The Gustavus men’s hockey team had set a goal to win the MIAC Regular Season Title at the start of the season and the team reached part of that goal on Friday when it defeated Saint Mary’s 5-1 and Hamline tied Concordia 2-2. The Gusties are now assured of at least a share of this year’s crown. A win or a tie on Saturday night will give the Gusties the title outright, the first for the program since 1993.
Gustavus jumped out to a 2-0 first period lead and never looked back on its way to the convincing 5-1 win over the Cardinals. Ross Ring-Jarvi (13:18) and David Martinson (16:09) scored the first two goals for the Gusties.
The Gusties added two more goals in the second period as T.J. Ridley scored at the 3:01 mark and Ring-Jarvi tallied his second of the game at the 12:23 mark. Gustavus led 4-0 after two periods.
David Martinson tallied his second goal of the game to close out the scoring for the Gusties at the 10:31 mark of the third period. Saint Mary’s broke up the shutout when Nate Peterson scored at the 11:33 mark.
Josh Swartout was the winning goaltender. Swartout registered 16 saves.