ST. CLOUD, Minn. – The seventh-seeded St. Olaf College men's hockey team advanced to the championship game of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Playoffs for the first time since 2012 by upsetting third-seeded Saint John's, 3-1, on Wednesday night at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.

First year Tyler Cooper netted the game-winning, power-play goal at 7:20 of the third period for St. Olaf (10-14-3), scoring less than two minutes after Saint John's (17-8-2) tied the game at 1-1 with a power-play goal of its own. Sophomore Noah Heisler sealed the victory with an empty-net goal in the final minute.

The win sent the Oles to the championship game of the MIAC Playoffs for the third time in program history and the first time since 2012. St. Olaf will take on top-seeded and fourth-ranked Augsburg in the title game on Saturday, March 5 at 7 p.m. after the Auggies routed fifth-seeded Bethel, 7-0, in the other semifinal on Wednesday evening.

Sophomore Lukas Haugen matched a career high with 33 saves, making double-digit saves in each period. Seven Oles had one point apiece in the win, as first year Jonathan Young joined Cooper and Heisler in tallying goals. By winning its 10th game of the season, St. Olaf reached double-digit wins in a season for the first time since going 12-11-4 in 2013-14.

For the second playoff game in a row, Young gave St. Olaf the lead, scoring the opening goal at 12:41 of the opening period off assists from classmate Matthew Pointer and junior Sean Salz. After Salz dug the puck out of the corner to Pointer, Pointer threaded the puck up the right boards to Young, who outskated the Saint John's defense and drove to the goal to put the Oles on top with the lone goal of the opening period. Salz's assist was his second of the season - and first since Jan. 15 - while Pointer collected his fourth assist in his last four games

St. Olaf killed off a double-minor penalty early in the second and killed off another Johnnie power play after the Oles were whistled for a tripping penalty in the final 20 seconds of the middle period. Saint John's tied the game at 5:32 of the third period on a power-play goal by Jack Johnson, who was on hand to fire home a rebound off a blocked shot less than a minute into the man advantage.

Just 43 seconds after Johnson's tying goal, Saint John's committed a hooking penalty by hauling down Cooper after he got in behind the defense, setting St. Olaf up with a power play. A little over a minute into the man advantage, Cooper fired home a wrist shot from the left circle after being set up on a cross-ice pass by junior Evan Shoemaker, who picked up his team-leading 13th assist and his fifth in the last six games. The goal was Cooper's team-leading 13th of the season.

The Oles protected the one-goal lead until Heisler scored for the second-straight playoff game, throwing the puck most of the length of the ice for an empty-net goal with 56 seconds remaining. The win avenged a pair of regular-season losses in the series for St. Olaf and gave the Oles their first win over the Johnnies since Nov. 17, 2017. The Johnnies had won the last seven meetings in the series.

The win came 16 years to the day after St. Olaf topped Saint John's, 3-2, on the road in the 2006 semifinals, as the Oles went on to win their lone MIAC Playoffs title two days later with a 5-1 win over St. Thomas.