Minneapolis – The Gustavus Adolphus men’s hockey team succumbed to Augsburg College 5-3 in a back-and-forth series-opener on Friday night at Ed Saugestad Rink. With the win, Augsburg snaps a five-year dry spell during which the Gusties were unbeaten against the Auggies over 13 games with a record of 12-0-1 that included an eight-game winning-streak. Augsburg earns three points in the conference standings and improves to 7-7-0 overall and 4-1-0 in the MIAC. Gustavus drops to 4-6-6 overall and 1-2-4 in the MIAC with the loss.
The Gusties found themselves in an early deficit and had to play catchup the remainder of the night. Augsburg scored two goals in the final three minutes of the first period – the first by Drew Allen at the 17:25 mark and the second by Mack Ohnsted at the 19:44 mark.
Gustavus was able to cut the lead to 2-1 late in the second period when Conor Deal (Fr., Anchorage, Alaska) scored from Jake Bushey (Fy., Duluth, Minn.) and Blake Schammel (Sr., Red Wing, Minn.) at 16:47. Deal would later add two assists to give him a season-high three points on the evening. He has now recorded seven points (4G, 3A) over the last four games.
Although there were a total of five goals scored in the third period alone, three were by Augsburg. The Auggies kicked off the scoring-spree with a goal at the 1:21 mark to extend the lead to 3-1. The Gusties cut the margin to one (3-2) once again when Jake Bushey capitalized on the power play for his first goal since Nov. 8.
Bushey’s power play goal was one of two in the period for Gustavus. After Augsburg went on top 4-2 with a goal from Lucas Hendrickson at 6:56, Blake Schammel capitalized on the Black and Gold’s second power play opportunity of the frame with a goal off assists from Deal and Bushey to cut the lead to 4-3 at the 9:59 mark.
With time winding down and the Gusties still trailing by one, head coach Brett Petersen pulled his goalie at the 19:02 mark. Gustavus failed to fire a shot on goal with an extra attacker in the remaining seconds, and Augsburg put away an empty-netter at 19:56 to bring the score to a final at 5-3.
Gustavus recorded 33 shots and went 2-for-4 on the power play, while Augsburg fired 30 shots and was blanked on both its power play tries.
John McLean (Jr., Eagan, Minn.) suffers the loss and drops to 1-2-1 after making 26 saves. Fredrik Melander earned the win and improves 5-4-0.
With tonight’s loss, Gustavus heads into tomorrow evening’s series-finale in desperate need of points. The two clubs will face off at Don Roberts Don Drops at 7:00 p.m.