BOXSCORE NORTHFIELD, Minn. -- The Augsburg College men's hockey team staged a dramatic three-goal comeback to take a 4-3 lead with 2:41 left to play, but host St. Olaf College tied the game with an extra-attacker goal with 20 seconds remaining, then ended the Auggies' season 31 seconds into overtime with a 5-4 triumph in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference contest on Saturday evening at the Northfield Ice Arena.

Trailing 3-1 entering the third period and needing a regulation-time victory to secure the final spot in the five-team MIAC postseason playoffs, Augsburg (13-9-3 overall, 6-7-3 MIAC) scored three goals in a 7:10 span to take a 4-3 lead, as Ben McClellan (JR, Cottage Grove, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall HS), Niklas Almstrom (SR, Medina, Minn./Benilde-St. Margaret's HS) and Dylan Meier (FY, Highlands Ranch, Colo./Mountain Vista HS) scored.

But St. Olaf (11-10-4 overall, 9-4-3 MIAC) sealed the Auggies' fate with 20 seconds left in regulation, as Peter Lindblad completed a hat trick with an extra-attacker goal, assisted by Steven Sherman and Jonas Fredriksson. Mark Rath gave the Oles the win on a goal 31 seconds into overtime, assisted by David Rath.

By forcing overtime, the Oles eliminated the Auggies from playoff contention, as Augsburg could only potentially gain a maximum of two points with an overtime win to tie Concordia-Moorhead with 23 league points. The Cobbers would have the tiebreaker advantage over the Auggies, based on the Cobbers' two shutout triumphs over Augsburg in the regular season. With the overtime loss, Augsburg finished the season with 22 points.

Mack Ohnsted (SO, Vernon Hills, Ill./Adali E. Stevenson HS) opened the scoring for Augsburg with a goal at the 9:16 mark of the first period, assisted by Corbin Chapman (FY, Burnsville, Minn.) and Meier. But Lindblad scored twice for the Oles in the second period, and a power-play goal by Dan Cecka gave the Oles a 3-1 lead at the end of the frame.

McClellan scored from Ohnsted and Lucas Hendrickson (SO, Savage, Minn./Burnsville HS) at the 10:09 mark of the third period, while Almstrom scored from Rory Vesel (FY, Rochester, Minn./Lourdes HS) at the 13:49 mark and Meier had an unassisted goal at the 17:19 mark.

St. Olaf outshot Augsburg by a 37-31 mark. John Bretzman (JR, Mendota Heights, Minn./St. Croix Lutheran HS) had 32 saves in goal for Augsburg, while Steve Papciak had 27 saves for St. Olaf.

The game was the final collegiate contest for five Augsburg seniors -- Almstrom, Scott Eberline (SR, Northville, Mich./Novi HS), B.J. McClellan (SR, Cottage Grove, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall HS), Erik Ordalh (SR, Rochester, Minn./Century HS) and Chris Student (SR, Edina, Minn./Benilde-St. Margaret's HS).