MINNEAPOLIS -- John O'Connor (SR, Moorhead, Minn./Moorhead HS) and Grant Reichenbacher (FY, Verona, Wis./Madison Edgewood HS) put Augsburg University ahead with a pair of goals early in the third period, but the University of St. Thomas scored the final three goals to claim a 5-3 win in the opener of the final Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference series of the regular season on Friday evening.

THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: St. Thomas 5, Augsburg 3
LOCATION: Ed Saugestad Rink, Minneapolis
RECORDS: Augsburg 14-9-1 overall (9-5-1 MIAC), St. Thomas 11-10-3 overall (8-6-1 MIAC)

HOW IT HAPPENED
• Trailing 2-1 entering the third period, O'Connor scored his third goal of the season, stealing the puck at the blue line, working around the net and putting in a wraparound, unassisted goal.
• The Auggies took the lead at the 4:33 mark of the final frame, as Reichenbacher scored his 10th goal of the year, his second on the power play. Erik Palmqvist (FY, Linkoping, Sweden/Anderstorpsgymnasiet) worked the puck to the slot, sent the puck to Austin Dollimer (SO, Rosemount, Minn./Rosemount HS) along the red line, and he pushed the puck forward to Reichenbacher in the right slot, who flipped a one-timer over the goalie's pads.
• But St. Thomas scored twice in a 23-second span midway through the period to take the lead, and capped the win with an empty-net goal with four seconds left in the game.
• Gunnar Goodmanson (JR, Buffalo, Minn./Buffalo HS) tied the game at 1-1 with a goal 7:06 into the second period, as he took a cross-slot pass from Palmqvist and fired a shot to the top shelf. Dollimer received the second assist on the goal.
• Augsburg outshot St. Thomas by a 34-29 margin in the game, and Daniil Gerasimov (JR, Moscow, Russia/State School 1944) had 24 saves in goal for the Auggies.

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE
• Augsburg, the defending MIAC regular-season champions, dropped to a second-place tie with Concordia-Moorhead, as each have 29 points entering the final game of the regular season. With 30 league points, Saint John's now holds a one-point lead in the MIAC standings over the Auggies and Cobbers. The three teams have clinched the top three spots in the five-team MIAC postseason playoffs.

FOR THE FOES
• Goals from Andrew Kangas and Brett Gravelle gave the Tommies a 2-1 lead after two periods.
• Luke Radetic tied the game at 3-3 with a goal at the 13:23 mark of the third period, and Justin Kelley gave the Tommies the lead 23 seconds later. Kelley secured the win with an empty-net goal.
• Henry Baribeau had 31 saves in goal for St. Thomas.

UP NEXT
• The teams close the regular season on Saturday (2/22) at 7 p.m. at the St. Thomas Ice Arena in Mendota Heights, Minn.