Men's Hockey 1/10/03 -- Augsburg 9, Hamline 4 

BOXSCORE

ST. PAUL, Minn. (1/10/03) -- Augsburg College scored six goals in the second period, en route to a 9-4 victory over host Hamline University in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men's hockey game Friday night at the State Fair Coliseum.

Brad Holzinger (Sr., North Oaks, Minn./Hill-Murray HS) had two goals and two assists to lead Augsburg. The Auggies, now 9-5-0 overall and 4-3-0 in MIAC play, have won nine of their last 12 games, shaking the rust off a 27-day break for the holidays. Hamline is now 3-9-2 overall and 3-3-1 in MIAC play.

Heading into the second period tied at 2-2, Augsburg scored two early goals to take a 4-2 advantage. Collin Nash's (Jr., Rochester, Minn./Mayo HS) goal at 6:11 of the second gave the Auggies the lead. Two minutes later, the Pipers gave up a short-handed goal, when Holzinger intercepted a pass at the blue line and skated in for a breakaway goal.

The Pipers answered with forward Andy Letourneau's (Fr., Duluth, Minn.) first collegiate goal, a power-play tally, at the 9:59 mark of the second.

After trading goals to make the score 5-4, the Auggies scored three unanswered goals to take a commanding lead. Forward Brady Fougner's (Fr., International Falls, Minn.) goal at 15:05 chased starting goaltender Robert Fuchs (Sr., Richmond, B.C.). His replacement, John Harstad (So., Alexandria, Minn.), didn't fare much better, giving up goals to Holzinger and Brad Schwartzbauer (Sr., White Bear Lake, Minn.) before the period ended.

The Pipers fell behind early in the contest, spotting Augsburg a 2-0 lead in the first period. Kyle Holzinger's (Fr., North Oaks, Minn./Hill-Murray HS) goal at 4:48 opened the scoring. Less than a minute later, Matt Svidron (Jr., Apple Valley, Minn.) tallied a goal to give the Auggies a 2-0 lead.

Hamline fought back to even the score later in the period. Senior Ethan Allen (Sr., Delta Junction, Alaska), playing his first game of the season as forward after playing the first 13 games as a defenseman, netted his first goal of the season with 6:14 elapsed in the first. Forward Lubos Taragel (So., Bratislava, Slovakia) tied the score on a breakaway goal at the 14:58 point of the first. Freshman Griffin Kilby (Fr., Duluth, Minn.) found Taragel behind the defense for the easy breakaway.

Fuchs made 18 saves on 24 shots in the contest. Harstad came in to make six saves in nine attempts. Auggie netminder Erik Young (So., White Bear Lake, Minn.) made 35 saves to earn the victory.

Brad Bjorgum (Jr., Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview HS) had a goal for the Auggies. Nash had a goal and two assists. Svidron had a goal and assist, as did Fougner. Tarik Yumusaklar (Fr., Lakeville, Minn.) and Jaro Cesky (Sr., Prague, Czech Republic) had two assists each.

The two teams will square off again Saturday (1/11) at 7 p.m. at the Augsburg Ice Arena.