Junior goalie Zach Sikich stopped 35 of 36 shots and St. Thomas clinched a home conference semifinal playoff game and its eighth consecutive top-two finish in the MIAC with Thursday’s 3-1 victory over visiting Gustavus in MIAC men’s hockey play at Saint Thomas Ice Arena in Mendota Heights.
The Tommies (14-7-3 overall, 12-2-1 MIAC) improved to 9-1 at home this season. Gustavus 12-9-3, 9-4-2) had a three-game winning streak halted despite outshooting UST 36-30.
The teams play again Friday in St. Peter to close the weekend series and likely will play again at Saint Thomas Ice Arena in next Thursday’s conference playoff semifinals. The only scenario which would prevent that would be a Tommie win Friday and first-place St. John’s getting swept this weekend by Augsburg.
Dan Krmpotich’s power-play goal 30 seconds into the third period snapped a 1-1 tie. Anthony Blumer’s goal with 4:18 remaining gave the Tommies some cushion.
Gustie senior goalie Dan Melde stopped 26 of 29 shots in 56:29 in goal before leaving with what appeared to be a minor injury after a collision.
(A zamboni breakdown delayed the match about 30 minutes)
Story courtesy of Gene McGivern, UST Sports Information Director