The Gusties celebrate Evan Erickson's (22) first period goal. (photo courtesy of Bridget Larson, SPX Sports)
SAINT PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus men’s hockey team Saturday handed Augsburg – the No. 4-ranked team in the nation – its first MIAC loss of the season in a 3-1 decision at Don Roberts Ice Rink. The victory snaps a six-game losing streak as the Gusties improve to 6-12-1 overall and 3-6-1 in the MIAC, while the Auggies drop to 14-3-2 overall and 8-1-1 in the league.
The win also carries a little more weight in the Gustavus locker room as Head Coach Brett Petersen claimed a victory in his 500th game on the Gustie bench. Petersen is now 235-211-54 in 19 seasons.
Evan Erickson (Sr., Woodbury, Minn.) started the scoring 7:19 in to the first period, finding the five-hole on a back-hand shot from directly in front of the net. The Gusties were buzzing for a majority of the first period, but with just three seconds left in the frame the Auggies took advantage of an odd-man rush to tie the score 1-1 at the first intermission.
Nearly 19 minutes passed in the second period before Colton Schmidt (Sr., Eden Prairie, Minn.) scored what proved to be the game-winner, on a perfect crossing pass from Caleb Anderson (So., Sioux Falls, S.D.). And with just over six minutes remaining in the game, Schmidt netted his second goal of the game.
The Gusties outshot the Auggies 37-33 as Robbie Goor (So., Anoka, Minn.) made 32 saves in net for the win. Both teams were unsuccessful on the power play as Gustavus went 0-3 and Augsburg 0-2.
Gustavus next travels to Saint Mary’s on Friday night.