BOXSCORE

MINNEAPOLIS -- Nick Guran (SR, McHenry, Ill./McHenry East HS) scored two third-period goals to give Augsburg College the lead, as the Auggies rallied for a 4-2 win over Bethel University in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men's hockey game on Saturday evening at Ed Saugestad Rink.

Jim Jensen (SR, Plymouth, Minn./Osseo HS) had a goal and an assist, and Joel Sauer (SR, Madison, Wis./Memorial HS) claimed the MIAC's regular-season overall points crown by collecting assists on all four goals for Augsburg (14-8-3 overall, 8-6-2 MIAC).

Augsburg, which extended its unbeaten streak to seven straight games with its sixth straight victory, will compete in the MIAC's postseason playoffs for the third straight season. The Auggies finished in a tie for third place with Concordia-Moorhead and Gustavus, and based on the conference's tiebreaker criteria, Concordia will be the No. 3 seed, Gustavus will be the No. 4 seed and Augsburg will be the No. 5 seed.

Augsburg will travel to St. Peter, Minn., to take on Gustavus in the conference's "play-in game" on Friday (2/25) at 4 p.m., with the winner traveling to face top-seed Hamline on Saturday (2/26) at 2 p.m. at the Warner Coliseum at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds in St. Paul. Concordia will face No. 2-seed St. Thomas in the other semifinal on Saturday in Mendota Heights, and the championship game will be on Wednesday, March 2. The conference's playoff titlist receives the automatic bid to the NCAA Division III national tournament.

According to the conference's overall statistics on the Collegehockeystats.net website, Sauer and Guran occupy two of the top three spots in the MIAC's overall scoring race, as Sauer leads the conference with 39 points (14 points, 25 assists), while Guran is third with 33 points (19 goals, 14 assists). Sauer's 25 assists are also a league-high, while his 14 goals are fourth-best. Guran stands second in the conference in goals with 19. In conference games-only, Sauer finished as the conference's leader in both points (25) and assists (16), while Guran's 11 goals were second-most in the league.

The Auggies had to rally from a 2-1, second-period deficit with three goals in the third period. Guran scored a power-play goal from Sauer and Jensen at the 10:02 mark to tie the game, and Guran gave the Auggies the lead with a goal from Sauer and Brandon Bukowski (JR, Superior, Wis.) at the 16:12 mark. An empty-net goal by Jensen, assisted by Sauer, gave the Auggies the final two-goal cushion at the 19:29 mark.

Augsburg outshot Bethel by a 37-33 margin, with Justin Lochner (SO, Sauk Rapids, Minn./Sauk Rapids-Rice HS) stopping 31 shots in goal to score the win for the Auggies. Michael Sperl (SO, Little Falls, Minn.) had 33 saves in goal for Bethel.

Jesse Phenow (FY, Richfield, Minn.) put the Royals on the scoreboard first, with a goal from Chris Fiala (JR, Vadnais Heights, Minn./White Bear Lake HS) and Jake Kogler (JR, Forest Lake, Minn.) at the 12:32 mark of the first period. Augsburg tied the game when David Hines (JR, Sartell, Minn./St. Cloud Tech HS) scored a power-play goal from Mario Mjelleli (SR, Faribault, Minn./Shattuck-St. Mary's HS) and Sauer at the 16:42 mark of the first period.

Bethel's Jack Paul (SO, Minnetonka, Minn.) scored his league-leading 22nd goal of the season at the 13:41 mark of the second period, assisted by Christian Fogerty (SR, Forest Lake, Minn.) and Kogler.