BLAINE, Minn. – The Bethel University men's hockey team closed out the regular season with a 3-1 loss to St. Olaf College Saturday evening inside Bethel University Arena.

The loss puts the Royals out of MIAC Playoff contention as they finish the season with a 4-19-2 overall record and 4-10-2 mark in Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play.

Bethel had the game's first opportunity on the power play but was unsuccessful in its lone shot attempt. It wasn't less than a minute before that Nick Ketola had the Royals best look as his shot clanked the weak side post. St. Olaf held the edge the remaining time in the first period scoring a pair of goals within 1:18 of each other to take a 2-0 lead into the first intermission.

The Royals wasted no time out of the intermission as Ketola scored his team-leading sixth goal of the season just 59 seconds into the second. With the Royals on the power play, Ketola pulled Bethel within one as Dallas Marvin and Johan Kling both picked up assists on the goal.

Goalie Ridge Gerads continued to limit the damage in the second making a diving pad save as St. Olaf fired on net during a 2-on-1 advantage. Gerads would end the night with 34 saves, 14 of which came in the second period.

The visiting Oles pushed the BU deficit back to two with a goal from Jesse Lawman. With 2:04 remaining it was Roshen Jaswal to take a shot from just inside the blue line. With heavy traffic in front of Gerads, Lawman was able to get a stick on the inflight puck to redirect it to the back of the net.

Bethel controlled the third period where they outshot St. Olaf 14-9 but were unable to spark a comeback. The penalty kill once again was in tack as they fended off three St. Olaf power plays to finish the night 4-for-4. BU saw opportunities late firing off three shots with 5:00 remaining in regulation, but Oles netminder Eric Hancock was able to cover up the puck while lying on the ice.

The Royals pulled Gerads for one last push at cutting the deficit in the final minute but a pair of shots by Dallas Marvin were stopped by Hancock before time expired.