ASHLAND, Wis. – A 3-0 deficit after one period was too much for the St. Olaf College men's hockey team to overcome as the Oles dropped their season opener on the road to Northland College on Friday evening at Bay Area Civic Center.

Northland (1-0-0) scored three times in the opening 20 minutes and held on in the third period after St. Olaf (0-1-0) got within a goal thanks to the first collegiate goals by first years Parker Casey and Ben Luscko. Casey and Luscko's goals came 25 seconds apart to tie the game with over 12 minutes remaining, but the Lumberjacks got an empty-net goal in the final minute to help seal the win.

The hosts took a 3-0 lead into the first intermission after Eric Honold, Zach Ross, and Jake Lamberty scored in the opening 20 minutes. The Oles had an 11-8 advantage in shots in the first period but went into the intermission trailing by three goals.

St. Olaf had a pair of power plays in the second period but could not find a goal as Northland maintained its 3-0 lead after two periods. In the third, Casey got the Oles on the board at 7:05 off assists from first year Jonathan Young and sophomore Brendan Darby, with all three collecting their first collegiate points in the collegiate debuts.

Just 25 seconds later, Luscko netted his first-career goal unassisted to make it a one-goal game all of a sudden. The Lumberjacks killed off a minor penalty at 14:58 of the third and took another penalty at 18:12. St. Olaf pulled its goalie with 1:36 remaining in regulation to create a two-man advantage but Daniel Chartrand's empty-netter with 49 seconds to go halted the Oles' comeback attempt.

Senior Colin Cain had 26 saves in the loss for St. Olaf, which held a 32-30 advantage in shots on goal in the game. Chris Curr stopped 30 shots on his way to picking up the win for Northland.

The two teams wrap up their season-opening series on Saturday, Oct. 30 at 2 p.m. back at Bay Area Civic Center.