BLAINE, Minn. – The Bethel men's hockey team avenged last night's loss in a hard-fought, 3-2 victory over the Saint Mary's University Cardinals Saturday evening. The win keeps them atop the MIAC standings with 24 points while moving their conference record to 7-3-2 and overall record to 13-5-3.
Prior to the game Bethel honored five senior players in
Travis Allen,
Ben Doherty,
Jacob Evans,
Luke Posner and
Andrew Revering.
How It Happened:
• Though the first period yielded no goal for either team, the Royals found a slight edge, outshooting the Cardinals 11-7.
•
Jack Brown broke the Royals onto the scoreboard midway through the second period when he tipped in a rebound off of a shot from
Andrew Revering at 9:32.
•
Ben Doherty added to the Royals' lead with 2:50 to go of the same period on a penalty shot, taking the Cardinals' 6'6" goaltender to one side before slinging the puck over his other shoulder and into the back of the net.
• The Cardinals fought back, scoring with just 35 seconds to go in the second period, and the Royals headed into the third period with a narrow one-goal lead.
• The tension ramped up in the third period as
Jack Brown skated the puck up and took a hit from a Cardinal player. Brown managed to get a quick shot off mid-hit and struck the back of the net, giving the Royals a 3-1 lead.
• The Cardinals made a risky gamble when they opted to pull their goalie at 14:11 and in conjunction with a penalty on
Sam Wilhite and a ticking-down penalty of their own, giving themselves a 5-on-4 advantage first and a 6-on-4 advantage when their own penalty expired.
• BU fended off the intense Cardinal attack for several minutes, but an additional penalty on Revering put the Royals down two players for more time, and the Cardinals were finally able to score at 18:26.
• With numerous critical saves from goaltender
Travis Allen in the final seconds of the game, the Royals were able to hold the Cardinals out for the remainder of the time.
UP NEXT
The Royals return to their home ice at the Blaine Super Rink next Friday, Feb. 2, when they host MIAC rival and No. 11th-ranked St. Scholastica in a battle over the top conference rankings. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m.
