Senior forward Eric Bigham scored two goals and assisted on two others to help the Gustavus men’s hockey team post a convincing 6-2 win over Augsburg College at Don Roberts Ice Rink on Friday night. The Gusties led 2-0 after one period and 5-1 after two periods, before claiming the 6-2 victory. Bigham picked up assists on the first two Gustavus goals and then scored the Gusties third and sixth goals. Josh Swartout picked up the win in the nets.
Gustavus played a strong first period out-shooting the Auggies 17-3 and taking a 2-0 lead into the locker room at the break. Rory Dynan scored the Gusties first goal at the 4:04 mark with assists from Bigham and Justin Lee and then Brad Wieck extended the lead to 2-0 with a power play goal at 13:24 with assists from Bigham and Mitch Carlson.
In the second period, the Gusties continued their strong play quickly pushing their lead to 4-0 on goals by Eric Bigham at 4:52 and Ross Ring-Jarvi at 6:30. Brad Wieck and Dane Erickson assisted on Bigham’s goal, while David Martinson and Patrick Dynan registered the assists on Ring-Jarvi’s goal. Martinson continued the second period scoring binge with a goal at the 11:40 mark making the score 5-0. Ring-Jarvi picked up the assist. Augsburg ended Swartout’s bid for the shutout when David Hines scored a power play goal at 13:59. Assists were credited to Joel Sauer and Jim Jensen. The Gusties, who held a 32-13 shot advantage through the first 40 minutes of play, outscored the Auggies 3-1 in the period and led 5-1 after two periods.
Play evened out in the third period with each team scoring a goal and the Gusties out-shooting the Auggies 13-11. Augsburg’s goal by Corey Ellertson (13:37) cut the lead to 5-2 and then Bigham closed out the scoring with a power play goal at 18:38 to make the score 6-2. Joel Jonsson and Tony Palma assisted on Bigham’s goal.
Josh Swartout turned in a strong performance in the nets for Gustavus turning away 22 shots and allowing two goals. Nate Pellegrino played the first 26:30 in the nets for Augsburg and then Jon Zitur played the final 33:30. Pellegrino registered 20 saves and allowed four goals, while Zitur turned away 19 shots and allowed two goals. Gustavus out-shot the Auggies 45-20 in contest.
Gustavus, which improves to 11-4-1 overall and 5-1-1 in the MIAC, will travel to Augsburg (9-4-1, 2-2-1) tomorrow night to wrap up the series. The game is scheduled to start at 7:05 p.m.