Men's Hockey 2/24/07 -- Augsburg 9, Hamline 2

BOXSCORE

MINNEAPOLIS (2/24/07) -- Aaron Johnson * (Sr., Plymouth, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong HS) tied a single-game school record with a seven-point (three-goal, four-assist) performance, joining teammate Chris Johnson (Fr., Vernona, Wis./Madison Memorial HS) with hat tricks on Saturday, as the Augsburg College men's hockey team closed the regular season with a 9-2 win over Hamline University in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference contest at the Augsburg Ice Arena.

Aaron Johnson *, a senior playing in his final regular-season home game, and Chris Johnson, a freshman, both claimed their first collegiate hat tricks for the Auggies, who clinched the No. 3 seed in the five-team MIAC postseason playoffs with the victory, improving to 12-9-4 overall, 9-3-4 in MIAC play. Augsburg has won seven of its last eight games, including its last four in row.

Hamline finishes its season at 7-18-0 overall, 3-13-0 in MIAC play.

Augsburg will play at No. 2-seed St. Thomas (15-9-0 overall, 11-4-0 MIAC) in the MIAC playoff semifinals on Thursday (3/1) at a time to be determined. St. Thomas is currently tied with Augsburg with 22 league points, and plays its regular-season finale on Sunday (2/25) with a rescheduled game against St. Mary's. But due to St. Thomas' sweep of the Auggies in a series Jan. 19-20, the Tommies have a tiebreaker advantage on the Auggies for playoff seeding.

St. Olaf (10-13-2 overall, 9-5-2 MIAC), which entered Saturday's game tied with Augsburg in the league standings, finished its regular season with a 6-3 loss to MIAC regular-season champion Bethel (15-9-1 overall, 12-3-1 MIAC) on Saturday, and will be the No. 4 seed in the playoffs. The Oles will host No. 5-seed Gustavus (11-12-2 overall, 9-6-1 MIAC) in the MIAC playoff play-in game on Tuesday (2/27), with the winner playing at top-seed Bethel on Thursday. Thursday's semifinal winners will meet in the playoff championship game next Saturday (3/3), with the winner earning an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III national playoffs.

Aaron Johnson * tied the school's single-game points record for the second time this season; he also had seven points (two goals, five assists) in an 8-0 Augsburg win over Wisconsin-Stevens Point on Dec. 16. The single-game school record for points was first set by Mike Erickson on Nov. 27, 1980 against Bethel. Erickson had six goals and one assist in the 1980 win.

Chris Johnson had a five-point night, with his first college hat trick and two assists. Greg May (Sr., Burnsville, Minn.) had a goal and two assists, Critter Nagurski * (Sr., International Falls, Minn.) had three assists, and Patrick Fogerty (So., Forest Lake, Minn.) and Ben Bradbury (So., Winnipeg, Manitoba/Vincent Massey Collegiate HS) also scored goals for the Auggies. A.J. Hau (Fr., Fort Collins, Colo.) had two assists, and Chad Georgell * (Sr., North Pole, Alaska/Fairbanks Lathrop HS) also had an assist.

Augsburg built a 9-0 lead before Hamline scored twice in the third period. Dustin Fulton (So., Brooklyn Park, Minn./Breck HS) scored from Cory Krogen (Fr., Marshall, Minn.), and Justin Hanna (So., Little Canada, Minn./Roseville HS) scored from Michael McDonough (So., Burnsville, Minn./Eastview HS).

Augsburg outshot Hamline by a 32-24 margin. Adam Hendel (So., Bay City, Wis./Red Wing (Minn.) HS), making his fifth appearance of the season in goal for the Auggies, collected 22 saves to score the win, while Matt Wanvig (Fr., Brooklyn Park, Minn./Osseo HS) took the loss for the Pipers, making 23 saves.