NORTHFIELD, Minn. – Senior captain Kyle Rimbach scored in the fourth round of the shootout to give the St. Olaf College men's hockey team the extra point after a 2-2 tie against Bethel University on Saturday evening at St. Olaf Ice Arena.

With the teams locked at 2-2 after regulation plus two minutes of 5-on-5 overtime and five minutes of 3-on-3 overtime, St. Olaf (3-16-2, 1-9-2 MIAC) and Bethel (6-13-4, 5-5-4 MIAC) were again even at 1-1 after the first three rounds of the shootout. Sophomore Cooper Lukenda denied Jory Williams to start the first sudden death round before Rimbach fired in a forehand to give the Oles the extra point.

In regulation, St. Olaf twice held one-goal leads only for Bethel to tie the game on both occasions, including on Michael Piehler's power-play goal at 16:28 of the third that eventually sent the game to overtime. The Oles earned a power play late in the 5-on-5 overtime that spanned into the 3-on-3 but were unable to score before the Royals had nearly a minute of 4-on-3 power-play time at the end of the 3-on-3 extra session.

After a scoreless first round of the shootout, Jarrett Cammarata give Bethel the advantage by scoring in round two, but first year Ashton Altmann answered for St. Olaf. Ridge Gerads and Lukenda produced saves to force sudden death. Lukenda thwarted McWilliams with a glove save on a backhand to set up Rimbach with the chance to win it, as the senior beat Gerads on the blocker side to end the first-ever shootout at St. Olaf Ice Arena.

In the opening period, St. Olaf killed off a five-minute major whistled less than a minute into the game and eventually took a 1-0 lead into the locker room on a last-minute power-play goal by sophomore Jared Pedersen. Pedersen was on hand to score a rebound after Gerads made a save on a shot by senior Will Dittrich with 30.5 seconds to go in the period.

Bethel knotted the game at 1-1 after two periods on a power-play goal of its own by Josiah Rosen, who got a piece of a Brandon Baker shot to tip it past Lukenda at 12:28.

Senior Luke Ranallo gave the Oles their second one-goal lead of the evening at 6:52 of the third period, faking a Bethel defender to the ice before firing the puck past the blocker of Gerads from the left circle after being set up by sophomore Tyler Bump and senior Steve MacIver.

St. Olaf's 2-1 lead lasted only 10 minutes, however, as Piehler scored from the slot on a Bethel power play with 3:12 remaining to set up the overtime and shootout dramatics.

Both teams totaled 34 shots in the game as Gerads and Lukenda each finished with 32 saves. Dittrich won a game-high 18 faceoffs for the Oles on 26 attempts.

St. Olaf plays three of its final four games on home ice, starting with a series opener against Saint Mary's on Friday, Feb. 14 at 7 p.m.