Men's Hockey 2/7/03 -- Augsburg 4, St. Thomas 2 

BOXSCORE

MINNEAPOLIS (2/7/03) -- Chad Moore (Sr., Lakeville, Minn.) and Collin Nash (Jr., Rochester, Minn./Mayo HS) scored goals 55 seconds apart, part of a three-goal Augsburg College third period comeback en route to a 4-2, come-from-behind victory over the University of St. Thomas in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men's hockey game Friday night at the Augsburg Ice Arena.

With the win, Augsburg has clinched at least a third-place finish in the MIAC standings with one conference game remaining, Saturday's (2/8) series finale at the State Fair Coliseum in St. Paul, Minn. Augsburg, with 20 points in the MIAC season, vaulted past St. Thomas (18 points) into the second-place position in the MIAC standings, behind league leader St. John's.

Augsburg is now 15-7-0 overall and 10-5-0 in MIAC play, winning its sixth game in its last seven starts and eighth in its last 10. Augsburg clinched its second-most wins in a season under seventh-year head coach Mike Schwartz, who is 97-70-18 in his career at Augsburg. Augsburg has won at least 10 games in each of Schwartz's seven seasons, including a 21-8-4, national fourth-place finish in the 1997-98 season.

Defending conference champion St. Thomas drops to 14-6-2 overall, 9-3-1 in MIAC play. In addition to Saturday's home game against the Auggies, St. Thomas has one more MIAC series to go, against St. John's next weekend.

St. Thomas took a 2-1 lead into the locker room after two periods, but Augsburg pounced on the Tommies in the third period, scoring two quick goals. Moore put home the first goal on assists from Jaro Cesky (Sr., Prague, Czech Republic) and Brady Fougner (Fr., International Falls, Minn.) at the 2:16 mark, and Nash got the eventual game-winner on feeds from Fougner and Dave Nelson (Fr., Woodbury, Minn./South St. Paul HS) at the 3:11 mark.

Cesky added an empty-net goal in the final minute, on a steal from Nash, to cap the win for the Auggies.

Fougner put the Auggies in front early with a goal from Cesky and Brad Schwartzbauer (Sr., White Bear Lake, Minn.) at the 6:31 mark of the first period. But St. Thomas quickly tied the game, as Brandon Wilcox (Fr., Apple Valley, Minn.) scored from Ryan Fougner (So., International Falls, Minn.) and John Bottoms (Fr., Hibbing, Minn.) at the 8:27 mark.

Bottoms put the Tommies in front at the 11:37 mark of the second period, on assists from Dan Krmpotich (Fr., Eden Prairie, Minn.) and T.J. Renskers (Fr., Hibbing, Minn.).

The game was an even-matched, entertaining affair throughout, as St. Thomas held a slender 31-30 shots advantage. Pete Samargia (Sr., Gilbert, Minn./Eveleth-Gilbert HS) picked up the win in goal for the Auggies, scoring his fourth victory in a row with 29 saves. Zach Sikich (So., Gilbert, Minn./Eveleth-Gilbert HS) took the loss, making 26 saves.