Men's Hockey 1/16/09 -- St. John's 3, Augsburg 2

ST. CLOUD, Minn. (1/16/09) -- Chris Murray had a goal and an assist, leading St. John's University to a 3-2 victory over visiting Augsburg College in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men's hockey game on Friday night at the National Hockey Center.

Mario Mjelleli (SO, Faribault, Minn./Shattuck-St. Mary's HS) and Joel Sauer (SO, Madison, Wis./Memorial HS) scored goals for Augsburg (3-11-0 overall, 2-3-0 MIAC), which was outshot by St. John's (4-11-1 overall, 1-5-1 MIAC) by a 39-28 mark. Brian Baker, Murray and Karl Gilbert scored goals for the Johnnies.

Baker opened the scoring for the Johnnies with a goal from Jake Hipp and Mike Wallgren midway through the first period. But Augsburg was able to tie the game 78 seconds into the second period, as Mjelleli scored from John Lennartson (FY, Burnsville, Minn.).

Midway through the second period, Murray gave the Johnnies the lead on a goal from Conor Rooney and Clayton Rehm, and Gilbert gave the Johnnies a 3-1 advantage at the 1:16 mark of the final frame, with a goal from Murray.

Augsburg trimmed the lead on Sauer's seventh goal of the season, assisted by Nick Guran (FY, McHenry, Ill./McHenry East HS), at the 13:05 mark of the period. But Augsburg was unable to tie the game against St. John's goalie Vince Wheeler, who collected 26 saves in goal.

Augsburg goalie Andrew Kent (SR, Lakeville, Minn.) recorded 36 saves, marking the eighth time in his 14 starts in which he has recorded 30-plus saves.

The teams will complete the MIAC series on Saturday (1/17) at 7 p.m. at the Augsburg Ice Arena.