Men's Hockey 2/25/05 -- Augsburg 7, Gustavus Adolphus 4

BOXSCORE

MINNEAPOLIS (2/25/05) -- Critter Nagurski (So., International Falls, Minn.) scored two goals and Tony Ciro (Jr., Spring Lake Park, Minn./Hill-Murray HS) made 33 saves for Augsburg College, as the Auggies remained alive in the hunt for a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men's hockey playoff spot with a 7-4 triumph over Gustavus Adolphus College on Friday night at the Augsburg Ice Arena.

Six different Auggies scored goal, and Aaron Johnson (So., Plymouth, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong HS) and Danny Carlson (Fr., Roseville, Minn.) had three assists apiece for the Auggies, who broke a four-game losing streak to improve to 8-11-5 overall, 5-7-3 in MIAC play.

Ben Ollila (Fr., Lino Lakes, Minn.) and Kyle Menken (Sr., Plymouth, Minn.) scored two goals apiece for Gustavus, now 9-14-1 overall, 6-8-1 in MIAC play.

Augsburg, Gustavus and St. Mary's (10-13-1 overall, 6-8-1 MIAC) remain in the hunt for the fifth spot in the five-team MIAC postseason playoffs, with one game remaining for each team in the regular season. St. Mary's dropped a 3-2 decision at St. Olaf on Friday night. All three teams have 13 league points.

Augsburg and Gustavus will finish their series on Saturday (2/26) at 7 p.m. at the Lund Ice Arena in St. Peter, while St. Mary's will host St. Olaf on Saturday, also at 7 p.m. St. Mary's holds a tiebreaker advantage over Augsburg, based on an earlier win and tie in the teams' series Jan. 14-15, while Gustavus holds an advantage over St. Mary's, based on a sweep of the teams' series Jan. 28-29.

St. Olaf (18 points) and Bethel (18 points) clinched berths in the playoffs on Friday night, with the Oles' win over St. Mary's, and Bethel's 6-1 win over Hamline. St. John's and St. Thomas earlier clinched the top two berths in the MIAC postseason.

Gustavus jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on goals from Ollila, his first coming from Mike Hosfield (So., Golden Valley, Minn.) and Menken at the 2:40 mark of the frame, and his second on a breakaway from Keith Detlefsen (Jr., Lakeville, Minn.) at the 14:20 mark.

But Augsburg scored four straight goals to take a 4-2 lead. Greg May (So., Burnsville, Minn.) scored from Brett Osness (Jr., Calgary, Alberta/Springbrook HS) and Danny Clements (Fr., Grande Prairie, Alberta/Grande Prairie Composite HS) at the 16:35 mark, and Steve Collova (Sr., White Bear Lake, Minn.) scored on the power play from Carlson and Johnson at the 18:43 mark.

Augsburg scored twice in an 18-second span early in the second period, as Nagurski scored from Jason Fleck (Fr., Camrose, Alberta/Camrose Composite HS) at the 2:13 mark and Clements got an unassisted goal at the 2:31 mark.

Gustavus scored two straight goals from Menken to tie the game, the first from Joe Ulwelling (Sr., Warroad, Minn.) at the 4:23 mark and the second on the power play from Detlefsen at the 13:31 mark.

But Augsburg clinched the win just 69 seconds later, scoring two straight goals in a 2:11 span. Joe Haehn (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn./Washburn HS) scored his 13th goal of the season from Johnson and Carlson at the 14:40 mark, and Nagurski tallied his 17th goal of the season on a shorthanded break from Fleck at the 16:51 mark. Nagurski entered the weekend as the MIAC's co-leader in goals scored.

Augsburg capped the win at the 9:32 mark of the third period, as Steve Belde (Sr., Lake Elmo, Minn./Hill-Murray HS), one of only three seniors on the Auggie roster, notched his third goal of the season from Johnson and Carlson. Playing in his final game at the Augsburg Ice Arena, Belde is the lone Auggie four-season senior on the roster.

Gustavus outshot Augsburg by a 37-29 margin, including a 13-4 edge in the third period. Brett Sawyer (So., Wyoming, Minn.) made 22 saves in a losing effort for the Gusties.