DE PERE, Wis. – The St. Olaf College men's hockey team fought back from a 2-0 deficit to tie the game at 2-2 after two before fifth-ranked St. Norbert College scored the final three goals to claim a 5-2 victory in the opening round of the NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey Championship on Saturday night at Cornerstone Community Center.

After a scoreless opening period, Carter Hottmann scored twice for St. Norbert (23-6-0) in the opening eight minutes of the second period to give the Green Knights a two-goal cushion. St. Olaf (14-12-3) fought back with goals from sophomore Jonathan Panisa and junior Jonathan Young to send the teams into the locker room tied at 2-2, but the Green Knights broke the tie six-plus minutes into the third and went on tack on two goals in the final four minutes.

With the win, St. Norbert advanced to the quarterfinals to face fourth-ranked Adrian College in a rematch of the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) Harris Cup Playoff championship, which the Green Knights won 3-1. The Bulldogs topped sixth-ranked UW-Stevens Point 4-0 in the first round on Saturday night. The victory ran St. Norbert's record to 13-1-0 at home this season, as the Green Knights ran their winning streak to eight games and improved to 13-1-0 in their last 14 contests.

St. Olaf, which won the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Playoffs for the second time in three years to earn an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament, was making the third appearance in the national tournament in program history (2006, 2022, 2024). The game marked the second time in three seasons the Oles fell in the opening round in De Pere after a 4-3 overtime loss in 2022.

In the opening period, St. Norbert outshot St. Olaf by a 14-5 margin in shots on goal, but junior Thomas Lalonde kept out all 14 shots, including a handful of grade A chances, to keep the game scoreless. The Green Knights broke through just 1:17 into the second period, however, when Hottman slid the puck under a sprawling Lalonde to open the scoring. Six minutes later, Hottman fired the puck into the top-right corner of the net from the left circle to give the hosts a 2-0 lead.

The Oles fought back over the final 10-plus minutes of the period to pull even after 40 minutes. Just 11 seconds into St. Olal's first power play of the night, Panisa scored with a shot from the left circle into the top-left portion of the net off assists from juniors Cody Sherman and Connor Kalthoff to make it a 2-1 game midway through the period.

Later in the period, St. Olaf tied the game at 2-2 when Young netted his team-leading 11th goal of the season seconds after an Ole power play expired, as Young was on hand to score on a rebound after Kalthoff's shot was saved by Hunter Garvey. Sophomore Jack Boxer also picked up an assist on the tying goal.

St. Olaf killed off a penalty committed in the final minute of the second period to keep the game tied before Calvin Hanson recorded the eventual game-winning goal 6:07 into the third period for the hosts, scoring on a shot from the slot on a delayed penalty. The Oles killed off the minor penalty before having a power play of their own midway through the third but could not convert. St. Norbert gave itself breathing room when T.J. Koufis made it 4-2 with 3:42 remaining and added an empty-netter from Mark Snarr with a minute to go.

The Green Knights held a 36-20 advantage in shots on goal in the game. Lalonde finished the night with 31 saves for the Oles, while Garvey had 18 for St. Norbert.

St. Olaf's 14 wins this season matched last season's total for the program's highest single-season win total since 2008-09. The Oles' 28 wins over the last two seasons are its highest total in consecutive seasons since also winning 28 games in 2008-09 and 2009-10.