MENDOTA HEIGHTS, Minn. — After 23 days without competition, Bethel University halted their three game losing streak and ended St. Thomas’ undefeated record with a 5-4 overtime victory after eliminating a two goal deficit in the second period with three straight goals.
Bethel (2-3, 1-1 MIAC) sophomore forward Dylan Giorgio scored the winning goal in overtime, his third of the night.
“My teammates were pretty excited for me,” Giorgio said. “It was just a good team win, I’m glad I could celebrate it with them.”
Bethel junior goaltender Ridge Gerads kept the Royals alive in overtime with a sprawling save shutting down a breakaway chance for the Tommies (3-1-1, 1-1 MIAC).
The Tommies tested Gerads with a season high 48 shots but he stood tall the whole game.
Halfway through the third period, the momentum swung back to St. Thomas in less than a minute when first-year forward Aaron Swanson and sophomore defender Charlie Kiefer both notched their first goals of the season tying the game at four.
St. Thomas coach Jeff Boeser praised Swanson’s consistent work ethic after his first collegiate goal saying “he played like Bethel, he works hard all the time.”
Boeser stuck with the common theme of hard work when speaking about his team as a whole.
“We have a lot of talent but if we are not going to work, we are going to get beat, and we got beat by a team that was willing to work harder than us tonight,” Boeser said.
St. Thomas hasn’t allowed five goals since their first regular season game in November 2019.
Entering Wednesday’s game, St. Thomas was allowing less than half as many goals as they did last season with an average of 1.3 goals per game.
St. Thomas junior goaltender Jacob Berger replaced sophomore goaltender Henry Baribeau to begin the third period after he allowed three goals on 21 shots.
The second period featured aggressive play and a few altercations as six penalties were administered between the two teams.
Bethel converted that aggressiveness into momentum when sophomore forward Luke Posner accidentally scored four minutes into the second period, deflecting a pass off a St. Thomas player’s skate into the net.
Later in the period, St. Thomas failed to capitalize on the power play when they suffered a bench minor leading to a 4-on-4 Bethel goal from Giorgio. Giorgio added a shorthanded goal less than two minutes later.
Earlier this season, St. Thomas was scheduled to play Bethel on Feb. 10, Feb. 13 and Feb. 26 but all three were postponed due to COVID-19 protocols.
Instead of playing Augsburg University on Friday and Saturday, St. Thomas will host St. Mary’s University Friday at 7:30 p.m. after Augsburg’s athletics department said in a statement that the rest of the men’s hockey games have been canceled.
Joey Swanson can be reached at swan5350@stthomas.edu.