BOXSCORE MENDOTA HEIGHTS, Minn. -- Ben McClellan (SO, Cottage Grove, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall HS) and Landon Olson (SR, Alexandria, Minn./Duluth Marshall HS) scored second-period goals to give Augsburg College a 2-1 lead, but the University of St. Thomas rallied in the third period to claim a 4-2 win in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men's hockey game on Thursday night at the St. Thomas Ice Arena.

Augsburg (8-13-3 overall, 6-7-2 MIAC) rallied from a 1-0 first-period deficit to St. Thomas (12-10-2 overall, 9-5-1 MIAC), but two goals in a 41-second span early in the third period gave the Tommies the lead, and an empty-net goal in the final minute clinched the victory.

With the loss, Augsburg was eliminated from contention for the five-team MIAC postseason playoffs, despite a late-season rally that saw the Auggies win five of six games in the prior three weekends.

McClellan scored his team-leading 11th goal of the season, an unassisted tally 54 seconds into the second period, and Olson gave the Auggie sthe lead with his sixth goal of the season at the 10:38 mark of the frame, assisted by Chris Student (JR, Edina, Minn./Benilde-St. Margaret's HS) and Thomas Paine (SO, Superior, Wis./Duluth (Minn.) Marshall HS).

But the Tommies took the lead back in the third period. Tyler Gubb scored his second goal of the game at the 5:09 mark, assisted by Nick Nielsen and Alex Altenbernd, and 41 seconds later, Brandon Bahnemann scored from Derek Jacobson and Travis Baker. Bryce Walker closed the scoring with an empty-net goal from Baker with 23 seconds left. Gubb opened the scoring with a goal from Nielsen and Michael Krieg 1:26 into the first period.

Augsburg outshot St. Thomas by a 32-21 margin, including a 16-5 advantage in the second period. Justin Lochner (SR, Sauk Rapids, Minn./Sauk Rapids-Rice HS) collected 17 saves in goal for the Auggies, while Tyrone Simcoe had 14 saves in the first period-and-a-half, with Drew Fielding stopping 16 shots in relief.

The teams complete the series on Saturday (2/16) at 7:05 p.m. at Ed Saugestad Rink. The game will be the final collegiate contest for four Augsburg seniors -- Lochner, Olson, Jonathan Barrick (SR, Litchfield, Minn.) and Loren Egan (SR, Brooklyn Park, Minn./Totino-Grace HS).