The Gustavus Adolphus women’s hockey team saw its 17-game winning streak and its 33-game league unbeaten streak snapped Saturday with a tough, hard-fought 1-0 loss to rival St. Thomas at Don Roberts Ice Rink. Marie Omann scored an unassisted short-handed goal just seven seconds into the second period to provide the game’s lone scoring play.
With Gustavus on the power play to start the second period due to a St. Thomas hooking penalty in the final seconds of the opening period, Tommie center Kara Ledel broke through to win the period’s opening faceoff. After St. Thomas momentarily lost control of the puck to a Gustavus defender, Omann picked up the loose puck and beat Scavo for the goal.
The Gusties had a number of chances in the final two periods to even up the score, but could not light the lamp. Gustavus outshot St. Thomas 39-18, but couldn’t get the puck past Tommie goalie Lauren Bradel, who came up with 39 saves in the win. Breanna Scavo made 17 saves while taking the loss for the Gusties.
St. Thomas reached a milestone as a program with the win, capturing its 100th MIAC victory. The Toms now have an all-time MIAC record of 100-34-10. The Tommies also denied the Gusties a pair of milestone victories, keeping them from their 200th victory overall and 125th in MIAC play. Gustavus will pick up the chase again next weekend against Augsburg.
The Gustie loss leaves Middlebury with the longest winning streak in Division III Women’s Hockey at eight games, while Plattsburgh is now in sole possession of the the longest unbeaten streak at 18 games (16-0-2). It also snapped Gustavus’ 33-game unbeaten streak against MIAC opponents (32-0-1) and ensured no team will finish with a clean sheet (no losses, no ties) in MIAC play.
The feat has yet to be accomplished in the nine seasons the league has sanctioned the sport, with Gustavus coming closest in the 2004-05 season. That year, the Gusties fell to St. Thomas 2-1 in their final conference game of the season to finish 17-1-0 in league play. That loss, coincidentally, was Gustavus’ last in league play before Saturday.
Gustavus falls to 17-2-0, 11-1-0 in the MIAC, and will face Augsburg next weekend, while St. Thomas improves to 11-7-0 overall, 9-3-0 in the league and face Concordia in Moorhead next weekend.