St. Peter, Minn. – The Gustavus Adolphus men’s hockey team skated to a 3-3 tie against St. Olaf College in the series-opening opener on Friday night at Don Roberts Ice Rink. Thanks to an extra attacker goal with a :43 seconds left in the game, St. Olaf knotted the game and second the game to overtime and eventually a shootout. The Oles converted on their first two shootout chances on the way to earning the extra point in the conference standings with a 2-0 shootout win.
Gustavus has played its last four league opponents to a draw and is now 3-3-5 overall and 1-0-4 in the MIAC. St. Olaf improves to 2-7-1 overall and 1-3-1 in the MIAC.
In front a Gustavus student body dressed in its ugly Christmas sweaters as a part of this weekend’s Winter Gustieland, St. Olaf grabbed an early lead with a power play goal by Tim Tuscher at the 4:30 mark of the first period. The power play goal was Gustavus’s just second allowed this season and first since Nov. 2 when the Gusties played the Oles at the MIAC Showcase.
The copycatting began later at 14:38 when Cory Ellis (Sr. St. Paul, Minn.) scored his first goal of the season from Jack Walsh (Sr., Mahtomedi, Minn.) to tie the game at 1-1.
At 2:22 of the second, St. Olaf’s Peter Lindblad scored to put the Oles back on top 2-1.
Once again, Gustavus had the answer later in the same period. This time, the Gusties took advantage on the power play and Drew Aspinwall (So., Maple Grove, Minn.) tied the game off assists from Jack Walsh and Jake Bushey (Fr., Duluth, Minn.).
Gustavus finished the game 1-for-3 on the power play, while St. Olaf went 1-for-4.
With the scored still knotted at 2-2 late in the third period, Gustavus grabbed its first lead of the game when Schyler Adams (Sr., New Prague, Minn.) hit the back of the net off dimes from Walsh and Ellis. Adams extended his point-streak to three games with the goal, while Walsh finished the night with three assists. The Walsh-Ellis-Adams line was responsible for six of Gustavus’s points in the game.
Down one goal with one minute on the clock, St. Olaf pulled its goalie and added an extra attacker. The move paid off and Steven Sherman scored to tie the game at 19:17.
St. Olaf outshot the Gusties 4-1 in overtime, but neither team could find the game-game winner.
In the shootout, Steven Sherman and Peter Lindblad scored on St. Olaf’s first two chances. Sam Majka (So., Wayzata, Minn.) and Tyler Lapic (Sr., New Prague, Minn.) failed to convert on Gustavus’s two chances.
Erik Johnson (So, Rice, Minn.) made 29 saves while his counterpart, Steve Papciak, made 26.
The series will come to a close on Saturday night in Northfield. The Gusties will cap 2014 with a 7:30 p.m. puck drop at the Northfield Ice Arena.