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Ole men's hockey team splits series with Hamline

Mike Cassano
November 4, 2002

The men's hockey team opened the 2002-2003 season this past weekend, splitting a two game series against Hamline. The Oles won the first game on Friday night, 5-1 with four freshman tallying goals. The Pipers won the second game on Saturday night, 4-3 on a late goal with only 30 seconds left in the game.

Friday night, the Oles opened up in front of the most boistrous crowd in recent memory, as the students in the student section waved flags, fists and signs. The Ole crowd was glad to see the opening of the hockey season and in turn, were treated to a high scoring game by the home team.

Trailing 1-0 going into the second period, the Oles scored three goals to go up 3-1. First year Joel Iheri (Woodinville, Wash) got the scoring started as his pass bounced off a Hamline skate and slipped passed the Piper goalie. Just a few minutes later, Josh Biser (First Year, Waunakee, Wis.) slipped through the Hamline defensemen and was all alone against the goalie. He made one move and put home the second goal of the night.

Later, Keith Townsend (Sophomore, Sterling Heights, MI) hit a shot on a 2-1 from the top of the circles beating the goalie on the short side. Backed by Garret Hasti (Junior, St. Louis Park, Minn.) in net, the Oles got back to scoring when Ron Guild (First Year, Kent, Wash.) ripped a slap shot over the goalie's shoulder. The final score of the night came when First Year defensemen Nathan Espirtu (First Year, West Hills, Calif.) fired a backhand into the net, putting the game out of reach. The game was riddled with penalties, 38 in all. Hasti blocked 58 shots in the Ole net.

In the second game of the series on Saturday, the Oles fell to Hamline, 4-3. The Pipers came out and lit the lamp first, but it wasn't long until Guild scored his second goal of the weekend. Getting a breakaway pass from Townsend, Guild came in again went over the goalies shoulder to tie the game at one. The momentum started to shift and just three minutes later Sophomore Dana Quinn (Sophomore, Madison, Wis.) put home a rebound shot giving the Oles the early lead at 2-1. Hamline scored once in the second period, while keeping the Oles off the bored. St. Olaf came out hard in the third period. With just five minutes remaining, Jordan Bronce (Junior, Eden Prairie, MN) scored the tieing goal. With goaltender Hasti tied up in the corner, a Piper defensemen let a shot go that was deflected into the empty net, to score the go ahead goal with just 30 seconds left in the game.

Next up for the Oles this weekend is two games with Saint Mary's. St. Olaf will host Saint Mary's at home at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, November 8th and travel to Winona for the game on Saturday evening.

Contact Le Ann Finger at 507-786-3315 or finger@stolaf.edu.