BOX SCORE
BLAINE, Minn. – The Bethel University men's hockey playoff hopes were dashed Thursday night with a 4-1 loss to Saint John's University, but that didn't stop the Royals from upending the Johnnies 7-4 in game two of the two-day double header Friday night. The win ends BU's season with an 8-15-2 record (6-8-2 MIAC), and has the potential to knock SJU out of sole possession of second place should Gustavus sweep St. Olaf this weekend.
The first period gave the fans a series of goals as the two squads combined for six goals within the twenty minutes of play. In fact, each team scored a goal on its first shot attempted. Bethel scored first less than five minutes into the frame on a power play goal by
Chris Fiala (Sr., White Bear Lake, Minn.), as Fiala put the puck in the back of the net right in front of the Johnnie goal from a Tyler Sorenson (So., Madison, Wis.) pass.
Saint John's fired the equalizer less than 30 seconds later as John Haeg, SJU's leading scorer, split the Royal defense and beat goaltender Robbie Brown (Fr., Battleboro, Vt.) for the Johnnies first goal.
Bethel took the lead once again two minutes later when
Colin Mayer (So., Mound, Minn.) scored on a goal almost identical to Fiala's goal. Mayer's shot in front of the net was also a power play goal that was assisted by both Fiala and Sorenson. The three made music once again two minutes later when Mayer posted his second goal of the game from Sorenson and Fiala to give BU a 3-1 lead. At this point the Royals had converted all three power play opportunities into goals.
Dan Rowland (Jr., Boston, Mass.) got into the mix when he scored his second goal of the season with just over six minutes to go in the first period. Rowland's goal came from
Jake Kogler (Sr., Forest Lake, Minn.) and
Tyler Swanson (Fr., Fargo, N.D.). The Johnnies didn't end the frame without a fight, though, scoring their second goal of the night at the 14:34 mark.
The scoring saga calmed in the second and third periods, but not by much. Saint John's added two unanswered goals in the first six minutes of the second to close the gap and even the game at four. Oddly enough neither team scored for the next eight minutes until
Jake Irey (Jr., Waterloo, Iowa) broke the silence with a stripe from the blue line that escaped the reach of the SJU goalie and gave BU the one-goal lead.
Neither team scored throughout the opening ten minutes of the third, as each team skated with electricity back and forth.
Tyler Swanson burned the biscuit front the blue line again 9:40 into the third, which gave Bethel a healthy two-goal lead and aided the eventual 7-4 victory. With 19 seconds remaining in the third
Jake Kogler ended his career with an empty net goal, which helped the Royals' goal leader hit 14 total goals this season.
Robby Brown received the start for the Royals in net tonight and despite letting four goals in throughout the first two periods, the freshman settled down nicely saving 29 shots on the night, including 13 in the third period alone.
