Men's Hockey 1/17/03 -- Augsburg 6, St. Mary's 3 

BOXSCORE

MINNEAPOLIS (1/17/03) Goalie Erik Young (So., White Bear Lake, Minn.) made a career-high 53 saves, leading Augsburg College in a 6-3 victory over St. Mary's University in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men's hockey game Friday night at the Augsburg Ice Arena.

Despite being outshot by a 56-25 margin, the Auggies scored two goals in every period, including two from Tarik Yumusaklar (Fr., Lakeville, Minn.) in the final stanza, after St. Mary's had cut the lead to 4-3 midway through the third period.

Augsburg improves to 10-6-0 overall and 5-4-0 in MIAC play, winning its sixth game in its last nine starts. St. Mary's drops to 9-6-1 overall and 3-4-0 in MIAC play, dropping its third game in a row.

St. Mary's outshot Augsburg in every period, including advantages of 19-7 in both the second and third frames. But Young, who transferred to Augsburg this season from the Division I University of Minnesota, was up to the task.

Augsburg built a 4-1 lead after two periods, as Augsburg's top two lines accounted for all the scoring on the four goals. Brad Holzinger (Sr., North Oaks, Minn./Hill-Murray HS), David May (So., Burnsville, Minn.) and Brady Fougner (Fr., International Falls, Minn.) had a goal and assist each, with Brad Schwarzbauer (Sr., White Bear Lake, Minn.) adding the first Auggie goal.

St. Mary's cut into the lead in the second period, when Eric Thom (Jr., Portland, Ore.) scored at the 11:48 mark.

The Cardinals trimmed the lead to one goal in the third period on two power-play goals, the first from Lenny Hofmann (Jr., Sartell, Minn.) at the 2:11 mark and the second from Al Schumacher (Jr., Oakdale, Minn.), who deposited his team-high 17th goal of the season at the 10:01 mark.

The Cardinals ended up 2-for-5 on the power play. Penalty killing has been Augsburg's Achilles' heel this season, as the Auggies have surrendered 22 power play goals on 74 opportunities (29.7 percent).

But Augsburg cemented the win behind the third line, as Yumusaklar scored twice in a 3:53 span, the first a one-timer on a brilliant feed from Cody Swanson (Fr., Vermillion, Minn./Hastings HS), the second completing a rush from Brad Bjorgum (Jr., Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview HS) and Dave Nelson (Fr., Woodbury, Minn./South St. Paul HS).

Steve Belde (So., Lake Elmo, Minn./Hill-Murray HS), Collin Nash (Jr., Rochester, Minn./Mayo HS), Jaro Cesky (Sr., Prague, Czech Republic) and Chad Moore (Sr., Lakeville, Minn.) also had assists for the Auggies.

Thom added an assist for a two-point night to lead the Cardinals, while Marcus Reszka (Fr., Winona, Minn./Rochester Lourdes HS) and Chad Damerow (So., Albert Lea, Minn.) added assists.

Curtis Nosal (Fr., Omaha, Neb.) made 19 saves in goal for St. Mary's.

The teams complete the MIAC series on Saturday (1/18) at 7 p.m. at the SMU Ice Arena in Winona, Minn.