NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College men's hockey team doubled up Skidmore College, 6-3, in the first-ever meeting between the two programs on Saturday afternoon at St. Olaf Ice Arena.

In a rare East-West matchup, St. Olaf (6-4-1) used a three-goal second period to break a 1-1 tie and scored twice more in the third to secure the win over Skidmore (7-6-0). The victory extended the Oles' winning streak to four games and kept St. Olaf perfect at home this season at 4-0-0.

Junior Pavel Karasek registered the first two-goal game of his collegiate career to lead 11 Oles with at least one point in the win. First year Nicholas Sewecke, junior Jonathan Panisa, senior Jonathan Young, and first year Adam Johnson also scored for St. Olaf, while sophomore Joey Kennelly picked up a pair of assists.

Karasek tallied the opening goal at 12:31 of the first period, scoring on a wraparound after his initial effort off a rebound of a shot by sophomore Camden Benson went wide. The lead lasted less than a minute, however, as the Thoroughbreds tied the game just 49 seconds later on a goal by Evan Brown to send the teams into the first intermission level at 1-1.

Sewecke gave the Oles the lead for good with a power-play goal at 6:39 of period two after Skidmore, which took 11 minutes worth of penalties in the period, was assessed a major penalty for hitting from behind a little over three minutes in. Sewecke was on-hand to tap the puck in off assists from Kennelly and senior Tyler Cooper for Sewecke's third goal in four games.

First year Adam Johnson netted a 4-on-4 goal at 11:46 of the second to extend St. Olaf's lead to 3-1, as Johnson reacted the quickest after a junior Kelijah McElroy's shot was not held by the Skidmore goaltender and sat loose in the crease. After Kaeden Patrick made it a one-goal game inside the final five minutes of the period, Panisa restored the Oles' two-goal cushion exactly one minute later by burying a one-timer from in front after Kennelly picked out Panisa from behind the net.

Just 24 seconds into the third period, Young extended St. Olaf's lead to 5-2 by turning the puck home after senior Ben Luscko swatted the puck behind the goal from the right point and the puck caromed off the back wall to Young for his team-leading sixth of the season. Skidmore gave itself hope of a third-period rally with a goal by Ryan Waltman just 10 seconds into a power play at 6:07 of the third, which was just the fourth power-play tally the Oles have allowed this season, but Karasek sealed it with an empty-netter in the final two minutes.

St. Olaf owned a 31-25 advantage in shots on goal in the game and got a 22-save evening from first year Matthew Malin, who moved to 5-2-0 in seven collegiate starts. Tommy Aitken, who entered the game having yielded just three goals in 180:41 over four appearances with a .966 save percentage, finished with 25 saves for the Thoroughbreds.

The Oles will return to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) play at home against Hamline University on Friday, Jan. 10 at 7 p.m.