ST. CLOUD, Minn. – The Bethel University men's hockey team started quick once again on Thursday night, but were unable to maintain their early lead as Saint John's University scored four consecutive goals between the first and second periods and finished with three more in the third for a 7-3 victory. The Royals scored the first two goals of the game for the third consecutive outing, with the previous two resulting in a tie and a win, but SJU was able to respond and then pull away late to take the opener of the MIAC series.

Travis Payne, the reigning MIAC Men's Hockey Athlete-of-the-Week, picked up right where he left off last weekend, scoring the games first goal at 5:07 in the first period. The goal was the seventh in the past three games for Payne with six of those coming in the first period and before the other team had scored. Nick Eytcheson and Dylan Webster assisted Payne. Justin Bonanno then scored for the Royals six minutes later with TJ Christensen assisting to give Bethel a 2-0 lead. Saint John's was able to tie the game up with a pair of quick goals at 12:07 and 14:42, the second being a power play score. The Johnnies wasted little time breaking the tie in the second period as they scored just 15 seconds in and added another at 1:56 to take a 4-2 lead. Bethel responded with a power play goal of its own as Tony Larson scored at 10:59 in the second to pull within 4-3. The game remained at 4-3 until late in the third period when the Johnnies scored at 15:07 to give them a two-goal cushion. SJU added an empty net goal with just 35 seconds remaining and added another with 15 seconds remaining to make the final score 7-3.

A total of just six penalties were called in the game with each team scoring once on the power play. SJU had nearly six minutes of power play time however, while Bethel had just 34 seconds. The win improves Saint John's to 5-4 in the MIAC and moves them into a three-way tie for second place as the rest of the conference begins their series' tonight. Bethel falls to 1-6 in the MIAC. The teams will resume play Saturday night in Bethel University Arena with a 7 p.m. start.