The Gustavus Adolphus men’s hockey team fell to 0-2-1 overall following a 5-3 loss to #6 UW-Superior Friday night. UW-Superior’s Corey Stark scored two goals to lead the Yellowjackets, who improve to 3-0-0 on the season.
Stark put the Yellowjackets on the board midway through the first period off an assist from Nate Rein. The Gusties responded 2:39 into the second period as freshman Eric Bigham (Robbinsdale, Minn.) beat UWS goalie Chad Beiswenger to convert the power play opportunity. Junior winger Tim Ornell (Lino Lakes, Minn.) assisted on the goal.
UW-Superior retook the lead at the 6:00 mark of the second period as Stark put a shot past Gustie goalie Kevin Johnson (So., Wayzata, Minn.) for the second time on the evening. Andrew MacKenzie extended the Yellowjacket lead to 3-1 with a power play goal with 2:09 to play in the second period. A tripping penalty on UW-Superior eight seconds later gave Gustavus the man-advantage as time wound down in the middle stanza. Taking the puck from the point, Jon Keseley (Sr., St. Louis Park, Minn.) made a pair of Yellowjacket defenders sprawl out as he patiently moved the puck to the left of Beiswenger before firing a pass across the goal mouth onto the stick of Sami Idris (Jr., Gothenburg, Sweden), who fired a shot past Beiswenger to draw to within a goal at 3-2 at the 18:46 mark of the period.
The Yellowjackets extended their lead back to two goals midway through the third period as David Moncur slipped the puck past Johnson to make the score 4-2 UW-Superior. The two-goal lead stood until the 18:47 mark of the third. Gustavus, playing with an extra skater on the ice and an empty net behind them, went on the attack and closed the gap to a single goal when John Arundel (Sr., Eden Prairie, Minn.) scored his second goal of the season.
The Gustie rally was short-lived, though, as UW-Superior’s Chris Berry won a battle for the puck and fired a shot from his own defensive zone into the vacant Gustavus net.
Idris finished with a goal and an assist to lead the Gusties. Idris and Bigham moved into a tie for the team lead in points with Niko Suoraniemi with four. Keseley and Tim Ornell added assists. Stark’s two goals led UW-Superior, while Moncur finished with a goal and an assist and Nate Rein and Braden Desmet each tallied a pair of assists.
Kevin Johnson made 11 saves while Beiswenger was credited with 16. The Gusties outshot the Yellowjackets 19-16, but were only 2-of-10 on the power play. UW-Superior converted one of four chances with the extra skater.
The Gusties finish off the weekend homestand with a non-conference game Saturday evening against St. Scholastica.