ST. CLOUD, Minn. – The Bethel University men's hockey team was unable to complete the series sweep against Saint John's University Saturday night, falling 6-3 on the Johnnies home ice in St. Cloud. SJU broke a 1-1 tie with a pair of power play goals and extended their lead to 4-1 before Bethel scored twice to make it 4-3. The Johnnies answered with a pair of goals in the last seven minutes, however, to pull away by the 6-3 final.
After being shutout Friday night in Bethel University Arena, the Johnnies needed just three minutes to score on Saturday. John Haeg, SJU's leading scorer, gave Saint John's the early lead before Bethel responded with their first goal four minutes later.
Jackson Purvis scored for the second straight night with
Tyler Peltram picking up the assist. The Johnnies didn't wait long to retake the lead, scoring their first power play goal three minutes later. At the 14 minute mark of the second period Saint John's scored again on the power play for the only scoring of the second period. SJU built their lead to 4-1 on Haeg's second goal at 5:19 in the third period.
Midway through the third period, Bethel was able to generate some offense with two goals within three minutes of each other to pull within one at 4-3. Defenseman
Michael Bond scored his first career goal at 8:55 with assists from Purvis and
Dylan Webster. Senior
Grant Dye then scored from
EJ Gann and
Philip Cameron. The Royals hopes of drawing even were short lived however, as SJU scored just 71 seconds later and added another goal in the final minutes to take the 6-3 victory.
The Johnnies capitalized on two of their four power play opportunities while Bethel had just one power play on the night. SJU outshot Bethel 34-23. Bethel's
Will Griswold took the loss in the net, allowing the first four goals while making 21 saves.
Tanner Balk saw his first collegiate action and made seven saves while allowing the last two goals in just under 14 minutes of action.
The Royals will wrap up the season with one more series against Gustavus Adolphus College next Friday and Saturday night. The Royals will host the Gusties on Friday and travel to St. Peter on Saturday.
