Men's Hockey 2/26/05 -- Gustavus Adolphus 6, Augsburg 2

BOXSCORE

ST. PETER, Minn. (2/26/05) -- The Gustavus Adolphus men's hockey team claimed the fifth and final Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference playoff spot, eliminating visiting Augsburg College from playoff contention and ending the Auggies' season with a 6-2 decision on Saturday night at the Don Roberts Ice Rink.

The game was tied at 1-1 after one period of play and the Gusties held a 2-1 advantage at the second intermission. Head coach Brett Petersen's squad tallied four goals in the final period to skate to a 6-2 victory and clinch the fifth and final MIAC playoff spot.

Gustavus is now 10-14-1 overall, 7-8-1 in MIAC play, and advances to play in Tuesday's (3/1) MIAC "play-in" game at fourth-seed Bethel. The Royals and Gusties split the conference series two weeks ago. The winner will play at top-seed St. John's next Thursday (3/3) in the conference semifinal game.

Augsburg finishes its season at 8-12-5 overall, 5-8-3 in MIAC play, missing the MIAC playoffs for the second straight season.

Three seniors that were playing in their last game at Don Roberts Ice Rink connected to open up the scoring for Gustavus. Forward Jason Watters lit the lamp at 9:15 into the first period with assists going to Joe Ulwelling and Reegan Rehm. The Auggies equalized at 16:54 with a goal from freshman Danny Clements (Fr., Grande Prairie, Alberta/Grande Prairie Composite HS), on feeds from Brett Osness (Jr., Calgary, Alberta/Springbrook HS) and Jordan Starke (Fr., Calgary, Alberta/Bowness HS).

Senior Drew Keller gave Gustavus its second lead of the night with a goal at 15:02 of the second period. Sophomore Steven Jensen and junior Keith Detlefsen assisted on the goal. The last five minutes of the second period remained scoreless and the Gusties went to the locker room with a 2-1 advantage.

Watters added his second goal of the night 9:44 into the final period. Sophomore Jon Keseley and Ulwelling recored the assists. Augsburg pulled within one goal when sophomore Aaron Johnson (So., Plymouth, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong HS) scored at 11:43 from Danny Carlson (Fr., Roseville, Minn.).

The senior trio of Watters, Ulwelling and Rehm connected again with a goal of 14:52. The goal completed the hat-trick for Watters and gave the Gusties a 4-2 advantage. Jensen found the net for Gustavus at 15:27. Senior Nick Droogsma and junior goaltender Erik Kraska tallied the assists. With 24 seconds remaining, Rehm scored to record his third point of the night to make the final score 6-2 in favor of the Gusties.

Gustavus' Kraska turned away 24 shots and earned an assist to claim his eighth win of the season. Auggie goaltender Tony Ciro (Jr., Spring Lake Park, Minn./Hill-Murray HS) made 25 saves and was credited the loss in between the pipes for Augsburg.