Gusties celebrate a Colin Hernon (18) goal.
ST. PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus men’s hockey team took care of business Saturday afternoon in a justifiably must-win game in the MIAC playoff race, defeating Concordia 5-1 to salvage a series split. The win gives the Gusties 24 points in the league standings, three behind third-place Saint John’s and now four ahead of fifth-place Concordia.
It didn’t take long for the Gusties to find the back of the net as Colin Hernon (Sr., Bloomington, Minn.) scored his first of two goals in the game 3:06 after the opening puck-drop, assisted by JT Walters (Sr., Escondido, Calif.). Concordia took a good deal of momentum into the first intermission by scoring its lone goal of the game with seven seconds left in the first period.
Neither team could find the net in the middle frame, but again the Gusties scored quickly to start the third period, 32 seconds in off the stick of Jake McCann (Sr., Shoreview, Minn.). Dominic Picciano (Fy., Minnetonka, Minn.) and Jake Bushey (Sr., Duluth, Minn.) helped on what proved to be the game-winner. Four minutes later, Tyler Rock (Sr., Savage, Minn.) scored his fifth goal of the season, assisted by Bushey. At the 11:35 mark, Hernon scored his second goal of the game and eighth of the season on a power play. And with 3:47 remaining in regulation and the Concordia goalie pulled, Caleb Anderson (Fy., Sioux Falls, S.D.) put the icing on the cake with an empty-net goal.
The Gusties outshot the Cobbers 40-21 as Robbie Goor (Fy., Anoka, Minn.) made 20 saves in goal to pick up his third win of the season. The Black and Gold capitalized on its lone power play of the game and killed off three Cobber power plays.
Gustavus (9-11-3, 8-6 MIAC) has a crucial home-home series against Saint John’s next weekend that has a lot on the line for the MIAC playoff picture. Friday’s game in St. Peter begins at 7:05 p.m. and Saturday’s game in St. Cloud starts at 7 p.m.
Jake Bushey was instrumental in the win
Good job Gusties!