NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College men's hockey team yielded a pair of shorthanded goals in a 3-2 loss to the College of St. Scholastica on Saturday evening at St. Olaf Ice Arena.
After a 5-2 road win the night before, St. Olaf (10-6-5, 6-4-2) was forced to settle for a split after St. Scholastica (5-17-1, 2-11-1 MIAC) killed off all four of the Oles' power plays and scored twice shorthanded to snap its 10-game losing streak. The Saints had not picked up a win since a 5-2 non-conference victory at Beloit College on Jan. 2 and had lost their previous nine Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) games since a 4-1 win at Augsburg University on Nov. 22, 2025.
With the loss, St. Olaf remained in a tie for third place in the MIAC standings with Saint John's University, which was in action later on Saturday evening against Gustavus Adolphus College. With 21 conference points, the Oles hold a one-point lead over Bethel University and a three-point advantage over Concordia-Moorhead with four games remaining. One of St. Olaf's final two series is against the Royals.
Evan Pahos scored the first of St. Scholastica's two shorthanded goals at 4:27 of the second period for the first goal of the game. The Saints extended their lead to 2-0 at the second intermission on a goal by Jared Scott with 1:18 remaining in the period.
With St. Olaf down by two in the third, senior
Gunnar Johnson halved the Oles' deficit with a wrist shot from the left point after sophomore
Nicholas Sewecke won a faceoff back to Johnson at the 4:05 mark. The Oles got a power play just 59 seconds after Johnson's goal, but the Saints got an unassisted goal from Riley Girod 39 seconds into the St. Olaf power play for the visitors' second shorthanded goal of the game.
First year
Willy Johnson brought the Oles back within a goal midway through the third period with his third goal of the season at the 10:15 mark, but St. Scholastica held on the rest of the way to gain a split. Brendan Stroble made half of his 36 saves in the final period for the Saints, while first year
Ryan Nolan finished with 27 saves in the loss for the Oles.
St. Olaf will head to Winona for its series opener against Saint Mary's on Friday, Feb. 13 at 7 p.m.
