NORTHFIELD, Minn. – Visiting Bethel University held the St. Olaf College men's hockey team scoreless until the final three minutes to defeat the Oles, 4-2, in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) opener for both teams on Friday night at St. Olaf Ice Arena.

Bethel (3-0-0, 1-0-0 MIAC) built a 3-0 lead after two periods and maintained that lead until St. Olaf (1-1-0, 0-1-0 MIAC) scored twice in the final 3:35 to avoid being shut out for the first time in 38 games dating back to a 2-0 loss to Saint John's University on Feb. 1, 2020. Sophomore Sean Walsh and first year Jonathan Panisa netted the late goals for the Oles.

The Royals got goals from Tyler Braccini and Jarrett Cammarata in the opening 20 minutes to take a 2-0 lead into the first intermission. St. Olaf had a chance to get one goal back with just over a minute remaining in the period, but sophomore Cody Sherman's shot rang off the pipe in the best chance of the period for the Oles.

Early in the second, St. Olaf killed off three-plus minute of Bethel power-play time after taking a major penalty in the final minute of the opening period. After killing off an Oles' power play, the Royals got a power-play goal from Justin Kelley on a rebound at 8:30 to stretch their lead to 3-0 after two periods.

Walsh got St. Olaf on the board at 17:25 of the third period, firing the puck in straight off a face-off win by sophomore Troy Bowditch, but Bethel answered with an unassisted empty-netter by Luke Posner 1:11 later to seal the victory. Panisa recorded his first collegiate goal just 20 seconds after Posner's goal, scoring off feeds from classmate Kelijah McElroy and Spencer Light to cap a three-goal sequence in the space of 1:31 late on.

The Royals held a 29-24 edge in shots on goal in the game. First year Tyler Laureault made 25 saves in net for the Oles in his first collegiate start but suffered the loss. Travis Allen registered 22 saves to earn the win for the visitors.

The two teams conclude their series on Saturday, Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. at Bethel University Arena at the National Sports Center in Blaine.