Men's Hockey 2/27/04 -- St. John's 4, Augsburg 0 

BOXSCORE

MINNEAPOLIS (2/27/04) -- St. John's University clinched its second straight Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men's hockey regular-season championship and sixth in school history, outshooting host Augsburg College by a 40-25 margin en route to a 4-0 shutout victory on Friday night at the Augsburg Ice Arena.

The Johnnies, ranked No. 4 in the latest U.S. College Hockey Online (www.uscho.com) Division III national poll, claimed their school-record 14th victory in a row in improving to 20-3-1 overall, 14-1-0 in MIAC play. St. John's also clinched the top spot in the five-team MIAC postseason playoffs.

Augsburg dropped to 8-12-4 overall and 5-7-3 in MIAC play, losing its third game in its last four starts.

With the loss, Augsburg was virtually eliminated from contention for the fifth and final spot in the conference playoffs. Augsburg is one victory and two conference points behind fifth-place St. Olaf (9-11-4 overall, 6-6-3 MIAC), as both teams have their final games of the regular season on Saturday (2/28). Augsburg finishes its series at St. John's at 2:05 p.m. at the National Hockey Center in St. Cloud, Minn., while St. Olaf plays at last-place Hamline at 7 p.m.

Should St. Olaf and Augsburg end up tied for fifth place, St. Olaf has virtually locked up the tiebreaker advantage based on the third tiebreaker consideration -- goal differential in league play. St. Olaf is currently at a zero goal differential (52 goals for, 52 against), while Augsburg is minus-15 (41 for, 56 against).

St. John's took an early lead on a first-period power-play goal from Joel Starke (Sr., Mankato, Minn./West HS), on assists from Kevin Willey (Sr., Maple Grove, Minn./Osseo HS) and Adam Holmgren (Jr., Blaine, Minn.).

The Johnnies clinched the victory with two goals in a 1:08 span midway through the second period. Darryl Smoleroff (So., Maple Grove, Minn.) scored from Willey and Justin Wild (Fr., Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson HS) at the 11:03 mark, and Scott Bjorklund (So., Moorhead, Minn.) scored from Ryan Langenbrunner (So., Cloquet, Minn.) and Aaron Getchell (So., Corcoran, Minn./Maple Grove HS) at the 12:11 mark.

St. John's got its final goal at the 1:20 mark of the third period, as Andy Johnson (Fr., Chaska, Minn.) scored from Starke and Smoleroff.

Adam Hanna (So., Owatonna, Minn.) claimed his third shutout of the season in goal for the Johnnies, stopping all 25 shots he faced. Erik Young (Jr., White bear Lake, Minn.) stopped 36 shots in goal for Augsburg.