BLAINE, Minn. – The St. Olaf College men's hockey team won its second Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Playoff title in three seasons with a 4-1 victory over No. 15-ranked Bethel University on Saturday night at Bethel University Arena at the National Sports Center.

After going winless (0-2-1) in the three meetings with Bethel (18-6-3) during the regular season, St. Olaf (14-11-3) claimed the third MIAC Playoff title in program history (2006, 2022, 2024) and punched its ticket to the NCAA Tournament with the 4-1 win. The win over the second-seeded Royals made the Oles just the second No. 5 seed to win the tournament, along with Hamline University in 2015.

St. Olaf will find out its opponent and location for the opening round of the NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey Championship during the NCAA Selection Show, which will air on NCAA.com at 9 a.m. CT on Monday, March 4. The opening-round games will by played on campus sites on Saturday, March 9.

The victory ran St. Olaf's record to 7-1 on the road in the MIAC Playoffs over the last three seasons. St. Olaf outscored its three opponents by an 11-1 margin in its three road playoff games this season. The game was just the second postseason meeting between the Oles and Royals and the first since the 2007 semifinals.

Senior Troy Bowditch, junior Sean Walsh, sophomore Kelijah McElroy, and junior Matthew Pointer had a goal apiece for St. Olaf in the game, with Bowditch adding an assist on Pointer's empty-netter to post a two-point night. Junior Thomas Lalonde ran his record to 10-2-2 on the season with a 27-save night that marked Lalonde's sixth consecutive game allowing one goal or fewer.

The Oles got on the board first just 6:23 in when Bowditch flipped in a rebound off a shot by junior Eric Brown to give St. Olaf an early lead. The goal was Bowditch's eighth of the season, while Brown extended his point streak to four games with his second assist of the season. Both teams had one power play in the period, but neither generated a significant scoring chance.

Bethel found a tying goal early in the second period when Joe Westlund threw the puck into the goal while on the ice after Lalonde made a sprawling save to deny Tyler Braccini. The goal ended Lalonde's shutout streak at 221:47 dating back to the regular-season finale against Gustavus Adolphus College on Feb. 17.

The score remained 1-1 for over 12 minutes until Walsh broke the deadlock with the eventual game-winning goal, scoring unassisted on a wraparound from right to left for his second game in a row with a goal. Bethel netminder Austin Ryan kept the hosts' deficit at 2-1 after two by denying junior Connor Kalthoff on back-to-back shots on a 4-on-4 in the final 75 seconds of the period.

Early in the third, the Oles stretched their lead to 3-1 on an unassisted goal by McElroy at the 3:23 mark. The sophomore forced a turnover behind the Bethel goal, drove to the front of the net, and deked onto his forehand to score his fourth of the year into an open net. Pointer added an empty-netter with 1:09 remaining to cap the scoring on a 2-on-1 with Bowditch.