ST. PETER, Minn. – Not many people outside the Gustavus community would have given the Gustie men’s hockey team much of a chance Friday night against No. 1-ranked and defending national champion University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Not to be overlooked, the Gusties stood tall against the Pointers in the home opener at Don Roberts Ice Rink, skating to a 3-3 tie to move to 1-1-1 overall.
UW-Stevens Point got the scoring going at the 12:09 mark in the first period on a power play goal, taking advantage of a loose puck in the crease off a rebound. The Gusties had an answer four minutes later with a power play goal of their own. Evan Erickson (So., Woodbury, Minn.) won the draw to start the power play, sent it back to Jake Bushey (Jr., Duluth, Minn.) at the right point, who then found Drew Aspinwall (Sr., Maple Grove, Minn.) at the top of the blue line for a hard-hitting one-timer to tie the game. At the end of the first period the score was tied 1-1.
Gustavus took a 2-1 advantage at the 14:50 mark of the second period on its second power play goal of the night. Sam Majka (Sr., Wayzata, Minn.) buried a loose puck in the crease, assisted by Colton Schmidt (Fy., Eden Prairie, Minn.) and Bushey. The Pointers outshot the Gusties 17-5 in the second period, but the home team carried a 2-1 lead into the second intermission.
It didn’t take long for UW-Stevens Point to net the equalizer as Nathan Harris fired a quick shot from the blue line 38 seconds in that slipped past the glove side of Chris Amsden (So., St. Peter, Minn.). The Pointers then took a 3-2 advantage with 6:49 remaining in the game, taking the wind out of the Gusties’ sails. But the Black and Gold dug deep and found a way to answer less than a minute later as Van Sullivan (So., Brentwood, Tenn.) caused a turnover at the blue line with a clean check and then found Erickson at the top of the left circle for the game-tying goal.
The game went to the extra period where neither team could score the game-winner, ending in a 3-3 tie. UW-Stevens Point outshot the Gusties 39-19 as Amsden made 36 saves for the home squad. Amsden certainly deserves much of the credit for tonight’s result as he was standing on his head, figuratively speaking, making key save after save. Gustavus went 2-for-5 on the power play, while the Pointers were 1-for-4 on the man advantage.
Gustavus now travels to Menomonie, Wis. for a 7:30 p.m. non-conference game tomorrow against UW-Stout.