The Gustavus men’s hockey team let a 3-1 lead slip away by allowing three second-period goals, but fought back to record a hard-fought 4-4 tie with UW-Stevens Point on Friday night in Stevens Point. Loren Havemeier scored the game-tying goal with 2:12 remaining in the second period.
For the second time this season, Jon Keseley (Jr., St. Louis Park, Minn.) put the first goal on the board, scoring at the 8:48 mark of the first period. The goal, which received assists from Mike Hosfield (Jr., Golden Valley, Minn.) and Keith Detlefsen (Sr., Lakeville, Minn.), pushed Keseley’s point-scoring streak to 14 games.
The Pointers would respond with a little over five minutes remaining in the period as Russel Law notched his seventh goal of the season to the the game at a goal apiece.
A relatively calm first period gave way to a hectic second period where the teams combined for six goals on 26 shots. Gustavus struck twice in the first three minutes of the period as juniors John Arundel (Eden Prairie, Minn.) and Steven Jensen (Kentwood, Mich.) each tallied their third goals of the season to give the Gusties a 3-1 advantage.
UW-Stevens Point cut the lead to 3-2 on a goal by Colin Trulock at the 6:35 mark of the period and tied the score a little over a minute later as Andy Cankar found a little daylight and put a shot past Gustie goalie Erik Kraska (Sr., Plymouth, Minn.) for the power play goal. Cankar’s goal was set up by hooking penalty by Gustie defenseman Josh Gaw (Jr., Burr Ridge, Ill.).
Pointer right winger Rolf Ulvin put UW-Stevens Point in the lead for the first time in the game with 3:55 remaining in the period as he dumped a shot in past Kraska. The lead would be short-lived, though, as a holding penalty by UW-Stevens Point put Gustavus on the power play with 2:48 to go in the first period. The Gusties, who entered the game as Division III leader in power play efficiency, quickly converted as Havemeier registered the equalizer with 2:12 remaining in the period.
The goals, which had been so abundant in the second period, disappeared in the third, only to be replaced by a significant number of penalties. The teams combined for 0 goals and 12 penalties in the final period of regulation. UW-Stevens Point accumulated a 16-7 advantage in shots, but none would find the back of the net.
In the overtime, Gustavus and UW-Stevens Point combined for only four shots (two each), settling for the draw after five minutes of bonus hockey produced no goals.
For the Gusties, no player managed more than a single point with Hosfield, Detlefsen, seniors Eric Lindquist (Bloomington, Minn.) and Steve Dusich (Apple Valley, Minn.) and sophmores Ben Ollila (Lino Lakes, Minn.), Cody Drysdale (Mankato, Minn.) and Tim Ornell (Golden Valley, Minn.) each picking up an assist in addition to the four goal-scorers.
Law and Trulock each scored a goal and an assist for UW-Stevens Point, which out-shot Gustavus 47-28 during the game.
Kraska moved to 7-1-1 on the season with 43 saves in 65 minutes of play. His Pointer counterpart, Marcus Paulson moved to 7-4-2.
The Gusties move to 9-2-1 overall and will face UW-Eau Claire in Eau Claire, Wisconsin on Saturday evening.