ST. CLOUD, Minn. – The Gustavus men’s hockey team was defeated by a score of 2-1 Saturday evening against No. 14-ranked Saint John’s University at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center during the regular season finale, putting the Gusties at the No. 4 seed heading into the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference playoffs.
With the loss, the Gusties regular season season finishes at 10-12-3 overall and 9-7 within the conference, setting up a quarterfinal matchup with No. 5 seed Concordia College next Thursday at Don Roberts Ice Rink.
A Saint John’s power play goal at 12:15 of the second period gave the home team a 1-0 advantage, in which they held for the remainder of the game.
Through two periods, the Johnnies held a 23-18 shot advantage. Down by a goal late, the Gusties pulled goaltender Robbie Goor (Fy., Anoka, Minn.), but Saint John’s answered with an empty net goal just seconds later to go up 2-0.
Goor left for the extra attacker again with under a minute remaining, and Will LeNeave (Fy., Medina, Minn.) got the Black and Gold on the board with help from Van Sullivan (Jr., Brentwood, Tenn.) and Reid Brown (So., Superior, Colo.), but with just 18 seconds remaining SJU was able to hold on for the 2-1 victory.
Johnnie netminder Andrew Lindgren turned aside 28 Gustie shots on net for the win, while Goor suffered the loss in net while tying a season-high with 31 saves as his record drops to 3-4-2.