Steven Jensen scored twice against Saint John’s
Joe Welch tallied a goal and recorded an assist.
The Gustavus men’s hockey team closed out its 2006-07 regular season schedule with a 6-5 overtime loss to Saint John’s in St. Cloud on Saturday night. The Gusties scored three goals in the final ten minutes of regulation play to tie the score at 5-5 and force the extra session. Steven Jensen scored two goals and added an assist to lead Gustavus.
The Johnnies jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a goal by Jake Hipp in the first two minutes of the contest. Gustavus bounced back to tie the score at 1-1 with a goal by Steven Jensen at the 8:28 mark. The two teams went into the lockerroom after the first period tied at 1-1.
Saint John’s scored twice in the second period on goals by Jake Hipp (12:18) and Brett Sobolik (19:36) and took a 3-1 lead into the lockerroom after the second period. The Johnnies outshot Gustavus 9-3 in the second period and held a 24-9 advantage after the first 40 minutes.
Gabe Harren’s goal at 4:17 of the third period extended Saint John’s lead to 4-1 and it looked like the Johhnies were going to roll past Gustavus. The Gusties cut the lead to 4-2 when Tim Ornell scored just :30 seconds later. Pat Connelly scored to give Saint John’s a 5-2 lead with 13 minutes left in the game and it appeared the Johnnies had the game in hand. Gustavus, however, would stage a furious rally that started with a power play goal by Eric Bigham at thee 9:30 mark cutting the lead to 5-3. One minute later, Joe Welch scored to get the Gusties back in the game trailing by one goal at 5-4. The Johnnies managed to hold Gustavus off for the next eight minutes, however Steven Jensen tied the score at 5-5 with a goal at the 18:12 mark.
In the overtime, Justin Wild scored the gamewinner for Saint John’s at the 1:50 mark.
The Gusties finished the regular season with a mark of 11-12-2 overall and 9-6-1 in the MIAC. Coach Brett Petersen’s squad has clinched a spot in the MIAC Playoff, however the Gusties have their bye week this weekend and will sit and watch the other four teams that have clinched playoff spots determine what the final seeding will be.