BLAINE, Minn. – The Bethel University men's hockey team put up a solid effort but in the end could not hold down the high powered Augsburg College offense in a 6-4 loss Saturday night. The Royals answered every Augsburg goal until the Auggies scored three consecutive times in the first 15 minutes of the third period to take control of a tight game. The six goals for Augsburg marks their fifth consecutive win in which they have scored five or six goals in each of those five victories.
The Auggies and Royals traded goals through the first two periods with Augsburg scoring first at 6:48 in the first.
Nick Eytcheson scored Bethel's first goal with
Travis Payne assisting Eytcheson's shot that found its way between the Auggie goalie's pads and trickled in at 7:11 in the first period. The game remained tied at 1-1 until Augsburg scored 1:36 into the second period.
Dylan Webster then tied it back up for Bethel with a great goal, beating the Auggie goalie who was stretched out in the net but Webster was able to cram his shot in between the pipe and the goaltender's skate.
Dallas Marvin and
Travis Payne set Webster up. Just over ten minutes went by before the Auggies retook the lead at 15:01. At 17:23,
Jackson Purvis was able to get
George Splichal out on a 2-on-1 break and Splichal set up
Mitch Hughes beautifully to tie the game back up at 3-3 heading into the third period. Augsburg controlled the scoring in the period as they scored three goals within a seven minute span between 7:17 and 14:33, the last being a shorthanded score, to take control of the game.
Travis Payne scored the Royals final goal at 16:24 just seconds after a Bethel power play to give the Royals hope. Bethel was unable to score again however and the Auggies completed the MIAC series sweep and moved themselves into second place in the MIAC standings.
The loss drops Bethel to 1-10-1 overall and 1-5 in the MIAC as they now enter their second MIAC bye weekend. The Royals will host a rare Thursday night matchup against the University of Wisconsin-River Falls to go along with a Saturday night affair with UW-Superior. Both games will start at 7 p.m. in Bethel University Arena.
