BLAINE, Minn. - The Bethel University men's hockey team for the third consecutive game took a shootout victory after settling for a tie, this time a 0-0 tie with St. Olaf College on senior night. The Royals and Oles fired off 30 and 31 shots respectively but were unable to find the back of the net before Bethel took the shootout by a 2-1 score. Goaltender Joe Sheppard stoned three of the Oles four attempts in the shootout as Sheppard allowed just two scores on a total of 10 attempts in those three shootout victories. 

The hero in the shootout for Bethel, in addition to Sheppard, was senior Dylan Webster who converted on the fourth round of the shootout to break the 1-1 tie and give Bethel the extra point in the standings. Sheppard started it off with a save before Dallas Marvin nailed the pipe on Bethel's first attempt. For Marvin it was his first miss after converting both attempts in the previous shootouts. The Oles then got one past Sheppard but Jackson Purvis was able to respond immediately as he went top shelf to make it 1-1. Another Sheppard stop was followed by a Justin Bonanno miss but Sheppard was up to the task again, stopping the Oles with another pad save. That set the stage for the senior Webster to beat the Oles goaltender, who lost his stick attempting to knock the puck away, as Webster then slipped the puck into the net for the shootout win.

Bethel's record goes to 3-18-3 on the year and 2-10-3 in the MIAC. No other MIAC team has more than one shootout victory as the Royals now have three. Bethel is 2-5-3 in their last ten games as they will finish the season Saturday night at St. Olaf in Northfield, Minnesota. The puck will drop at 7:30 p.m. Six Bethel seniors were honored after the game and will play their final game on Saturday in Tucker Gran, Kurtis Redding, Dylan Webster, Justin Bonanno, Jackson Purvis and Jeff Flicker.