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Oles pick up one point in weekend series

Mark Heinert
December 5, 2001

Though it was only the fourth weekend of the season, the Oles faced a tough opponent in St. Mary?s University and came away with a 2-2 tie on Friday in Winona and dropped a close one 4-3 on Saturday in Northfield to stay in the hunt for a MIAC playoff berth.

Friday night?s game started out slowly for St. Olaf. The Oles had a hard time adjusting to the Olympic size ice sheet in Winona and it showed early. The game featured many end-to-end rushes and little to no hitting. St. Mary?s got on the board first with a rebound goal from Nick Meeker at the 9:26 mark of the first period to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead. This goal served as a wake up call and the Oles came out flying after that. Chad Zwerdling (Sr, Anoka, Minn.) tied the game at 1-1 with a bomb from the point at the 14:50 mark of the first. Just 23 seconds later, Dana Quinn (FY, Madison, Wis.) chipped a nice little pass off the boards to send Wally Cisewski (So, Wayzata, Minn.) on a breakaway. Cisewski buried the shot through the legs of St. Mary?s goaltender Eric Richardson to give the Oles a 2-1 lead. The game continued to be a defensive struggle the rest of the way out as both goaltenders had outstanding games. In the third period, Colin Emans jumped on a loose puck in front of the St. Olaf net and buried the shot to tie the game at 2-2 with 8:14 remaining in the game. Both teams had numerous chances throughout, but the game remained tied after 60 minutes and went into sudden death overtime. In the overtime session, Ben Sullivan (Sr, Moorhead, Minn.) sent Dan Norsten (So, Eagan, Minn.) in on a breakaway and Norsten roofed the shot over Richardson causing the puck to come in and out of the net very quickly. The referee signaled that the goal was good, but after discussion with fellow linesman and the goal judge, the goal was disallowed because it was ruled that the puck hit the cross bar, not the post inside of the net. The game finished as a tie and the Oles earned a much-needed point on the road. Goaltender Garret Hasti (So, St. Louis Park, Minn.) performed admirably for St. Olaf, stopping 39 of 41 shots and keeping St. Olaf in the game through some rough stretches during the first and third period.

Coming into Saturday night?s contest, the Oles expected a much tighter checking game due to the much smaller ice sheet at the Northfield Ice Arena, but this was not the case. St. Mary?s jumped on the Oles just 1:47 into the game on a Justin Brigl goal and the St. Olaf suddenly found themselves playing catch up. The first-year duo of Keith Townsend (FY, Sterling Heights, Mich.) and Quinn combined once again to tie the game at 1-1 at 10:49 of the first period when Townsend chipped a nice pass from behind the net out to Quinn who buried the one-timer. The game remained 1-1 after one period, but in the second period, the floodgates opened for the Cardinals. St. Mary?s scored two even strength goals and one power play goal during a five-minute span midway through the second period to give the Cardinals a commanding 4-1 lead. However, the grit and determination of the Oles showed as Norsten ripped a wrist shot past Dave Rogalski at 11:54 to cut the lead to 4-2. The Oles made things even more interesting when the top scoring line of Norsten, Nick Hanson (Jr, Eden Prairie, Minn.), and Jordan Bronce (Jr, Eden Prairie, Minn.) combined for a pretty power play goal to pull the Oles within one at the 5:26 mark of the third period. Unfortunately, that?s all the closer the Oles would get. The St. Olaf had a few bad bounces and ran into some good goaltending during the rest of the period and the Cardinals held on for a 4-3 win, giving them 3 of 4 points on the weekend. Jake Bullard (Jr, Bloomington, Minn.) stopped 34 of 38 shots in the loss for the Oles while Rogalski had 30 saves on 33 shots in the win for the Cardinals.

The Oles now move to 3-4-2 overall and 1-3-2 in the MIAC, good for sole possession of sixth place. The Oles finish out the first half of the season with a two game non-conference series at UW-Stevens Point on Friday, December 7, and at UW-Eau Claire on Saturday, December 8. The Oles then return home Saturday and Sunday, January 5 and 6, to battle the Lawrence Vikings before embarking on the rest of their MIAC schedule.

Contact Judy Stromayer at 507-786-3315 or stromaye@stolaf.edu.