Men's Hockey 2/20/09 -- St. Olaf 6, Augsburg 2
NORTHFIELD, Minn. (2/20/09) -- Utilizing a five-goal second period, the St. Olaf College men's hockey team snapped Augsburg College's six-game winning streak with a 6-2 triumph in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference contest on Friday night at the Northfield Ice Arena.
Sam Windsor scored two second-period goals to lead St. Olaf (16-6-2 overall, 12-1-2 MIAC), the MIAC regular-season champions. Roger Truesdale had a goal and two assists for a three-point night, while Britton Smith, Isak Tranvik and Dylan Mueller had a goal and assist apiece. Caleb Harrison had two assists for the Oles.
For Augsburg (9-15-0 overall, 8-7-0 MIAC), Nick Guran (FY, McHenry, Ill./McHenry East HS) scored from Ben Roberts (SO, Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson HS) and Nikki Holt (SO, Hermantown, Minn.) at the 18:29 mark of the first period, while Joel Sauer (SO, Madison, Wis./Memorial HS) scored from Chris Johnson (JR, Verona, Wis./Madison Memorial HS) and Trevor Doden (FY, Red Wing, Minn.) at the 8:53 mark of the second period.
Andrew Kent (SR, Lakeville, Minn.) recorded 13 saves in goal before being relieved by Jon Zitur (FY, Buffalo, Minn.) in the third period, who had three saves. Nick Krauss made 21 saves for St. Olaf, which was outshot by Augsburg by a 23-22 margin.
Despite the loss, Augsburg (16 conference points) remains in the hunt for the final spot in the five-team MIAC postseason playoffs. Augsburg would clinch a spot with a win in its regular-season finale against the Oles on Saturday (2/21) at 7 p.m. at the Augsburg Ice Arena. If Augsburg ties the Oles or loses on Saturday, it would clinch a playoff spot with at least one loss by St. John's (9-13-1 overall, 6-7-1 MIAC, 13 points) in its Saturday-Sunday (2/21-22) series with St. Mary's (3-19-1 overall, 2-11-1 MIAC).
If Augsburg loses on Saturday, combined with the Johnnies' getting at least three points (a win and tie) against St. Mary's -- or if Augsburg ties the Oles and St. John's sweeps St. Mary's -- St. John's would hold a tiebreaker advantage over the Auggies based on the Johnnies' sweep of the Auggies in a series Jan. 16-17.
In the event of a three-way tiebreaker with Bethel (11-12-1 overall, 7-8-0 MIAC, 14 points) and St. John's -- if Bethel beats St. Thomas in its finale on Saturday and St. John's gains a win and tie against St. Mary's -- Bethel would gain the final spot in the playoffs based on three-way tiebreaker criteria (total record against the four opponents above the tied teams in the MIAC standings).
