Men's Hockey 11/21/08 -- St. Thomas 4, Augsburg 3

MENDOTA HEIGHTS, Minn. (11/21/08) -- Chris Johnson (JR, Verona, Wis./Madison Memorial HS) and Joel Sauer (SO, Madison, Wis./Memorial HS) had a goal and assist apiece, but it was not enough for Augsburg College to overcome an early deficit, as the host University of St. Thomas claimed a 4-3 win in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men's hockey game on Friday night at the St. Thomas Ice Arena.

St. Thomas (2-2-1 overall, 1-0-0 MIAC) built a 3-0 lead at the 11:03 mark of the second period on goals by A.J. Panchenko, Sean Bryant and Rob Johnson, but Augsburg (2-4-0 overall, 2-1-0 MIAC) rallied back with a goal 49 seconds later by Trevor Doden (FY, Red Wing, Minn.), and a power-play goal by Johnson at the 13:50 mark to cut the advantage to 3-2.

Alex Coles gave the Tommies a 4-2 lead with a goal at the 14:35 mark of the third period. Augsburg pulled its goalie after going on the power play with 1:12 to play and scored on the 6-on-4 advantage with Sauer's goal with 15 seconds left. Augsburg moved the puck close to the net in the closing seconds, but could not get another shot on goal.

St. Thomas outshot Augsburg by a 37-20 margin. Andrew Kent (SR, Lakeville, Minn.) stopped 33 shots for Augsburg, while Tyler Chestnut had 17 saves for St. Thomas.

The teams close the MIAC weekend series on Saturday (11/22) at 7 p.m. at the Augsburg Ice Arena.