The St. Olaf menıs hockey team was looking to rid itself of a four game losing streak this past weekend against Hamline University, a team that had only won one of their last 45 MIAC games.

Unfortunately, the Oles had another tough weekend, losing both games to the Pipers by scores of 5-3 on Friday night and 3-2 in overtime on Saturday.

The Oles welcomed the Pipers to the hostile crowd at the Structure on Friday night, hoping to enjoy a bit of home-team advantage in only their second home contest of the season. However, it was the Pipers who silenced the crowd by striking at 8:23 of the first period to take a 1-0 lead into the locker room after the first period.

The Oles roared back with a rebound goal from junior forward Justin Bronce just 23 seconds into the second period, and found the back of the net on junior Craig Newmanıs power play goal just two minutes later. St. Olaf appeared to have the momentum on their side, but costly turnovers led to three unanswered Hamline goals as the Pipers built a commanding 4-2 lead.

Junior Chad Zwerdling cut the lead to 4-3 with 40 seconds left in the second period off of a nice backdoor pass from first year forward Dan Norsten, but thatıs as close as the Oles would get. Hamline added an insurance goal in the third to give the Pipers a 5-3 road victory. St. Olaf out shot the Pipers 42-30, but could not capitalize on multiple scoring opportunities. Sophomore goaltender Jake Bullard stopped 25 of 30 shots in the loss.

Determined not to be swept for a third straight weekend, the Oles roared out of the gate on Saturday night scoring at 1:02 of the first period off of a slap shot from senior alternate captain Jeff Simison. However, costly turnovers led to two Hamline goals and the Pipers led 2-1 after one period.

St. Olaf managed to tie the game late in the second period with sophomore Nick Hansonıs first goal of the season off of junior Ben Sullivanıs initial shot. The game remained scoreless through regulation and headed to overtime, where it appeared that both teams would walk away with a draw.

However, yet another a turnover in St. Olafıs defensive zone led to a turnaround slap shot that beat first year goaltender Garret Hasti with four seconds left, giving the Pipers the sweep over the Oles. Once again, St. Olaf dominated play, out shooting Hamline 42-33, but the Oles could not cash in on several quality scoring chances. Hasti stopped 30 of 33 shots in the loss.

"I felt we played terribly this weekend," said head coach Sean Goldsworthy. "To lose those games was heart-breaking. Those two games might as well have flushed our season down the tank in terms of our goals of making the MIAC playoffs. We need to get our team chemistry together fast, or else it will be a long season."

St. Olaf now drops to 2-6 overall (2-4 MIAC) with the losses. The Oles will look to end their six game losing streak this weekend with two non-conference games versus St. Scholastica College and University of Wisconsin-Superior at the Structure. Both games begin at 7 p.m.