Bloomington, Minn. – The Gustavus Adolphus men’s hockey team entered last weekend’s home-and-home series against St. Thomas knowing a loss would likely put to rest its playoff hopes. With their backs against the wall, the Gusties needed goals, but more importantly, they needed John McLean (Jr., Eagan, Minn.) to win the goaltending matchup against one of the nation’s best in St. Thomas senior Drew Fielding. To go along with that burden, McLean needed to shut down a potent St. Thomas offense that averaged more than three goals per game. McLean answered the call both nights as the Gusties skated to a 1-1 draw and shootout win on Friday before picking up a 3-1 victory on Saturday. Thanks in large part to his performance over the weekend, the Gusties’ pursuit of the postseason still has legs heading into the final weekend of the regular season. For his efforts, McLean was honored with the MIAC Men’s Hockey Athlete-of-the-Week award.
In Friday night’s series-opener at Don Roberts Ice Rink, McLean allowed what was an atypical goal for the junior at the 8:15 mark of the first period. From that point on he was lights out, turning away 27 straight shots over the remaining minutes of regulation and overtime to help Gustavus to the 1-1 tie. Despite the shutdown performance during regulation and overtime, McLean especially shined in the shootout where he turned away five of St. Thomas’s six attempts to allow the Gusties the extra point in the conference standings. Of those five saves, the third was of the highlight reel variety with the 6-8 netminder sprawling to his left and reaching out with his glove hand to turn away Jordan Lovick, who appeared to have the game won as he looked at what was a wide open net. The final scoresheet had him making 30 saves by the end of overtime.
In Saturday’s 3-1 victory at the St. Thomas Ice Arena in Mendota Heights, where there Tommies were undefeated entering the weekend, McLean was even more impressive. He allowed St. Thomas just one goal, which came at the 17:23 mark of the first and tied the game at 1-1, despite being blistered by 29 shots through 40 minutes. With a 3-1 lead heading into the third, McLean turned away eight shots in the third period to bring his total to 36 on the night. It was his second-best save total of the year and the fourth time the Eagan native reached the 30-save mark.
John McLean enters the season-capping series against Bethel University with a record of 4-4-3. McLean ranks third in NCAA Division III in save percentage at .941 and seventh in goals against average at 1.68.
Thanks to the five-point weekend, the Gusties now have 21 points in the MIAC standings, and are 4-4-6 in the conference and 7-8-8 overall. Gustavus is tied for sixth with Augsburg and still has a chance to earn a spot in the MIAC Playoffs with strong play and a little help over the season’s final weekend. The Gusties will close the regular season with a home-and-home against Bethel, with Friday’s game on the Royals’ home ice at 7 p.m. and Saturday’s finale set for 7:05 p.m. in St. Peter, Minn.