Men's Hockey 10/31/08 -- Wisconsin-Stout 7, Augsburg 4

MINNEAPOLIS (10/31/08) -- The Augsburg College men's hockey team opened its season with a hard-fought, 7-4 loss to the University of Wisconsin-Stout in its nonconference season-opener on Friday night at the Augsburg Ice Arena. Derek Hanson collected a natural hat trick with three straight goals in the second and third periods, as Wisconsin-Stout (3-0-0) rallied from a 4-2 deficit with five straight goals.

The Auggies (0-1-0) had nine different players record points in the game, led by Joel Sauer (SO, Madison, Wis./Memorial HS) and Jim Jensen (SO, Plymouth, Minn./Osseo HS), who each posted a goal and an assist on the night.

Stout jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Nick Klaren and Paul Henderson, but the Auggies were able to rally back, taking advantage of two power-play opportunities, as they scored three consecutive goals to take a 3-2 lead into the locker room for the first intermission. Sauer, Jensen and John Lennartson (FY, Burnsville, Minn.) scored the goals for the Auggies.

Augsburg continued its strong play in the second period as Mario Mjelleli (SO, Faribault, Minn./Shattuck-St. Mary's HS) scored a goal at the 4:16 mark to give the Auggies a 4-2 lead. The Stout offense would rally back and score goals at the 6:13 and 16:12 marks as they tied things up at the end of the second period. During the third period, Stout's Derek Janson, who scored the last goal of the second period, would go on to score his second and third goals of the night for the hat trick as he led the Blue Devil offense past the Auggies.

For the game, Augsburg was 3-5 on the power play while Wisconsin-Stout finished 1-5. The Auggies were out-shot 34-25 as Blue Devil goalie Matt Koenig picked up his second win of the season, making 21 saves on the night. Augsburg goalie Andrew Kent (SR, Lakeville, Minn.) made 27 saves.

The Auggies return to action on Friday (11/7) at 7:30 p.m. with a nonconference game at St. Scholastica.