ST. LOUIS PARK, Minn. – Sophomore Troy Bowditch scored at 1:24 of overtime to send the St. Olaf College men's hockey team to a 2-1 non-conference victory over Bethel University in a rare outdoor game on Saturday night at the Recreation Outdoor Center.

In a matchup of teams receiving votes in the national poll this week, Bowditch won it for St. Olaf (9-3-1) with a wrist shot from near the top of the right circle that went five-hole off an assist from senior Ashton Altmann. The win was the second 2-1 victory for the Oles over Bethel (8-4-1) this season after the two teams split their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) series on Nov. 4-5.

Bowditch's goal came after the two teams traded goals 46 seconds apart midway through the third period, as the Oles improved to 3-0-0 following a loss this season. With the win, St. Olaf improved to 2-1-0 in overtime games this season, with all three games coming in the team's last six contests.

Both teams had several scoring chances over the first two periods, including both teams having opportunities on extended power plays after major penalties on both teams, but neither was able to find a breakthrough until near the midway point of the third period. Bethel's Luke Posner hit the pipe four minutes into the second period before sophomore Jonathan Young rang a wrister off the pipe a little over eight minutes later on a 5-on-3 power play.

St. Olaf finally made the breakthrough at 9:21 of the third period on first year Jonathan Panisa's fifth goal of the season. Seconds after Young got out of the penalty box, he carried the puck into the offensive zone on a 2-on-1, waited for Panisa to skate towards the net, and found the first year in front to give the Oles the lead.

The lead lasted just 46 seconds, however, as Bethel answered on a goal by Sam Wilhite at the 10:07 mark, as Jack Brown set up Wilhite in front for a one-timer. After Wilhite's goal, junior Lukas Haugen made seven saves and Austin Ryman had six stops over the final nine-plus minutes to force the game to overtime.

In the extra session, sophomore Connor Kalthoff drew a save from Ryman just seconds in on the lone shot before Bowditch's second-career game-winning goal. The game-winner gave Bowditch at least one point in six-straight games and 11-of-13 games this season, as he raised his team-leading point total to 17 on four goals and 13 assists.

Haugen made a season-high 34 saves to move to 5-0-1 on the season while lowering his goals-against average to 1.97 in eight appearances. Ryman also had 34 saves but took the loss for the Royals.

St. Olaf is off until heading to Wisconsin for back-to-back non-conference games against UW-Eau Claire and Northland on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 6-7.