down the ice on the breakout, catching the Pipers in a change to form a 3-on-1. He made a pass to Larkee across the crease, who one-touched it to Krenke for the quick shot and a perfect tic-tac-toe goal.

Junior forward Jacob McPartland (Victoria, Minn.) tacked another on 41 seconds after Larkee's tally, redirecting a shot-pass from sophomore forward Jordan Newpower (Lino Lakes, Minn.) for his fifth goal of the season. Moore III kept the puck in the offensive zone for the Johnnies and sent a pass across the ice for Newpower, who leaped in the air to keep it in play and set up his teammate.

Spinner got in on the scoring spree at the 8:36 mark of the second period, joining the rush late to form a 3-on-2. Junior forward Jack Wandmacher (St. Louis Park, Minn.) made the patience play to his defenseman who put the Johnnies up 4-1 with his second goal of the season.

Tristen May-Robinson cut the Pipers' deficit with another power-play goal, HU's fourth of the series, to cap a four-goal second period.

Lyke returned the favor on the power play 5:51 into the third, as the Johnnies once again connected with three quick passes to beat Piper goaltender Cade Chapman. After SJU rotated back into its power play formation, Couet made a high-to-low pass for junior forward Chris Kernan (Maple Grove, Minn.), who tapped it across the crease for Lyke's team-leading 10th goal of the season.

Senior forward Rob Christy (St. Paul, Minn.) ended the game's scoring with an empty-net goal, his first of the season and fifth of his career, with 1:27 remaining.

Howe made 19 saves in the win as SJU out-shot the home team 29-21. The Johnnies held the edge in the faceoff circle 42-24 and kept Hamline to single-digit wins in each period.

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK: Spinner was named the MIAC Men's Hockey Defensive Player of the Week on Monday (Feb. 2) after he totaled three points (1g/2a) with a team-leading +5 and three blocked shots in the Johnnies' weekend sweep of Hamline. He added a pair of shots on goal and helped SJU hold Hamline to just 19 shots on goal in Friday's 6-2 win and was not on the ice for any of Hamline's power-play goals.

STAT COMPARISONS (ranked by conference play)
Scoring Offense
t2. SJU, 3.60 (3.68 overall)
t2. GAC, 3.60 (3.74 overall)

GAA
2. SJU, 2.34 (2.48 overall)
5. GAC, 2.57 (2.70 overall)

Power Play
5. SJU, .226/7-31 (.211/12-57 overall)
6. GAC, .186/8-43 (.257/19-74 overall)

Penalty Kill
8. SJU, .700/28-40 (.708/51-72 overall)
9. GAC, .683/28-41 (.750/57-76 overall)

A LOOK AT THE GUSTIES: Gustavus Adolphus (13-5-1, 8-2-0 MIAC) swept Bethel – 7-4 and 2-1 in overtime – last weekend (Jan. 30-31) to extend its win streak to 11 games (13-1-1 since dropping the season's first four games). Junior forward Drew Holt leads the Gusties with 16 points (1g/15a), while junior forward Grant Ellings (8g/6a) and senior forward Wilmer Svensson (10g/4a) are next with 14 points apiece. Junior goaltender Marko Belak is 8-3 with a 2.32 GAA and a .912 save percentage (289 saves).

LAST SEASON: The Johnnies collected one of the six possible points last year against Gustavus.

t-at Saint John's 2, Gustavus Adolphus 2 (OT; GAC, 1-0; Feb. 7, 2025)
The Gusties collected the extra point in the MIAC standings with a goal from Svensson in the fifth round to win the shootout, 1-0.

Kernan tallied the game-tying goal for SJU on a one-timer from classmate Jackson Bisson (Edina, Minn.) with 6:26 left in regulation.

GAC gained an early 1-0 lead when Jack Anderson ripped a shot from the point that Hunter Newhouse deflected past Howe 5:25 into the game. Howe finished with 29 saves.

McPartland tied the game at 1-1 when he slapped home a rebound of his own shot 1:55 into the second period, but Drew Holt gave the lead back to the Gusties two seconds after the Johnnies killed off a power play with 42 seconds left in the frame.

SJU posted a 38-31 advantage in shots, including a 28-20 margin after the first period, but went 0-for-4 on the power play (to GAC's 0-for-3 showing).

at Gustavus Adolphus 3, Saint John's 0 (Feb. 8, 2025)
Gustavus broke a scoreless stalemate with three third-period goals to hand Saint John's a 3-0 loss in St. Peter.  Joey Gimberlin scored what proved to be the game-winning goal for Gustavus 8:31 into the third period and connected with Holt on a long saucer pass for a short breakaway goal with 3:15 to play. Nate Stone ended the game's scoring with an empty-net goal at the 18:06 mark.

The win was the Gusties' first over Saint John's since Feb. 16, 2018 (2-1 in St. Peter).

Bailey Huber '25 made 28 saves in the loss as GAC recorded a 31-25 edge in shots.

SERIES HISTORY: The Johnnies are 11-1-1 in the last 13 meetings against the Gusties (15-3-3 in the last 21) and lead the series with a 45-14-10 record since 1995 (27-5-4 in the series at home since the 1992-93 season).