Box Score  
BLAINE, Minn. – Four second period goals by St. Olaf erased the Bethel University men's hockey teams 3-0 first period lead and the Oles added two empty netters in the final two minutes for a 6-4 win. Brock Raffaele, Jack Paul, Dan Rowland and Mitch Hughes all scored goals for the Royals, who dropped their seventh straight game. With the loss the Royals dropped into a tie for fourth place in the MIAC standings and St. Olaf moved into second place.
 
The first period gave Royals fans, including the pep band, plenty to make noise about as Bethel scored three times on just six shots. Brock Raffaele scored the Royals first goal 6:30 into the game and three minutes later Jack Paul scored his sixth goal of the season. Dan Rowland scored the third goal for the Royals with a minute and a half remaining in the period after taking a nifty pass from Garrett Windle. St. Olaf outshot the Royals 9-6 in the period but Bethel was able to put half of those shots in the net.
 
St. Olaf made a switch at goalie to start the second period and eventually scored their first goal at 6:32. The Royals seemed to maintain control of the game however until just over eight minutes later the flood gates opened and St. Olaf scored three times in less than four minutes to take the lead, 4-3. Bethel outshot the Oles 11-10, but St. Olaf was nearly as efficient as Bethel was in the first period as they scored on four of those ten shots.
 
Bethel was presented with a great opportunity to tie the game up mid-way through the third period when St. Olaf's Brian Hickey was called for a five minute major/game misconduct, checking from behind penalty on a hit against Paul in the corner. The Royals were able to put just three shots on goal in the next five minutes and the third period was scoreless until St. Olaf scored their first empty net goal with 1:21 left in the game. With 22 seconds left the Royals were able to score with an extra skater as Mitch Hughes put one home, his 10th goal of the year, all in the last eight games. Following the faceoff St. Olaf was able to add another empty net goal to seal the 6-4 victory. Bethel outshot St. Olaf 12-8 in the period and 29-27 for the game.
 
The Royals will head into their bye week from MIAC play next weekend before returning to action against league leader, St. Thomas on Friday, February 1st. Bethel will travel to Mendota Heights, Minn., and St. Thomas Academy to take on the Tommies at 7:30 p.m.