MENDOTA HEIGHTS, Minn. – Despite defenseman Charlie Donlin’s tying goal with 2:37 remaining in the first period, three Gustavus power-play goals proved to be the St. Thomas men’s hockey team’s undoing in a 3-1 loss Saturday night at the St. Thomas Ice Arena.
The No. 13-ranked Tommies (14-5-4 overall, 8-3-3 MIAC) fell to the Gusties following a 1-1 tie Friday night in St. Peter, Minnesota. St. Thomas is now tied with Concordia-Moorhead atop the MIAC conference standings. Even though St. Thomas out-shot Gustavus 37-27, coach Jeff Boeser said the Tommies made too many mistakes to capitalize on their positive play.
“You have to score more than two goals a weekend to have success. Obviously their goalie outplayed our goalie, that’s my opinion,” Boeser said. “We have to give a little credit to Gustavus – they played pretty well. I thought we played really well in the third, but where was that sense of urgency for 60 minutes, not 20.”
The Tommies came into the game killing penalties at 89.6 percent for the year, which was second in the MIAC to Gustavus.
“I don’t think it was just one thing. I think it was just taking the penalties in general. They were kind of stupid,” defenseman Jeremy Hepler said. “We struggled getting the puck out – they capitalized.”
Donlin’s first career goal was the only offensive breakthrough for St. Thomas. Donlin said when he lit the lamp for the first time he was ecstatic.
“It was a greasy goal, and I thought the boys were going to rally around it,” Donlin said. “It was nice (to get my first career goal), but it sucks to get the ‘L’ in the column.”
The game was tied going into the second period before the Gusties pulled ahead after two costly Tommie penalties. Defenseman David Russ was called for a tripping minor, which led to Gustie forward Sam Majka’s second goal of the game. A too-many-men penalty shortly after led to forward Jared Docken’s first goal of the season for the Gusties. Going into Friday’s game, Gustavus was 16.4 percent on the power play this season.
“Any team in this league can win it any night. Look at last night – Bethel beat St. John’s,” Boeser said. “There are no easy games, and we don’t ever take a team for granted.”
St. Thomas will conclude the regular season with a home-and-home series with St. John’s beginning Feb. 19 at the National Hockey Center in St. Cloud, Minnesota.
Jordan Kruger can be reached at krug6172@stthomas.edu.