MENDOTA HEIGHTS, Minn. – After a narrow 1-0 win the night before, the No. 15-ranked University of St. Thomas completed a sweep of the St. Olaf College men's hockey team with a 9-3 victory on Saturday night at St. Thomas Ice Arena.
John Peterson, Luke Radetic and Matt Christian each scored twice for nationally-ranked St. Thomas (4-1-1, 2-0-0 MIAC), as the Tommies opened Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) play with a sweep of St. Olaf (0-6-0, 0-2-0 MIAC).
Josh Radtke,
Tyler Uravage and
Mitch Dolter all scored their first goals of the season for the Oles in the loss.
Shortly after St. Olaf killed off a major penalty early in the first period, St. Thomas scored twice in the span of 1:31 midway through the period on goals by Christian and Peterson. Peterson added his second of the period at 13:44 before Radtke got St. Olaf on the board with a power-play goal at 16:27 off an assist from
Tuukka Totro.
The Tommies took a 4-1 lead into the first intermission after a goal by Andrew Willis inside the final two minutes of the opening period. Radetic made it a 5-1 game just 47 seconds into the second period with his first of the night and, later in the period, Jack Vincent struck on the power play to push the St. Thomas lead to 6-1 after two.
After the Tommies stretched their lead to 7-1 at 5:38 of the third, Uravage pulled one back 35 seconds later for St. Olaf after being set up by
Paul Stehr. St. Thomas grabbed the next two goals from Radetic and Christian before Dolter capped the scoring at 16:52 off assists from
Kyle Rimbach and
Andrew Willner.
Rimbach and Willner each earned their team-leading fourth points of the season with their assists on Dolter's first of the year. After being outshot by a 26-19 margin over the first 40 minutes, the Oles held a 10-9 edge in shots on goal in the third period.
Cooper Lukenda recorded 15 saves over the final two periods for St. Olaf after taking over for
Noah Parker, who made 11 saves in the first period. Camden Burggrabe picked up the victory for the Tommies with a 26-save outing.
Next up for the Oles is a series against Hamline as the Pipers visit St. Olaf Ice Arena on Friday, Nov. 22 for a 7 p.m. start.
