NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College men's hockey team held a 4-2 lead with just over six minutes remaining in the third period before Hamline University scored two late goals as the teams played to a 4-4 tie in a non-conference contest on Friday evening at St. Olaf Ice Arena.

St. Olaf (4-7-3) built a 4-2 lead after two periods on the strength of three first-period goals and a late goal from first year Jonathan Young in the second period. The Oles maintained the two-goal advantage until Hamline (2-8-1) got goals from Scott Meyer and Joe Collins over the final 6:02 to send the game to overtime.

Both teams had three shots on goal in the 3-on-3 overtime period but neither was able to find a winning goal. Sophomore Luke Suter and first year Tyler Cooper each had a goal and an assist for St. Olaf, which was playing with just 17 available skaters.

St. Olaf took an early 1-0 lead just 3:25 into the game when Suter took advantage of a clearing attempt by Hamline goaltender Maximilian Haselbacher that ricocheted off a Piper defenseman in front for Suter to poke in. Hamline struck back at the 11:06 mark of the period to tie it up on a goal by Bailey Sommers.

Just 17 seconds after Sommers' goal, the Oles went back ahead when Cooper netted his team-leading ninth goal of the season from the slot after being set up by junior Evan Shoemaker and first year Matthew Pointer. Cooper has scored at least one goal in four-straight games and has seven goals over the span.

St. Olaf quickly stretched its lead to 3-1 when first year Eric Brown netted his first collegiate goal just 1:44 after Cooper's tally. Suter and first year Troy Bowditch picked up assists on the goal, as Suter dropped the puck back to Bowditch on the right side before Bowditch found Brown with a cross-ice pass for the goal. Bowditch's assist was his seventh of the season, tying him with Cooper for the team lead.

The score remained 3-1 until the teams exchanged goals in the final five minutes of the second period. Collins took advantage of a mistake deep in the St. Olaf defensive zone to score an unassisted goal at 15:09 to make it a 3-2 game, but the Pipers were called for a major penalty on a cross check with 2:02 left in the period.

The Oles took advantage of the extended power-play opportunity when Pointer and Cooper combined to set up Young's first collegiate goal at 18:30 of the period. After Cooper dug the puck off the boards, Pointer picked out Young on the right side for a one-timer that Young slid past Haselbacher to restore St. Olaf's two-goal lead.

Hamline tallied the only goals of the third period on tallies by Scott Moyer at 13:58 and Collins' second of the game at 16:41. Senior Cooper Lukenda made a pair of saves after Collins' tying goal to help get the game to overtime where he made three more stops to finish with 33 for the game. Haselbacher recorded 26 saves in his collegiate debut for the Pipers.

St. Olaf returns to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) action with a series against Gustavus next weekend, beginning with a 7 p.m. puck drop in St. Peter on Friday, Jan. 7. The two teams will close out the series the following day at 5 p.m. in Northfield.