The Gustavus men’s hockey team continued its season of ups and downs as they fell to St. Olaf 7-2 on Saturday night in St. Peter. The Oles improve to 3-4-3 in the MIAC and 8-6-5 overall, while the Gusties dropped to 5-5-0 in the MIAC and 8-10-0 overall.
St. Olaf jumped out to a 1-0 lead with only 1:30 off of the clock. Justin Green scored the opening goal for the Oles and Teddy Bickel recorded the assist. The Gusties responded with a goal from Lorn Havemeier at 7:27. Havemeier fired the puck into the open net as the St. Olaf goaltender dove from behind trying to make the save. Ben Ollila and Keith Detlefsen recorded the assists on the equilizing goal. The score remaind tied at one goal apiece as both teams headed into the lockerroom for the first intermission.
Gustavus’ inability to kill power plays haunted them again at the start of the second period. Teddy Bickel scored a power play goal for St. Olaf just 18 seconds into the period to provide the Oles a 2-1 lead. Bickel added another power play goal at 14:37 to make the score 3-1 in favor of St. Olaf. With 28 seconds remaining, the Oles were awarded a penalty shot when Adam Meyer brought down John Egge on a breakaway. Egge slipped the shot past Gustie goaltender Brett Sawyer to give the Oles a 4-1 lead after two periods of play.
St. Olaf added its third short handed goal of the series when Patrick Gilles scored at 12:02 of the third period. Billy Martin made it 6-1 in favor of St. Olaf with a goal at 13:15. Thirty-seven seconds later Andy Ockuly tallied the final goal of the night for St. Olaf. Gustavus defenseman Jon Keseley scored a power play goal with 2:32 left to play in the game to make the final 7-2 in favor of St. Olaf.
St. Olaf goaltender Dan Kehler made 31 saves to record the win, while Gustavus goaltender turned away 19 shots and suffered the loss in between the pipes.
Despite the sweep by St. Olaf, Gustavus is still in the playoff hunt. Bethel and Gustavus are tied for fourth place in the MIAC with a conference record of 5-5 for ten points. The Royals and Gusties will meet next weekend in the important conference series. Gustavus will play at Bethel on Friday and will host the Royals on Saturday. Both games are scheduled to begin at 7:05pm.