Box Score

BLAINE, Minn. - A fired up Bethel Royals team took to the ice tonight in hopes of getting back to .500 and maintaining their footing in the MIAC race. They accomplished their goal with a come from behind, 4-3 win over the visiting Saint Mary's Cardinals.

At first, things didn't look so hot for the Royals as the Cardinals scored twice in the first period, with both goals coming from Trevor Tolibas. Bethel came back with a power play goal by Chris Fiala (Fr., Vadnais Heights, Minn.) at 11 minutes into the second period, assisted by Kent Bostrom (Sr., Vadnais Heights, Minn.) and Kyler Moje (Fr., Minneapolis, Minn.) to make it 2-1 in favor of the Cardinals.

The third period proved to be a wild showdown as A.J. Woodward of Saint Mary's put Bethel in a 3-1 hole just two and a half minutes in for his third goal of the season. But then the tide started to turn in Bethel's favor. Although Woodward put the Cardinals up, he also led to their downfall by tripping up Jake Kogler (Fr., Forest Lake, Minn.) on his way to the net. Kogler was awarded a penalty shot and once he got goaltender Karac Davis to commit to his right, he calmly switched over to the goalie's left and put the puck in the net to cut the Royal deficit to one.

Four and a half minutes later, John Kovacs (Sr., White Bear Lake, Minn.) knotted the game at three apiece when he scored with the help of Christian Fogerty (So., Forest Lake, Minn.) and Bostrom. Then, three minutes later, Bethel scored their third unanswered goal when Fiala, one of the top scoring freshmen in the MIAC, fielded a pass from Brent Kettelkamp (Sr., Richfield, Minn.) and buried it in the net for the game winning goal. Bostrom also earned an assist on the goal, giving him his second game of three or more points in his last three. Bostrom leads the team in points with 25 on eight goals and 17 assists.

There were a few other close calls for both teams as Bethel held the upper hand in shots on goal at 33-22. The Royals rotated each of their three goalies in front of the net, with Patrick Kiely (Jr., Muskegon, Mich.) starting, Aaron Jorgensen (So., Little Falls, Minn.) playing middle reliever for the second period into the third, and Aaron Damjanovich (Jr., Remer, Minn.) shutting the door as the closer in the final period.

The much-needed win puts Bethel back to 10-10-1 overall and 6-6 in the MIAC with just four games to play. Saint Mary's falls to 3-15-1 overall and 2-7-1 in the conference. The Royals are scheduled to travel down to Northfield, Minn., next Friday to take on St. Olaf beginning at 7 p.m. for their next game. The two teams met earlier in the season in a non-conference game, with the first-place Oles emerging victorious 6-4.