David Martinson scores the first of his four goals.
Gustavus senior forward David Martinson continued his torrid scoring streak as he tallied four goals for the second consecutive game, but it would not be enough as the the Bethel Royals tied the score at 5-5 with 30 seconds left in regulation and then scored the gamewinner with a minute left in overtime to beat the Gusties 6-5 in St. Peter.
With one minute left in regulation play, it appeared that Gustavus might be on its way to handing Bethel its first loss in conference play as the Gusties led 5-4 and had put several shots on the open Royal net, however Bethel put a shot on net with 50 seconds remaining and the Gusties Josh Swartout made the save forcing a faceoff in the Gustavus zone. The Royals called a timeout with 42 seconds left and when play resumed, Bethel managed to take advantage of a fortunate bounce off a deflected shot and tie the score with a goal by Jon Crouse with 30 seconds on the clock.
In overtime, the Gusties Joe Welch was whistled for elbowing at the 1:58 mark and with 12 seconds left in the penalty and 1:13 left in the extra session, Mason Swens0n ripped a slapshot from the top of the left circle that just snuck under the crossbar in the upper right corner of the net giving the Royals the improbable win in St. Peter.
Six different players scored for Bethel. Jack Paul and Jake Kogler scored in the first period, Tom Menozzie scored in the second period, Chris Fiala and Jon Crouse scored in the third period and then Swenson tallied the game-winner in overtime.
Josh Swartout stops a Royal breakaway.
For Gustavus, it was all David Martinson for the second consecutive game as the senior forward from St. Louis Park scored four times including three power play goals. A quick check of the record book shows that it is likely the first time a Gustavus player has scored a hat trick in consecutive games since Gary Hansen did it against Macalester and Hamline in January of 1975. Martinson has now scored nine goals in seven games this season. He entered the game with 94 career points and with the four goals against Bethel, Martinson now needs just two points to become the 33rd player in program history to compile 100 career points.
Senior forward Rory Dynan scored the other goal for the Gusties. Ross Ring-Jarvi and Patrick Dynan both assisted on three of Martinson’s four goals.
Josh Swartout suffered the loss in the nets for Gustavus. He registered 22 saves. Aaron Damjanovich picked up the win for the Royals. He made 26 saves.
Each team was whistled for seven penalties for a total of 14 minutes. Bethel was 1-for-6 on the power play, while the Gusties were 3-for-6 with the player advantage.
Gustavus falls to 3-3-1 overall and 1-1-1 in the MIAC, while Bethel improves to 3-4-0 overall and 3-0-0 in the MIAC. The two teams will wrap up the series tomorrow night at Bethel. The game is scheduled to start at 7:05 pm at the National Sports Center in Blaine.