BOXSCORE

WINONA, Minn. -- Nick Guran (JR, McHenry, Ill./McHenry East HS) claimed his third career hat trick, leading Augsburg College to a series sweep with a 5-3 win over St. Mary's University in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men's hockey game on Saturday night at the St. Mary's Ice Arena.

Justin Lochner (SO, Sauk Rapids, Minn./Sauk Rapids-Rice HS) stopped 37 shots for Augsburg (10-8-3 overall, 4-6-2 MIAC), which was outshot by a 40-32 margin by St. Mary's (4-15-2 overall, 3-7-2 MIAC).

With the sweep of the Cardinals, Augsburg moved into a tie for fifth place in the MIAC standings with 10 conference points. Augsburg has two weekends of conference play remaining, and the top five teams in the league standings will clinch berths in the MIAC's postseason playoffs.

Augsburg built a 4-0 lead in the second period, before St. Mary's rallied with two goals to cut the lead to 4-2 at the 16:51 mark of the third period. Cory Ellertson (SR, Albert Lea, Minn.) put the Auggies on the board with a goal from Tim Serratore (FY, Colorado Springs, Colo./Pine Creek HS) and Kris Reinthaler (SO, Graz, Austria/Spring Creek Academy (Texas) HS) at the 8:52 mark of the first period, and Guran scored a power-play goal from David Hines (JR, Sartell, Minn./St. Cloud Tech HS) and Joel Sauer (SR, Madison, Wis./Memorial HS).

Reinthaler scored from Brandon Bukowski (JR, Superior, Wis.) and Trevor Doden (JR, Red Wing, Minn.) at the 3:45 mark of the second period, and Guran put his second goal in the net at the 10:37 mark, assisted by Jim Jensen (SR, Plymouth, Minn./Osseo HS) and Sauer.

Guran currently stands second among Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference players in overall scoring with 16 goals, while tied for second in total points with 29, according to the Collegehockeystats.net website. Meanwhile, Sauer leads the MIAC in overall total points with 31, while standing second in assists with 19.

St. Mary's cut the lead with goals by Tommy Healy and Kevin Wentland, but Guran put the Auggies ahead 5-2 with his third goal of the game, assisted by Jensen, with 2:30 remaining in the game. St. Mary's finished the scoring with a goal from Bobby Thompson in the final minute of play.

Augsburg returns to MIAC play with a series against St. Olaf next weekend, with Friday's (2/11) game at 8 p.m. in Northfield, Minn., and Saturday's (2/12) game at 7:05 p.m. at Ed Saugestad Rink.