SJU Hockey Faces Saint Mary’s Thursday in St. Cloud, Saturday in Winona
Saint John’s Hockey opens a weekend series with Saint Mary’s Thursday, February 2 at 7 p.m. at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center (HBNHC) in St. Cloud. The two teams will finish the two-game set on Saturday, February 4 at 7:05 p.m. in Winona.
LIVE BROADCAST
-Thursday, February 2: Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM) | Live Stats/Live Video
-Saturday, February 4: Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM) | Live Stats | live video
TICKET INFORMATION: Fans wishing to attend SJU Hockey home games at HBNHC in St. Cloud must purchase tickets online. The cash registers are not open for staff reasons. – Buy online tickets
FREE STUDENT BUS ON THURSDAY!: Thanks to the SJU Senate, a bus will be available for CSB/SJU students for Thursday’s home game in St. Cloud. The bus departs from SJU’s Abbey Bell Banner at 6:00pm (then pick up at Flynntown at 6:05pm) and departs CSB’s HCC at 6:20pm
A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John’s (11-8-2, 7-4-1 MIAC) shared their streak with Augsburg but picked up just two of the weekend’s six points. The Johnnies earned a dramatic comeback win in overtime 5-4 in open air as part of Hockey Day Minnesota on Friday, but fell in a scoring 6-5 game to the Auggies in St. Cloud on Saturday night.
John 5, Augsburg 4 (27.1.)
Sophomore forward Jackson Sabo (Rosemount, Minn.) gave Saint John’s a 5-4 win with their third goal of the season, 2:16 in 3-on-3 overtime at Polar Lakes Park in White Bear Township. The goal came minutes after the senior striker Nick Michael (Waconia, Minnesota) tied the game 4-4 with the keeper being drawn and staying 1:03 in regulation.
Most of the game’s scoring came from two players – the senior captain Auggie Moore (Edina, Minn.) and Augsburg senior Gavin Holland. Moore scored twice in the first half – his first goal giving his team a 1-0 lead and his second making it 2-1 after Holland scored on the power play. But Holland struck again on the power play in the second half, earning the hat-trick with an equal goal early in the third period that put his team 3-2 ahead.
senior forward JackJohnson (Bemidji, Minnesota) scored to equalize 3-0, but a goal by Augsburg senior Erik Palmqvist at the 15:39 mark of the third period allowed his team to retake the lead.
Second goalkeeper Bailey Huber (Mahtomedi, Minnesota) made 29 saves to improve to 9-3-2 (6-2-1 MIAC) on a night that saw two Johnnies goals devalued – one in the second and one in the third.
Augsburg 6, near Saint John’s 5 (January 28)
The SJU was content with a dangerous 6:5 defeat against Augsburg at the HBNHC on Saturday evening.
Twelve different Johnnies recorded one point and two – freshman forward Rob Christy (St. Paul, Minn.) and defender sophomore Danny Eckerlin (Wayzata, Minnesota) – Scored her first collegiate goals in the loss. The SJU was denied a goal in the third period and the Augsburg team scored four times in the game.
Augsburg went first on the scoreboard 6-22 through a goal by Gavin Holland, but the Johnnies took a 2-1 lead as the junior forwards scored on the power play Max Borst (Edina, Minn.) and Lewis Crosby (Edina, Minnesota). At 12:13 of the first period, Borst lit the lamp with a pretty front deflection, and Crosby made it 2-1 for eight seconds in the second period for his 20th point of the season.
Both teams scored three goals each in the second period. The Auggies leveled the deficit with two goals 1:14 before Eckerline’s shot from the right spot seeped through the keeper’s pads 3:04 in the frame. The visitors answered at 19:18, but Christy tied the game by 4, 12 seconds before the break.
The Auggies broke the tie with two straight goals in the third period ahead of the second striker Matt DeRosa (Alpharetta, Georgia) finished the game with a score of 9:39.
Freshman goalkeeper Jon Howe (Chanhassen, Minnesota) made his seventh start of the season and held 33 shots. Augsburg ended up with a 39-33 shooting advantage, including a 16-8 lead in the third period.
MOORE POINTS: Moore had five points (2g/3a) +4 in the split against Augsburg and now has 12 points (6g/6a), including three wins, in eight career games against the Auggies. The stat line gets even better this week as the two-year-old captain has 13 points (6g/7a) in six career games against Saint Mary’s, including eight (4g/4a) in three competitions at SMU Ice Arena.
STAT COMPARISONS: SJU has the statistical advantage over SMU in three of the four main categories, except for penalty kicks. The Cardinals have allowed four power play goals in conference play — 90.9 percent (40-44) — but are at 76.6 percent overall (59-77).
scoring offense
3. SJU, 3.83 gpg. (3.33 total)
6. SMU, 3.09 gpg. (3.11 overall)
goal defence
3. SJU, 2.67 gpg. (2.38 total)
5. SMU, 3.09 gpg. (3.68 total)
power play
4th SJU, 25.5 percent/12-47 (25.0 percent/22-88 overall *#9 in Division III)
5. SMU, 17.9 percent/7-39 (16.7 percent/12-72 overall)
penalties shoot
2. SMU, 90.9 percent/40-44 (76.6 percent/59-77 overall)
8th SJU, 60.7 percent/17-28 (69.8 percent/44-63 overall)
A LOOK AT THE CARDINALS: Saint Mary’s (9-9-1, 5-5-0 MIAC) earned a similar weekend split to Bethel last weekend as the Cardinals lost 4-2 in Blaine on Friday and a 3-2 win in Winona on Saturday won in overtime. The Royals built a 3-0 lead in the opening game and second defender Callahan Nauss secured SMU victory with his second goal of the season, 2:06 after Saturday’s overtime. Senior defenseman Kellen Tharaldson leads the team with assists (10) and points (12), and four others have 11 points. Junior forward Nikita Sheberov has a seven-goal lead. Sophomore goaltender Matt Sankner is 6-2-1 with a 3.10 GAA and a .903 save percentage (299 saves).
LAST SEASON: The Johnnies went 2-1 against the Cardinals last season.
Saint Mary’s 2, in Saint John’s 1 (November 18, 2021)
The Johnnies controlled the game, overtaking Saint Mary’s by a 36-13 margin and winning 41 of the 62 face-off draws, but hitting the pipe twice and going 6-0 on the power play.
Sophomore forward Spencer Rudrud (Eden Prairie, Minnesota) gave the Johnnies a 1-0 lead with his first collegiate goal, on a breakaway, 4:31 of the second half. Moore sent a long pass to Rudrud on the other blue line and he beat the keeper with a forehand shot.
Trevor Schroder ended the game for the Cardinals with a breakaway goal of his own at the 12:54 mark of the second. Kasyn Kruse scored the decisive goal for the SMU with a deflected Schröder shot at the circle to 8:23 in the third period.
The 13 shots allowed on goal was the fewest in a Johnnie loss since then — No. 4 Wisconsin-River Falls scored four goals on 14 shots in a 4-0 shutout by then-No. 11 SJU on Dec. 9, 2014.
senior forward Heinrich Enebak (Lakeville, Minnesota) hit the pipe in the first period and defenders Max Osborne the iron rattled three minutes before the end.
SJU was given a power play with 1:51 remaining, but Moore was called for an offensive zone penalty (cut) six seconds later. The Johnnies were given another opportunity when Sankner was called off for delaying play (deliberately kicking the net from his moorings) with 10 seconds remaining. However, the visitors shoved a loose puck out of SJU’s offensive zone to end the threat.
Saint John’s 3, in Saint Mary’s 2 (OT; Nov. 20, 2021)
Moore gave the Johnnies a 3-2 win at Saint Mary’s with his first goal of the season 2-14 in overtime at Winona.
The Johnnies led 1-0 and 2-1 thanks to two power-play goals from Crosby, his fourth and fifth this season. He diverted a shot from the junior defenseman Jack Olsen (Lakeville, Minnesota) with 8:06 in the first third and gave the lead back to SJU with 16:11 in the second third. The Cardinals leveled the game four minutes into the second period, 1-1, and again with a power play goal of their own at 8:32 in the third period.
goalkeeper Mac Berglove ’22 made 12 saves in the win, the 20th of his career.
at Saint John’s 5, Saint Mary’s 1 (MIAC Playoffs; February 27, 2022)
SJU reached last year’s MIAC semifinals with a 5-1 win over Saint Mary’s on February 27 at HBNHC.
Junior forward Josh Maucieri (Crosby, Minnesota) put SJU first on the scoreboard, 5:56, with a power play goal, a drive from the top of the faceoff left circle to the top right corner of the net.
Crosby touched down the Jets and 1:44 later scored his MIAC-leading 17th goal of the season with a breakaway.
DeRosa gave the Johnnies a three-goal cushion when his shot ricocheted off a Cardinal defender and went into the net. 11:47 in the second period.
SMU took advantage of a Johnnies turnover in the defensive zone and erased the shutout with a goal from Nathan Solis 5:25 into the third period.
However, Moore took advantage of a Cardinals miss in the defensive zone midway through the last frame and ended the goal with an empty net at the 16:40 mark (his 14th and 15th goals of the season).
Berglove made 26 stops at the net to earn his 30th career win (30-15-9 career record, 13-5-2 in 2021-22).
SERIES HISTORY: The Johnnies have been 59-30-5 against the Cardinals since the 1981-82 season, including a 22-7-2 record under the head coach Doug Schueller (since 2008-09). SJU has won a total of 32 of the last 43 meetings (32-9-2 record) but is only 6-6-1 in the last 13 meetings at the HBNHC.
