Men's Hockey 1/14/05 -- Augsburg 4, St. Mary's 4 (OT)

BOXSCORE

MINNEAPOLIS (1/14/05) -- Critter Nagurski (So., International Falls, Minn.) had two goals and an assist in a 2:23 span midway through the second period to lead Augsburg College back from an early 3-0 deficit, and Steve Belde (Sr., Lake Elmo, Minn./Hill-Murray HS) scored the game-tying goal with 32 seconds left in regulation, as Augsburg College scored a 4-4 overtime tie with St. Mary's University in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men's hockey game Friday night at the Augsburg Ice Arena.

David Gross (Fr., Grasston, Minn./Pine City HS) and Adam Gill (Fr., Rochester, Minn.) had a goal and assist each for St. Mary's, which built leads of 3-0 and 4-3 before Augsburg rallied for the draw.

Augsburg is now 6-5-3 overall and 3-1-1 in MIAC play, while St. Mary's drops to 5-8-1 overall, 1-3-1 in MIAC play. The teams conclude the MIAC series on Saturday (1/15) at 7 p.m. at the SMU Arena in Winona, Minn.

The game was a penalty-filled affair, as the teams combined for 27 penalties for 98 minutes -- 16 penalties for 65 minutes for Augsburg, 11 penalties for 33 minutes for St. Mary's. An Augsburg player was ejected in the first period with a game disqualification after a fight, and two Augsburg players and one St. Mary's player were ejected with game disqualifications on a fight as the overtime periond ended. The four players will not be able to play in Saturday's series finale.

St. Mary's scored first, taking advantage of the early five-minute major penalty for the first-period fight. Graham Murphy (So., Webster Groves, Mo.) scored from Cullum Buetow-Staples (So., Arden Hills, Minn.) on the power play at the 12:34 mark. The Cardinals built the lead to 3-0 early in the second period, as Adam Fingerhut (Jr., Oak Brook, Ill.) scored from Mike Bry (Jr., Manvel, N.D.) and Chad Damerow (Sr., Albert Lea, Minn.) on the power play 55 seconds into the period, and Gill notched his first collegiate goal at the 5:37 mark, on feeds from Gross and Damerow.

But Augsburg quickly tied the game, as Nagurski scored twice in a 1:18 span. He notched his first goal on the power play from Aaron Johnson (So., Plymouth, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong HS) and Steve Collova (Sr., White Bear Lake, Minn.) at the 6:53 mark, and added a shorthanded goal from Collova and Danny Carlson (Fr., Roseville, Minn.) at the 8:11 mark.

Sixty-five seconds later, Brett Osness (Jr., Calgary, Alberta/Springbrook HS) tied the game for the Auggies, taking a feed from Nagurski on a break moments after an Augsburg penalty ended. But St. Mary's went back in front at the 10:48 mark, as Gross scored on an assist from Gill.

The Auggies outshot the Cardinals by an 18-11 margin in the third period, en route to a 45-33 shots-on-goal advantage. With 32 seconds left in the third frame, Augsburg tied the game as defenseman Belde fired a blast from the left point past the St. Mary's goalie, just as Augsburg was beginning to send its goalie to the bench for a man-advantage situation.

Augsburg outshot St. Mary's by a 6-3 margin in overtime. Ryne Ess (Sr., Eden Prairie, Minn.) made 41 saves in goal for St. Mary's, while Augsburg goalie Tony Ciro (Jr., Spring Lake Park, Minn./Hill-Murray HS) made 29 saves.