Box Score
BLAINE, Minn. - Five Royal seniors played their final regular season game at Bethel University Arena tonight, and it was the seniors who accounted for each of the goals in Bethel's 4-3 win over visiting St. Olaf.
Jeff Balvin (Sr., Maple Grove, Minn.) scored twice, while
Dan Bonne (Sr., White Bear Lake, Minn.) and
Steve Eastman (Sr., Edina, Minn.) accounted for the other two goals in the win.
Bethel had to come from behind as St. Olaf got on the board 8:15 into the first period when Thor Josefson scored a goal assisted by Oles leading point scorer Jeff Budish. The Oles added to their lead just 2:29 into the second period when Justin Green scored his first goal of the season with the help of Mike MacMillan.
It wasn't until 7:13 into the period that Bonne cut the lead in half by scoring a power play goal to give him 11 total goals on the season. Bonne's goal was assisted by fellow seniors Eastman and Balvin. Less than three minutes later, Balvin scored a goal of his own with the help of
John Kovacs (Jr., White Bear Lake, Minn.), his second shorthanded goal of the season and 12th overall.
Balvin struck again 2:28 into the third period with the help of Bonne and
Bill Menozzi (Sr., Lakeville, Minn.) to make the score 3-2. Eastman then went top shelf with a goal off a faceoff, assisted by
Eric Adams (Jr., Litchfield, Minn.) to put Bethel up 4-2.
St. Olaf came back to score one more goal with 2:26 remaining in the game to narrow Bethel's lead to one. Bryan Osmondson was able to sneak a shot through All-MIAC goaltender
Aaron Damjanovich's (So., Remer, Minn.) legs, assisted by Matt LaBombard and Ben Umhoefer.
The Oles pulled goaltender Jake Busch with 1:05 remaining, but Bethel's defense came through to stave off St.Olaf to preserve the win.
The win keeps Bethel atop the MIAC standings at 10-4-1 in the conference and 15-6-2 overall. The Oles drop to 8-10-4 overall and 5-5-3 in MIAC play. Bethel will play its final regular season game tomorrow night at 7 p.m. in Northfield, taking on St. Olaf once more.
