ST. PAUL, Minn. – The No. 15-ranked St. Olaf College men's hockey team relinquished a pair of one-goal leads before settling for a 2-2 tie in its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) series opener against Hamline University on Friday evening at TRIA Rink.

St. Olaf (6-2-4, 2-1-2 MIAC) held leads of 1-0 and 2-1 thanks to goals from sophomore Adam Johnson and first year Hunter Hayes, but Hamline (3-9-1, 3-3-1 MIAC) tied the game twice, including on the power play in the third period, to force overtime. After a scoreless overtime period, Joe Greniuk scored the lone goal of the shootout in the first round to give the Pipers the extra point in the conference standings. The Oles were ranked No. 15 nationally this week by D-III Hockey News and received votes in the USCHO national poll.

Johnson gave the Oles their first lead of the night by firing the puck home in front on a delayed penalty on Hamline off assists from Hayes and fellow first year Willy Johnson at 15:39 of the opening period. The goal was Johnson's fifth of the season, moving the sophomore into a tie for the team lead with senior Jonathan Panisa.

Hamline knotted the score at 1-1 on a goal by Nikolai Dulak at the 4:29 mark of the second period and the tie held until Hayes squeaked a shot through in a 2-on-2 with Adam Johnson at 13:20 of the second. Hayes' goal was his third of the season, all of which have come in the last four games. Willy Johnson also collected an assist on Hayes' goal, as the Johnson-Johnson-Hayes line accounted for both of St. Olaf's goals on the night.

The Pipers tied the game for a second time on a goal by Jack Lambert right off a faceoff just five seconds into a power play at 8:29 of the third period. The two teams committed just four combined penalties in the game, as Hamline scored on one of its two power-play opportunities.

In the overtime, sophomore Matthew Malin made a pair of saves in the opening 1:15 for St. Olaf before sophomore Panayioti Efraimidis recorded the lone shot on goal of the extra session for the Oles just under two minutes in. Efraimidis' shot was the final shot on goal in the three-on-three overtime.

With the extra point on the line, Greniuk scored on the backhand in the first round of the shootout and Keaton French stopped all three Ole shooters for the Pipers, who snapped a four-game losing streak with what goes in the books as a tie. St. Olaf's shooters fell to 0-for-13 in the Oles' four shootouts this season with the 0-for-3 night.

Malin remained unbeaten on the season (2-0-3) with a 22-save night for St. Olaf, while French had 29 saves for Hamline. The tie extended the Oles' unbeaten streak to five games (2-0-3).

The two teams will drop the puck in the series finale at 5 p.m. at St. Olaf Ice Arena on Saturday, Jan. 10.