Jay Phillips shoots the puck in front of a Tommie.
Loren Havemeier scores one of his two goals on the night.
Mike Hosfield and a Tommie battle for the puck.
Jon Keseley passes the puck at center ice.
The Gustavus men’s hockey team defeated St. Thomas in a game where the momentum switched numerous times between the teams, but in the end the Gusties won 7-5. The Tommies came out and scored a goal 24 seconds into the game, and scored the next goal for a two-goal lead. However, the Gusties battled back and were able to erase that lead early in the second period. Gustavus improves to 13-7-1 overall and 8-4-0 in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. St. Thomas falls to 13-8-0 overall and 10-2-0 in the conference.
The Tommies came out of the gate and took a 1-0 lead just 24 seconds into the game on a Dan Krmpotich goal. Ryan Hoehn stretched the Tommie lead to 2-0 at the 7:29 mark when he scored on a breakaway. Gustavus’ Jon Keseley (Jr., St. Louis Park, Minn.) cut the lead down to one at the 12:05 mark when he put the puck past Treye Kettwick while on a power play. The Gusties killed all three St. Thomas power play opportunities in the first period.
Loren Havemeier (Sr., Sleepy Eye, Minn.) tied the game up at 2-2 just 61 seconds into the second period. Keseley passed the puck in front of Kettwick and Havemeier scored on the back-side. The Tommies answered back at the 6:06 mark on a John Bottoms power play goal to take a 3-2 lead. Gustie Sami Idris (So., Gothenburg, Swe.) tied the game up at 3-3 while on the power play when he banked the puck off Kettwick’s back and into the net. Nate Ryan scored at the 17:13 mark to put St. Thomas back in the lead by a goal at 4-3. Just when it looked like the Tommies would go into the third with a one-goal lead, Keseley scored his second goal of the night with nine seconds remaining in the second period to tie the game at 4-4. The Gusties out shot the Tommies 10-7 in the second period.
Gustavus took its first lead of the game at the 2:44 mark of the third period when Idris jammed the puck past Kettwick for his second goal of the night to give the Gusties a 5-4 lead. St. Thomas tied the game for the fourth time in the game at the 4:21 mark on a Krmpotich shorthanded goal. John Arundel (Jr., Eden Prairie, Minn.) scored the game-winning goal at 6:36 mark on an intercepted pass in the offensive zone. Havemeier scored his second goal of the night at the 13:11 mark to give the Gusties an insurance goal.
Erik Kraska (Sr., Plymouth, Minn.) picks up the win for the Gusties in the net. He recorded 15 saves on the night, while improving his record to 11-5-1 on the season. Kettwick recorded 15 saves in the game and is charged with the loss. Jake Maida came in relief for St. Thomas after the Gusties sixth goal of the game and recorded one save.
Gustavus won its first game against St. Thomas since the 1998-99 season, snapping a 14-game winless streak (0-12-2).
The Gusties will play Augsburg next week on Friday at 7:05pm in St. Peter, and Saturday at 7:05pm in Minneapolis.