The Gustavus women’s hockey team broke open a tight game with five goals in the third period and claimed a 7-1 win over St. Benedict at the Municipal Athletic Complex in St. Cloud on Friday night. Meagan Wanecke led the Gusties with two goals and one assist, while Emily Klatt picked up the win in goal.
Gustavus led 2-0 after two periods of play. Gina DeNucci registered the first goal at 5:59 of the first period with an assist from Nara Higano and Meagan Wanecke tallied the second goal at 15:18 of the second period with assists from Gracie Olson and Kelsey Kennedy. Both goals were power play goals. Gustavus held a 34-12 shot advantage after 40 minutes of play.
The Gusties broke the game open in the first four minutes of the third period as Alyssa Gaulrapp scored just 23 seconds into the final frame, followed by Lindsey Hjelm at the 2:04 mark, and Allie Schwab at the 4:10 mark. Schwab’s goal was a power play goal.
Melissa Mackley increased the lead to 6-0 with a goal at 8:12 and then Meagan Wanecke posted the Gusties final tally at 11:32. Wanecke’s second goal was Gustavus’s fourth power play goal in the game.
St. Ben’s scored its lone goal of the game with just 90 seconds left in the contest when Kerri Graske beat Emily Klatt to break up the shutout.
The Gusties outshot the Blazers 53-17 in the game. Klatt made 16 saves for Gustavus.
The Gusties were 4-of-6 on the power play as Gina DeNucci and Allie Schwab each scored once, while Meagan scored twice with the player advantage.
The two teams will wrap up the regular season series with a game in St. Peter at 2:00 pm tomorrow (Saturday).
Gustavus improves to 7-3-2 overall and 4-2-1 in the MIAC, while St. Ben’s falls to 2-10-2 overall and 0-5-2 in the MIAC.