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Mens Hockey Swept by Bethel in Weekend Series

Mark Heinert
January 31, 2001

The St. Olaf men?s hockey team returned to MIAC action this past weekend with hopes of making a late playoff run. However, those hopes were greatly diminished as the Oles were swept by Bethel College by scores of 6-2 on Friday night and 5-4 on Saturday night.

Friday night?s was played in Fridley and started out very evenly matched. The score remained deadlocked at 0-0 until Bethel got a late goal at 19:10 of the first period to grab a 1-0 lead. St. Olaf responded back with senior alternate captain Jeff Simison?s (Moorhead, MN) eighth goal of the season on the power play at 11:49 of the second. Senior captain Jason Haider (Lino Lakes, MN) added another goal at 13:00 of the second period to give the Oles a 2-1 lead. However, Bethel scored two goals in the last 4 minutes of the period, including the go-ahead goal with 20 seconds left to give them a 3-2 lead. The Oles had numerous chances in the third, but several costly Ole mistakes led to three more Bethel goals as the host Royals cruised to a 6-2 win. Sophomore goaltender Jake Bullard (Bloomington, MN) stopped 40 of 46 shots in the loss.

Saturday night?s contest in Northfield was a much different game. Simison put the Oles ahead 1-0 just 56 seconds into the game and the Oles had the early momentum. Bethel quickly came back and erased that deficit at 2:04 of the first period. Junior Craig Newman (Eagan, MN) scored his eighth goal of the season on the power play at 7:16 of the first period. Bethel countered back at 9:34 of the first to tie the game at 2-2 and later managed to grab a 3-2 lead with 1 second remaining in the period. Things would get much worse for the Oles as Bethel took a 4-2 lead just 2:48 into the second period. But senior Nate Olsen (Northfield, MN) sniped a perfect shot at 5:58 on the power play to cut the lead to 4-3. Sophomore Nick Hanson (Eden Prairie, MN) tied the game up at 4-4 with another power play goal at 15:25. The game remained fairly even the rest of the way, but several Ole penalties in the third period led to a Bethel power play goal at 15:24 that gave the Royals a 5-4 victory. First-year goaltender Garret Hasti (St. Louis Park, MN) stopped 38 of 43 shots in the loss.

After the weekend series, St. Olaf now moves to 7-11-1 (3-6-1 MIAC) on the season. Up next is a two game series with the University of St. Thomas on Friday and Saturday night. Friday night?s game is in Northfield and Saturday?s game is in St. Paul. Both games begin at 7 pm.

Contact Kurt Anderson at 507-786-3315 or anderk@stolaf.edu.