St. Paul – After Hamline University tied the game at 1-1 with a goal inside the first minute of the second period, the Gustavus men’s hockey team scored four unanswered on its way to a 5-1 road victory at Oscar Johnson Arena. Receiving five goals from five different players, Gustavus earned its first conference sweep of the season. The Gusties improve to 5-3-0 overall and 3-1-0 in the MIAC with the win, while Hamline drops to 0-7-1 overall and 0-2-0 in the MIAC.
Gustavus struck first at the 10:52 mark of the first period when Gustav Bengtson (Stockholm, Sweden) put away a Corey Leivermann (Sr., North Mankato, Minn.) assist.
Once Hamline’s Kevin Novakovich knotted the game at 1-1 just :57 seconds into the second period, the Gustavus scoring onslaught began.
Alex Gallen (Sr., Hingham, Mass.) kicked off the scoring spree with Gustavus’s first of two second period goals at the 10:44 mark off an assist from Sam Majka (Fr., Wayzata, Minn.).
Just before the buzzer sounded on the second period at 19:59, Adam Smyth (Sr., Burnsville, Minn.) netted the puck off assists from Zach May (Sr., Prior Lake, Minn.) and Andy Pearson (Jr., Burnsville, Minn.) to give Gustavus a 3-1 lead.
The Gusties scored twice more in the third period. Blake Schammel (Jr., Red Wing, Minn.) and Pearson provided the goals, which for both juniors, were their first of the season. Schammel scored at the 4:39 mark from Drew Aspinwall (Fr., Maple Grove, Minn.), and Pearson scored at the 10:29 mark from Joey Olson (Sr., Warroad, Minn.) and May.
Neither squad’s power play unit played a factor in the outcome, as Gustavus went 0-for-3 on the man-advantage and Hamline went 0-for-2.
John McLean (So., Eagan, Minn.) stopped 20 of Hamline’s 21 shots to pick up his third straight win and improve to 5-2-0 on the year. John Sellie Hanson suffered the loss after making 26 saves of the 31 Gustavus shots he faced.
The Gustavus men’s hockey team will head back into non-conference play next weekend with it travels to Appleton, Wis. for the MIAC/MCHA Showcase. The Gusties will kick off the weekend on Friday, Nov. 29 with a 7:30 p.m. game against Lawrence University. Gustavus will then conclude the weekend against Marian University on Saturday, Nov. 30 at 4:00 p.m.