Men's Hockey 2/14/04 -- St. Thomas 7, Augsburg 2 

BOXSCORE

MENDOTA HEIGHTS, Minn. (2/14/04) -- The University of St. Thomas men's hockey team scored five unanswered goals in the second period and seven different players scored goals on the game in Saturday night's 7-2 victory over visiting Augsburg College in Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference action at St. Thomas Ice Arena.

The Tommies (13-5-2 overall, 11-0-1 MIAC) swept the weekend series, ran their unbeaten streak to 10, and are 13-1-2 in their last 16 games. They moved back into first place by one point over St. John's (11-1), which won Saturday afternoon to temporarily hold the lead. The Tommies and Johnnies play next weekend in a series which could determine the MIAC regular-season title.

Zach Sikich stopped 16 of 18 shots and Brandon Wilcox had a goal and three assists to lead St. Thomas, which is now 5-0 on its new home ice at Saint Thomas Ice Arena. Nick Harris, Darin Strand, Wilcox, John Bottoms and Dustan Lick scored second-period goals to build a 6-1 lead.

Augsburg got a first-period unassisted goal from Ben Sandvik (So., Rochester, Minn./Century HS) and a second-period goal from Joe Haehn (So., Minneapolis, Minn./Washburn HS), on assists from Tony Beaulieu (Fr., Shoreview, Minn./Mounds View HS) and Dave Nelson (So., Woodbury, Minn./South St. Paul HS).

St. Thomas outshot Augsburg by a 37-18 margin. Erik Young (Jr., White Bear Lake, Minn.) made 21 saves, but was pulled from the game midway through the second period before returning in the third. David Nash (So., Rochester, Minn./Mayo HS) made nine saves in 9:58 of work in the second period.

The Tommies host St. John's Friday and play next Saturday night in St. Cloud. They finish the regular-season Feb. 26 and Feb. 28 vs. Gustavus, while St. John's closes Feb. 27-28 with Augsburg.

The Auggies (7-11-4, 5-6-3), who host Minnesota-Crookston in a nonconference game next Saturday at 7:05 p.m. at the Augsburg Ice Arena, have a two-point lead on St. Olaf in the race for the fifth and final MIAC postseason playoff spot. The Oles, who lost Saturday to Gustavus, play seventh-place Concordia and ninth-place Hamline for their final four games with a chance to overtake the Auggies, who have just two MIAC games left, both with title contender St. John's.

Augsburg-------1/1/0--2
St. Thomas-----1/5/1--7

1st Period
1, ST-Dan Krmpotich (Brandon Wilcox, Dustan Lick) 2:23; 2, A-Ben Sandvik (unassisted) 4:55.

2nd Period
3, ST-Nick Harris (unasst.) 1:37; 4, ST-Darin Strand (John Bottoms, Colin Greenlees) 8:59; 5, ST-Wilcox (Connor Phippen, Skylar Kangas) 10:02; 6, Bottoms (Wilcox, Andrew Edwards) 13:24 pp; 7, Lick (Wilcox, Dan Krmpotich) 17:10; 8, A-Joe Haehn (Tony Beaulieu, Dave Nelson) 19:31.

3rd Period
9, ST-Anthony Blumer (Kevin Rollwagen) 11:30 pp.

Goalies
--Aug: Erik Young 50:02 min., 5 GA, 21 (11-3-7); David Nash 9:58 min., 2 GA, 9 saves (x-9-x)
--UST: Zach Sikich, 60 min., 2 GA, 16 saves (5-7-4)

Penalties
-Aug: 11 for 22 min.
-UST: 11 for 22 min.

Power Plays
-Aug: 0 for 7
-UST: 2 for 7