The Gustavus men’s hockey team ended an 0-for-10 scoring drought on the power play Saturday night in Minneapolis by putting in three power play goals on the way to a 4-1 win over Augsburg. Gustavus earns its first sweep of the season, picking up four points and improving to 4-4-2 overall and 3-3-0 in the MIAC. With the loss, Augsburg is now 3-6-0 overall and 1-3-0 in the MIAC.
Sophomore defenseman Patrick Hurley earned the first star with a pair of power play goals in the game. Hurley struck the opening goal of the contest at 9:38 of the second period to give Gustavus a 1-0 lead. He then tallied the eventual game-winner less than a minute later at 10:19 to put Gustavus up 2-0 heading into the third period. The goals are Hurley’s second and third of his career and first two points of the season.
Freshman forward Jack Walsh added Gustavus’ final power play goal of the game at 5:36 of the third period, giving Gustavus a 3-0 lead. Walsh also had an assist on Hurley’s second goal.
Augsburg’s Jamison Wicks cut the lead to 3-1 with an even strength goal at 13:28 of the third. The Gustavus defense would shut the Auggies down from that point on, as Dane Erickson notched his first goal of the season after burying an empty-netter to bring the game to a final at 4-1.
The Gustie penalty killers held the Auggies scoreless on the man advantage for the second straight night. Augsburg went 0-for-4 on the power play with seven shots. Gustavus recorded a season-high 17 shots on the power play after going 3-for-7 in the game.
Gustavus freshman goaltender John McLean stopped 35-of-36 shots in the win. 14 of those saves came in the final period. McLean is now 3-3-0 on the year after picking up a pair of wins over the weekend.
Justin Lochner suffered the loss in nets for Augsburg. Lochner allowed three goals and made 35 saves in the game.
Senior forward Ross Ring-Jarvi and junior forward Ryan Johnson each had a multiple-point game with two assists to their credit.
With the sweep, Gustavus now has six points in the MIAC and sits in a three-way tie for fourth place alongside Bethel and Hamline.
The Gustavus men’s hockey team will conclude the 2011 calendar year with three-straight road games against non-conference opponents Concordia University (Dec. 9, 8:00 p.m.), Lawrence University (Dec. 10, 4:00 p.m.), and UW-River Falls (Dec. 14, 7:00 p.m.).