Peyton Frantti’s ninth goal of the season proved to be one of the biggest as he helped carry St. Norbert to a thrilling 4-3 win over Aurora in overtime to cap an important weekend in a battle of nationally ranked opponents.
Frantti scored off a rebound at the 1:50 mark as the Green Knights won their 11th consecutive game and survived their first OT game of the season.
Ranked 12th in the DCU/USCHO.com NCAA Division III men’s poll, St. Norbert got off to a strong start behind first-period goals from Evan Cholak and Miahael McChesney.
The Green Knights led 3-1 after a goal from Adam Stacho in the third but the Spartans scored twice to force OT.
McChesney, Cholak and Stacho all finished with two points for the Green Knights, who improved to 12-3 overall and 8-0 in the NCHA.
Larry Jungwirth, Derrick Budz and Simony Boyko all punched in goals for the Spartans.
Colby Entz made 22 saves for the Green Knights and Josh Boyko stopped 28 shots for the Spatans, who fell to 10-5-1 overall and 6-4 in the league. They have dropped three consecutive games.
Friday’s game between the two teams was just as close.
Peter Bates scored the game winner at the 12:44 mark of the second period. Ben Schmidling also scored for the Green Knights, connecting at the 7:56 mark of the second on a power play goal and a 1-0 lead.
Auggies prevail in thriller
The Augsburg Auggies came through with another big win over the weekend.
In a battle of nationally ranked opponents, the Auggies, ranked fourth in the DCU/USCHO.com NCAA Division III men’s poll, skated to a 4-3 win over No. 13 UW-Stevens Point in overtime.
Logan Kons scored the game winner for the Auggies (13-2). He punched in that goal 71 seconds into the OT period.
The game was tight from start to finish, with the Auggies and Pointers tied at 1-1 after one and 2-2 after two.
Jarod Blackowiak, Eric Palmqvist and Austin Martinsen also scored goals for the Auggies, who held a 39-26 advantage in shots.
Conor Witherspoon, Fletcher Anderson and Harrison Stewart all scored for the Pointers, who had won three consecutive games and were unbeaten in their last five outings.
The Auggies have now four consecutive games and are unbeaten in six home games this year.
Clutch goals propels Blue Devils to a win
Alec Skar scored his first goal of the season and it turned out to be a game winner.
The UW-Stout standout scored 42 seconds into overtime to lift the Blue Devils to a 3-2 in over Bethel Friday night.
UW-Stout had lost to Bethel 3-2 in OT earlier this season.
UW-Stout improved to 4-9 with the win. It led 2-0 after goals by Dylan Rallis and Raphael Gosselin before the Royals battled back to force OT.
Tyler Masternak made 34 saves for his fourth win of the year and even came through with an assist on the goal by Gosselin, that was scored off the power play.
Gosselin finished with two points, marking the second time he’s done that this year, and Caleb Serre came through with two assists for the second time this year. Rallis has scored a goal and tallied an assist in each of the last three games.
McWilliams shines for Royals
Jory McWilliams scored twice to help lead Bethel to a statement kind of win over UW-River Falls Saturday night.
McWilliams had scored only two career goals prior to Saturday but punched in his first goal of the night just over seven minutes into the game.
McWilliams scored his second goal at the 11:32 mark of the second period as the Royals surged in front 3-1.
It was a night where the top line of the Royals combined to score a goal and dish out five assists.
Braeden Bartoo, Adam Bricker and Ben Brockway also scored for Bethen, which defeated a Falcons team that received votes in last week’s DCU/USCHO.com NCAA Division III men’s poll.
Bethel entered the night stinging from a 3-2 OT loss to UW-Stout. The Royals have won three of their last four games and sit at 9-4-1 on the season.
