NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College men's hockey team completed its first Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) sweep of the season with a 4-1 home win over Augsburg University on Saturday evening at St. Olaf Ice Arena.

After a 3-2 victory in Minneapolis the night before, St. Olaf (9-7-3, 4-5-1 MIAC) secured the sweep of Augsburg (7-13-1, 3-8-1 MIAC) by getting goals from first year Nicholas Sewecke, junior Jonathan Panisa, senior Tyler Cooper, and sophomore Camden Benson. The win as the Oles' fifth in the last six meetings in the series.

The six-point weekend moved St. Olaf, which started the weekend at the bottom of the conference standings, just one point outside the playoff spots with three series remaining. The Oles, who are level on points with Saint Mary's University, sit one point behind fifth-place Hamline University and two behind fourth-place Saint John's University, although the Pipers have just four regular-season games left.

Sewecke ran his goal-scoring streak to three games by giving St. Olaf an early lead at the 3:14 mark of the opening period, as he thrust home a backhand for his sixth goal of the season off assists from first year Simon Pollock and Benson. Augsburg struck back inside the final six minutes of the period on a goal by Michael Ferrandino to knot the game at 1-1 after 20 minutes.

Panisa tallied the eventual game-winning goal at 12:53 of the second period, turning the puck home from the top of the crease after Green set up a shot by junior Kelijah McElroy that hit traffic and was loose in front. Panisa's goal was his team-leading eighth of the season and gave the Oles a 2-1 lead heading into the third.

In the third, Cooper fired in a shot straight off a faceoff win from classmate Ben Luscko at the 5:45 mark to extend St. Olaf's lead to 3-1 with Cooper's fourth of the season. Benson extended the Oles' lead to 4-1 midway through the period with his first goal of the season to complete his first collegiate multi-point game.

St. Olaf outshot Augsburg by a 36-28 margin and got a 27-save performance from senior Thomas Lalonde between the pipes. Carsen Stokes made 32 saves in the loss for the Auggies. Neither team was able to capitalize on the power play, as St. Olaf was 0-for-4 and Augsburg went 0-for-2.

Next weekend, St. Olaf will begin its series against the College of St. Scholastica at home with a 7 p.m. start on Friday, Feb. 7. The Oles are 6-1-1 at St. Olaf Ice Arena this season and 14-4-2 over the last two seasons.