The Gustavus men’s hockey team extended its winning streak to six games with a 10-2 win over Minnesota-Crookston in the final game of the Gustavus Hockey Showcase. Gustavus, now 9-2 overall, got two goals each from forwards Mike Hosfield (Jr., Golden Valley, Minn.), Cody Drysdale (So., Mankato, Minn.) and Loren Havemeier (Sr., Sleepy Eye, Minn.) and five assists from sophomore Sami Idris (Gothenburg, Sweden). St. Olaf won the afternoon’s first game, 5-2, over Lawrence.
Gustavus opened the scoring with a goal by Havemeier 7:44 into the first period that found its way past Crookston goalie Brett Shelanski. Senior defenseman Eric Lindquist (Bloomington, Minn.) made the score 2-0 Gustavus eight minutes later, placing another puck past Shelanski. John Arundel (Jr., Eden Prairie, Minn.) and Steve Dusich (Sr., Apple Valley, Minn.) were credited with assists on the Lindquist goal.
A UM-Crookston slashing penalty with 1:15 remaining in the first period put the Gusties on the power play, but it was the Golden Eagles’ Matt Hann who got through the Gustavus defense on a breakaway with 53 seconds remaining to score a short-handed goal. With the Gusties still on the power play and the lead trimmed to one, Hosfield fired a shot in the direction of Shelanski that found the back of the net. The power play goal with 13 seconds on the clock gave the Gusties a 3-1 advantage heading into the first intermission.
Gustavus added another trio of goals in the second period, with Jon Keseley scoring 3:09 into the period off assists from Idris and Drysdale, while Havemeier and Drysdale converted on even-strength goals within 20 seconds of each other in the period’s final minute of play. Idris assisted on both goals, while Havemeier and Drysdale each assisted on the other’s goal.
In the third period, the Gusties scored almost every way imaginable. Hosfield scored his second goal of the day 4:19 into the period as Gustavus capitalized on a 5-on-3 situation created by a pair of UM-Crookston penalties to make the score 7-1. Later in the same power play, Crookston managed to cut the lead to five goals, converting their second short-handed opportunity of the day as Brett Groenke’s shot deflected off Gustie goalie Erik Kraska (Sr., Plymouth, Minn.) and trickled across the line for a goal.
Drysdale added his second goal of the game just 61 seconds later, scoring on a power play opportunity from directly in front of the net. Idris and Havemeier again assisted on the play. Dusich made the score 9-2 with 11:22 remaining in the game, taking assists from Keseley and Lindquist to score his sixth goal of the season.
Sophomore forward Ben Ollila (Lino Lakes, Minn.) capped off the scoring with a short-handed goal of his own with 6:30 to play in the game.
Idris’ five assists led the Gusties in points, but fell one short of the school record of six assists in a game set by Tom Lindsey in a 14-3 win over St. Olaf on Feb. 17, 1976 and tied by Dave Kunz in a 22-1 win over the University of Maine just ten days later in an opening round game of the NAIA Tournament.
Havemeier, Drysdale (two goals, two assists each) and Keseley (one goal, three assists) each scored four points for the Gusties, while Dusich added three more on a goal and two assists.
Kraska recorded 11 saves in the win, improving his record to 7-1-0 on the season. Shelanski picked up 20 saves, but allowed six goals in two periods of play before yielding to Kyle Knudsen, who notched 15 saves during the third period.
With his first period assist on Mike Hosfield’s goal, Keseley extended his point-scoring streak to 13 games stretching back to the final two games of last season. Keseley has nine goals and 12 assists over that stretch.
The Gusties will venture outside of the MIAC for games next weekend with road games at UW-Stevens Point on Friday (7:35 p.m.) and UW-Eau Claire on Saturday (7:05 p.m.). Gustavus will return to league play the weekend of Jan. 20-21 when they face Saint Mary’s (2-9-1, 1-5-0 MIAC) in a home-and-home series.