BOX SCORE: GAME 1
BOX SCORE: GAME 2

ARDEN HILLS, Minn. - After a long fought battle for play-off position by the Bethel Men's Hockey team, they came up short this weekend against the Augsburg College Auggies. The Auggies came back from and early deficit to take a 5-4 overtime victory Friday evening at Bethel University Arena. In Saturday night's action, Bethel dropped their second game to Augsburg by a score of 4-2.

The Royals just didn't have enough gas in the tank to finish off Augsburg Friday Bethel took a 2-0 lead with two goals by Jack Paul (So., Minnetonka, Minn.) in the first 3:31 of play, but the Auggies cut the lead to 2-1 later on.

Augsburg scored three goals within a 4:00 span – including two power-play goals – midway through the second to give themselves a 4-2 lead. However, the Royals would not go away. They managed to tie the game with two third period goals of the stick of Jon Crouse (So., Alexandria, Minn.) and Chris Fiala (Jr., White Bear Lake, Minn.). Despite bringing the game into overtime, the Auggies found the back of the net within the first minute of the overtime period to take the win. With Friday night's victory, Augsburg clinched a play-off berth.

The Royals took a 2-1 lead in Saturday night's game in hopes of finishing off the regular season with a victory. Jesse Phenow (Fr., Richfield, Minn.) found the back of the net for the first time on the year, while Jack Paul collected the other tally mark for the Royals. Unfortunately, the early lead could not hold up, as Augsburg went on to score three unanswered goals and take the game 4-2.

Bethel finished the year with a 4-17-4 overall record and a 3-9-4 conference mark. Jack Paul led the team in scoring with 35 points on 22 goals and 13 assists. Jon Crouse led the all Bethel defensemen in points on the year with 23. Crouse collected 5 goals and 18 assists.