Ross Ring-Jarvi
The Gustavus men’s hockey team jumped out to a 3-0 lead and then held on for a 3-2 win over Finlandia University on Saturday night at Don Roberts Ice Rink in St. Peter. James Leathers scored the game-winner for the Gusties and Jake Swansson was the winning goaltender.
The Gusties, who were playing Finlandia for the first time, dominated the first period out-shooting the Lions 25-1, but Ryan Donovan was stellar in the nets and did not allow Gustavus to score.
In the second period, Gustavus took a 1-0 lead when Eric Bigham scored a power play goal at the 9:25 mark with assists from James Leathers and Justin Lee. The Gusties led 1-0 through two periods of play.
David Martinson scored an even strength goal at 7:42 of the third period and Leathers pushed the lead to 3-0 when he lit the lamp at the 15:57 mark.
Brad Wieck
Just when the Gusties thought they were on there way to a comfortable victory, Finlandia cut the lead to 3-1 with a goal at the 16:18 mark. the Lions then pulled to within one after pulling their goaltender and scoring with the extra skater at the 19:46 mark. Gustavus managed to run the final 14 seconds off the clock and claim the 3-2 non-conference victory.
Notes
David Martinson extended his his streak of consecutive games having scored at least one goal to seven. The senior from St. Louis Park leads Division III in goals scored with 13.Notes:
Finlandia University is located in Hancock, Michigan.
Gustavus recorded a season high total of 56 shots on goal against Finlandia.
The Gusties were 2-for-5 on the power play against the Lions. Gustavus is now 7-for-13 (.538) on the power play in its last four games.