Appleton, Wis. – Thanks to a late offensive-surge that saw the Gustavus Adolphus men’s hockey team score five unanswered goals over the second and third periods, the Gusties were able to come away with a 6-6 tie with Lawrence University on Friday night at the Appleton Family Ice Center.
Trailing 5-1 more than halfway through the second period, Gustavus rattled off five straight goals to go up 6-5 five minutes into the third period. Down a goal in the final minutes of the game, Lawrence added an extra attacker and converted with less than ten seconds remaining in regulation. Blake Roubos scored at the 19:51 mark to tie the game at 6-6, and neither team could find the game-winning goal in the five-minute overtime.
Gustavus records its first tie of the year and is now 5-3-1 overall, while Lawrence goes to 2-4-1.
After Zach May (Sr., Prior Lake, Minn.) opened up the scoring with a goal at the 2:54 mark of the first period, the Vikings used a five-goal scoring-spree of their own to grab a 5-1 lead by the 14:03 mark of the second period. Logan Lemirande and Brandon Boelter scored in the first period, and Huck Saunders, Blake Roubos, and Ryan Rumble netted goals in the second period.
Once the Lawrence storm of goals came to an end in the second period, Gustavus’s offense ignited. Nate Paulsen (Jr., La Habra, Calif.) jump-started the offense with an unassisted goal at the 14:59 point of the second period.
The Gusties scored twice more before the end of the period. Jack Walsh (Jr., Mahtomedi, Minn.) cut the lead to 5-3 with a short-handed goal at 17:09, and Paulsen brought the score to within one at 5-4 with his second goal of the game at 19:41.
Gustavus carried the momentum into the third period where Tyler Lapic (Jr., New Prague, Minn.) and Corey Leivermann (Sr., North Mankato, Minn.) capped the five-goal run. Lapic tied the score at 5-5 with an unassisted goal at the 1:02 mark, and Leivermann put the Black and Gold up 6-5 with a short-handed tally at the 4:22 mark.
Gustie netminder John McLean (So., Eagan, Minn.) stopped 31 shots and is now 5-2-1 with the complete-game tie. His counterpart, Anton Olsson, went the distance as well and stopped 51 shots.
Gustavus recorded a season-high 62 shots compared to Lawrence’s 37. The Vikings went 2-for-8 on the power play, while Gustavus was blanked on all seven of its tries.
The Gustavus men’s hockey team will cap the NCHA/MIAC Thanksgiving Showdown with a 4:00 p.m. game against Marian University on Saturday, Nov. 30.