The Gustavus men’s hockey team traveled to Northfield on Friday night to face St. Olaf College in MIAC action. The Oles ended a three-game win streak for the Gusties by defeating them 7-1 at the Northfield Ice Arena. Gustavus falls to 8-10-0 overall and 5-4-0 in the MIAC, while St. Olaf improves to 7-6-5 overall and 2-4-3 in the MIAC.
The Oles scored two short handed goals to jump out to 2-0 lead in the first period. Kyle Hilmerhausen opened up the scoring at 4:23 of the first period and 23 seconds later Keith Townsend tacted on another short handed goal for the Oles. The Gusties cut the lead in half with a power play goal from John Arundel at 11:23 of the opening period. Keith Detlefsen and Reegan Rehm recorded the assists on the goal. St. Olaf retained a two-goal advantage with a power play goal at 15:23. Mike MacMillan’s power play goal snapped a drought of 46 consecutive scoreless power plays for the Oles. St. Olaf held a 10-5 shot advantage and 3-1 lead after the first 20 minutes of play.
Keith Townsend made it 4-1 with the second powerplay goal of the night for St. Olaf at 7:38 of the second period. With just over two minutes to play in the second period (17:54), John Paulson added the Oles’ third powerplay goal of the night to claim a four-goal advantage for the home team. Teddy Bickel added the sixth goal of the night for the Oles with 45 seconds remaining in the second period.
Jeff Budish added the final goal for St. Olaf at 7:08 of the third period to make the final 7-1 in favor of the Oles. The Oles recorded 24 shots and went 3-9 on the powerplay, while the Gusties recorded 21 shots and went 1-6 on the powerplay. Gustavus goaltender Erik Kraska turned away 17 shots, but suffered his first conference loss of the season on Friday night. Goaltender Dan Kehler recorded 20 saves to earn the win in between the pipes for St. Olaf.
The Gusties and Oles will meet Saturday night in St. Peter to complete the conference series. The game is scheduled to begin at 7pm.