David Martinson beats Augsburg goaltender Jon Zitur for the Gusties fifth goal.
Senior forward Eric Bigham scored two goals and assisted on two others to help the Gustavus men’s hockey team post a convincing 6-2 win over Augsburg College at Don Roberts Ice Rink on Friday night. The Gusties led 2-0 after one period and 5-1 after two periods, before claiming the 6-2 victory. Bigham picked up assists on the first two Gustavus goals and then scored the Gusties third and sixth goals. Josh Swartout picked up the win in the nets.
Gustavus played a strong first period out-shooting the Auggies 17-3 and taking a 2-0 lead into the locker room at the break. Rory Dynan scored the Gusties first goal at the 4:04 mark with assists from Bigham and Justin Lee and then Brad Wieck extended the lead to 2-0 with a power play goal at 13:24 with assists from Bigham and Mitch Carlson.
In the second period, the Gusties continued their strong play quickly pushing their lead to 4-0 on goals by Eric Bigham at 4:52 and Ross Ring-Jarvi at 6:30. Brad Wieck and Dane Erickson assisted on Bigham’s goal, while David Martinson and Patrick Dynan registered the assists on Ring-Jarvi’s goal. Martinson continued the second period scoring binge with a goal at the 11:40 mark making the score 5-0. Ring-Jarvi picked up the assist. Augsburg ended Swartout’s bid for the shutout when David Hines scored a power play goal at 13:59. Assists were credited to Joel Sauer and Jim Jensen. The Gusties, who held a 32-13 shot advantage through the first 40 minutes of play, outscored the Auggies 3-1 in the period and led 5-1 after two periods.
Eric Bigham celebrates his first goal of the night that gave the Gusties a 3-0 lead.
Play evened out in the third period with each team scoring a goal and the Gusties out-shooting the Auggies 13-11. Augsburg’s goal by Corey Ellertson (13:37) cut the lead to 5-2 and then Bigham closed out the scoring with a power play goal at 18:38 to make the score 6-2. Joel Jonsson and Tony Palma assisted on Bigham’s goal.
Josh Swartout turned in a strong performance in the nets for Gustavus turning away 22 shots and allowing two goals. Nate Pellegrino played the first 26:30 in the nets for Augsburg and then Jon Zitur played the final 33:30. Pellegrino registered 20 saves and allowed four goals, while Zitur turned away 19 shots and allowed two goals. Gustavus out-shot the Auggies 45-20 in contest.
Gustavus, which improves to 11-4-1 overall and 5-1-1 in the MIAC, will travel to Augsburg (9-4-1, 2-2-1) tomorrow night to wrap up the series. The game is scheduled to start at 7:05 p.m.