Amherst, Mass. – The Gustavus Adolphus men’s hockey team played a much-improved hockey game compared to its previous two Friday nights, putting to end a four-game losing-streak by skating to a 2-2 against Amherst College on Friday night at Orr Rink. Gustavus moves to 3-5-1 overall with the tie, while Amherst is now 3-0-1.
With a 2-1 lead late in the third period, Amherst’s Mike Rowbotham was able to tie the game at the 18:27 mark of the third period with an even-strength goal. The goal was the fourth even-strength goal scored in the game, as both teams failed to convert on their power play chances throughout the contest. Gustavus went 0-for-4 on the man-advantage, while Amherst went 0-for-2.
The Lord Jeffs scored the opening goal of the contest as well as the final goal. At the 10:02 mark of the first period, Mike Moher put the puck in the back of the net to put his club up 1-0. Despite outshooting Amherst 13-4 in the first period, it would take until the second for Gustavus to get on the scoreboard.
At 5:16 of the second, Adam Smyth (Burnsville, Minn.) scored his first goal of the season on his own to tie the game at 1-1.
After over 18 minutes of back-and-forth hockey, Gustavus was able to grab a 2-1 lead when Tyler Lapic (New Prague, Minn.) scored his first goal of the season off feeds from Andrew Peterson (Reno, Nev.) and Ryan Johnson (Blaine, Minn.).
Neither team could find the game-winning goal after the Rowbotham equalizer and the game ended in a 2-2 tie. Gustavus finished with the shot advantage at 32-26 by the final buzzer.
Gustavus goaltender Tyler Venne (New Hope, Minn.) turned away 24 of Amherst’s 26 shots, while his counterpart David Cunningham recorded 30 saves of his own.
The Gusties will conclude their trip to Massachusetts on Saturday night with a game against Williams at 6:00 p.m. (CT) in Williamstown.