Box Score

BLAINE, Minn. - The Royals have found their feet in the MIAC race once again by defeating the Saint Mary's University Cardinals 5-4 at the Schwan's Super Rink.

Only a small crowd of people witnessed Bethel's early goal by Lukas Jorgensen (Jr., Little Falls, Minn.), assisted by Chaz Gerards (So., Blaine, Minn.) and Malcolm Rischards (Fr., Yorktown, Va.) under six minutes into the game. As a trickle of fans filled the stands to almost capacity, the heat was on between the Royals and the Cardinals.

Less than three minutes later, the Cardinals answered Bethel's goal with one of their own, scored by Jeff Miller during a power play. Another five minutes later, Will Such scored again for Saint Mary's, pushing them to a 2-1 lead. At 14:59 in the first period, Bethel's Jake Calleja (Fr., New Richmond, Wis.), with the help of Tom Menozzi (Jr., Lakeville, Minn.), evened the score at 2-2. Unfortunately it wasn't enough to hold the Cardinals back as they scored the final goal of the first period at 15:30, making it 3-2 in favor of Saint Mary's at the intermission.

The second period proved to be tougher than the first for the Royals. Play went back and forth until Saint Mary's again gained the upper hand with another goal 10:47 into the period by Nick Carlson on another power play. Down by two, Bethel needed a boost, and it came just in time. With just 40 seconds remaining in the middle period, Jake Kogler (So., Forest Lake, Minn.), with the help of Paul and Zack McGough (So., Roseville, Minn.), scored to reduce the Cardinal's lead to one just before the buzzer rang.

Kogler launched Bethel's momentum even more by coming out into the third period and scoring 5:48 into play, tying the game at 4-4 with the help of Paul and Christian Fogerty (Jr., Forest Lake, Minn.). As the minutes ticked away, play became very physical, but the Royals held the Cardinals off. With 2:43 remaining, Paul scored what would prove to be the game winning goal, with assists going to Blake Jenkins (So., Brookfield, Wis.) and Jon Crouse (Fr., Alexandria, Minn.), and the Royals held on to defeat Saint Mary's 5-4.

With this win, Bethel now sits at 7-11 overall and 5-4 in the MIAC. Saint Mary's goes home with a 1-14-1 overall record and a 1-6 MIAC record. Tomorrow night, the Cardinal-Royal rivalry repeats itself at 7 p.m. at Saint Mary's.