ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Bethel men's hockey team's MIAC playoff hopes come down to the final game of the season after they dropped their first matchup of the weekend against Hamline by a final score of 3-2 in overtime at TRIA Rink in St. Paul.
The Royals had six power play opportunities on the night and were only able to capitalize on one of them. The Royals outshot the Pipers by a margin of 36-23 and were able to sneak two third-period goals by Hamline netminder Kevin Lake but ultimately fell short as Hamline's Ike Taraszewski scored his second goal of the night 19 seconds into overtime to send the Royals home with a weekend opening loss.
The first period saw plenty of shots from both teams as Bethel got 11 pucks on net and Hamline got 14. Both goaltenders stood tall and the teams went into the first intermission tied at 0-0.
The second period started less than ideal for the Royals as they got a delay of game penalty to start the period and
Braeden Bartoo received a tripping penalty just 36 seconds later to put the Royals on a five-on-three penalty kill. Bethel would end up killing the first penalty to get back to four on five but were stung by a powerplay goal from Ike Tataszewski that put the Royals down 1-0.
The Royals entered the third down 1-0 and were met with more bad news as Hamline scored at 1:13 into the third to go up 2-0 on the Royals.
The momentum of the game shifted for the rest of regulation with the Royals outshooting the Pipers by a 13-2 margin in the third period and getting goals from
Tyler Braccini and
Jack Brown at 6:11 and 8:15 of the third period, respectively, before ultimately falling short in overtime.
The Royals will match up against Hamline again tomorrow at the Super Rink for their regular season finale, needing a win to stay alive in the MIAC playoff conversation. The Royals will need some help from other teams if they wish to secure one of the final two seeds in the tournament, with Concordia, St. Olaf, Saint Mary's, and the Royals all fighting for the last two spots. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. with a senior night ceremony set to take place in the pregame.
