NORTHFIELD, Minn. – Junior Jonathan Panisa continued his torrid offensive output by scoring his first collegiate hat trick to lead the St. Olaf College men's hockey team to a 5-0 victory over Saint Mary's University on Friday evening at St. Olaf Ice Arena.

Panisa scored twice in the first and once more in the second for St. Olaf (12-7-3, 7-5-1 MIAC), which moved up into a tie for second place in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) standings with the shutout of Saint Mary's (9-12-1, 5-7-1 MIAC). The win improved the Oles to 8-1-1 at home this season and was just the team's second victory in the last 11 home meetings with the Cardinals going back to 2015.

Panisa's hat trick was the first by a St. Olaf skater since Troy Bowditch '24 against the College of St. Scholastica on Jan. 20, 2023 and moved the junior's total to 14 this season, which are the most by an Ole since Tyler Cooper had 14 in his first season in 2021-22. Panisa has 12 points on seven goals and five assists over his six-game point streak and has scored seven goals in St. Olaf's last four games.

Senior Thomas Lalonde stopped all 19 saves to add another shutout to his program-record tally and now has six for his career. Lalonde has won his last five starts and has allowed just eight goals over that span.

Panisa tallied his first goal of the night on a breakaway just 2:09 into the game, flipping the puck in on the backhand after breaking up the play at his own blue line. Later in the period, the junior got his second with a write shot from the top of the left circle off assists from senior Connor Kalthoff and sophomore Tyler Green for the first of St. Olaf's three power-play goals in the win.

Senior Jonathan Young extended the Oles' lead to 3-0 at 2:45 of the second period by scoring off a backhand feed from first year Simon Pollock shortly after junior Gunnar Johnson's shot from the point hit traffic in front. Panisa finished off his hat trick with a power-play goal at 12:25 of the second after first year Nicholas Sewecke set him up after Young dug the puck out of the corner on the power play.

Sewecke closed out the scoring with a power-play goal at 5:30 of the third off assists from senior Ben Luscko and Green. Young and Sewecke both had a goal and an assist in the win, while Green picked up a pair of assists. Johnson's assist on Young's goal got him into double figures on the season, while Green and Kalthoff are now tied for the team lead with 13 assists.

St. Olaf was 3-for-3 on the power play and killed off its lone penalty of the night late in the first period. The Oles can lock up a spot in the MIAC Playoffs with a regulation win in the series finale, which is set for 7 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 15 at SMU Ice Arena in Winona.