Box Score

BLAINE, Minn. - The Bethel Royals dug themselves hole they couldn't quite escape tonight, and the first place St. Olaf Oles skipped town after defeating the Royals 5-2.

Much like Friday night, the two teams played a very even game initially. St. Olaf took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission before coming out and scoring three more unanswered goals in the second period, all by different players.

It wasn't until the third period that Bethel was able to connect a couple of passes that would lead to a goal. Halfway through the period, Christian Fogerty (So., Forest Lake, Minn.) scored on a power play with the help of Jake Kogler (Fr., Forest Lake, Minn.) and Kyler Moje (Fr., Minneapolis, Minn.) to make the game 4-1 in favor of the Oles.

Nearly two and a half minutes later, it was Kent Bostrom (Sr., Vadnais Heights, Minn.) who cut Bethel's deficit in half on a power play with his ninth goal of the season, assisted by Chris Fiala (Fr., Vadnais Heights, Minn.) and Brad Peterson (Sr., Bloomington, Minn.). For Peterson, the assist marked his 96th career point, leaving him four points shy of 100 with two regular season games to go.

Unfortunately, the puck stopped there in terms of Bethel's scoring. St. Olaf went on to add another goal with less than four minutes remaining to seal the Royals' defeat. The Oles out shot the Royals 36-28, but both teams capitalized on two of their five power play opportunities.

The loss drops Bethel to 10-12-1 overall and 6-8 in the MIAC, which ties them with Augsburg for the fifth and final playoff spot. Augsburg currently holds the tiebreaker advantage with a pair of wins over Bethel earlier in the season. With the win, St. Olaf becomes the first team to clinch a playoff spot, as they are now 10-1-1 in the MIAC and 14-6-1 overall. The Royals are scheduled to have a week off of competition before returning to the friendly confines of Bethel University Arena on February 20, to take on St. Thomas beginning at 7 p.m.