Men's Hockey 2/18/05 -- St. John's 7, Augsburg 0

BOXSCORE

MINNEAPOLIS (2/18/05) -- St. John's University clinched its seventh Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular-season men's hockey championship and third title in a row in convincing fashion, dominating play from start to finish in a 7-0 blanking of host Augsburg College in the opener of a two-game series on Friday night at the Augsburg Ice Arena.

Brady Lundblad (Sr., Hugo, Minn./Centennial HS) scored two goals, and goalie Adam Hanna (Jr., Owatonna, Minn.) stopped all 33 shots he faced to record his sixth shutout victory of the season, as the Johnnies improved to 21-1-2 overall, 13-1-1 in MIAC.

Augsburg dropped its third game in a row to fall to 7-10-5 overall, 4-6-3 in MIAC play. Augsburg has had just one win in its last nine games (1-5-3). The two teams will complete the series on Saturday (2/19) at 7 p.m. at the National Hockey Center in St. Cloud.

Six different Johnnies scored goals and 14 players figured in the scoring, including goalie Hanna, who assisted on Lundblad's second goal of the game, a shorthanded tally in the third period.

Casey Parentau (Fr., White Bear Lake, Minn.), Billie Luger (Jr., White Bear Lake, Minn.) and Andy Johnson (So., Chanhassen, Minn./Chaska HS) had a goal and assist each, while Pat Eagles (Fr., Falcon Heights, Minn./Roseville HS) and Adam Holmgren (Sr., Blaine, Minn.) had two assists apiece.

St. John's scored two shorthanded goals and added a power-play tally halfway through the third period, while claiming a 42-33 shots-on-goal advantage in the game. Augsburg outshot St. John's by a 12-8 margin in the first period, but the Johnnies claimed a 34-21 advantage the rest of the way.

The Johnnies scored three goals in a 4:15 span midway through the first period to take a commanding lead, with goals from Parentau, Lundblad and a shorthanded goal from Mike Hanke (Sr., Antigo, Wis.). Two more goals came in a 1:50 span early in the second period, with goals from Nick Levar (Jr., Babbitt, Minn./Ely HS) and Luger.

Lundblad scored on a shorthanded break at the 6:52 mark of the third period, and Johnson capped the scoring with a power-play goal at the 10:53 mark.

Tony Ciro (Jr., Spring Lake Park, Minn./Hill-Murray HS) made 22 saves for Augsburg in the first two periods, before being relieved for the first time this season by David Nash (Jr., Rochester, Minn./Mayo HS), who made 13 saves in the third period.