D-III West Hockey Weekend Wrap-up

The Bethel Royals have 12 wins on the season, the most in more than a decade. Photo courtesy of Bethel Athletics.

Bethel continues to roll along this season, with the Royals sweeping Hamline over the weekend.

After a 3-2 win in overtime on Friday, Bethel dominated the Pipers in Saturday’s game, scoring five goals in the opening period for a 7-3 win. It’s the second time this season Bethel has scored seven goals in a game.

Luke Posner and Jarrett Cammarata both came through with three points, with Posner scoring twice to go along with an assist. Cammarata added a goal and two assists. Posner ranks second on the team in goals while Cammarata has dished out a career-best 15 assists.

Brandon Baker and Andrew Revering also tallied two assists apiece as the Royals won for the 12th time this season, the most wins for the team since the 2007-08 campaign. Bethel is 12-6-1 overall and 5-4-1 in the MIAC and has won its last three games.

Lund leads way for Auggies

Keenan Lund recorded a hat trick Saturday to help carry Augsburg to a 7-1 win over St Olaf. Ranked fourth in the DCU/USCHO NCAA Division III men’s poll, the Augges dominated the Oles one night after escaping with a 3-2 win in overtime. They have now outscored the opposition 68-29 and rank among the best nationally in scoring defense.

Lund, meanwhile, gave the offense a boost as he also tallied an assist. Mason Palmer came through with four assists to help the Auggies improve to 17-2 overall and 9-1 in the MIAC. They remain the top team in the conference.

Austin Dollimer scored a goal and dished out two assists and Nick Woodward scored a goal as well for Augsburg, which stretched its win streak to eight games.

Cobbers sweep Saints

Concordia remains one of the top teams in the MIAC after a series sweep of St. Scholastica. The Cobbers won 4-1 on Friday before closing out the weekend with a 4-2 win.

Saturdays win was their 10th of the season, marking their 11th consecutive year with 10 or more wins.

Concordia, which has won its last four games, is in second place in the MIAC standings. The Cobbers are 10-7-2 overall and 7-2-1 in the MIAC.

Cole O’Connell, Parker Simonson, Isaac Henkemeyer-Howe and Tanner Breidenbach all scored for the Cobbers, who held a 37-16 advantage in shots in the win and finished the two-game series with a 76-43 shot advantage.

Jackson Nelson racked up 14 saves for his eighth win of the year.

Green Knights win pivotal series

St. Norbert faced a key NCHA test over the weekend, taking on Trine, and the Green Knights came out on top, closing out the series with a thrilling 10-5 win on Saturday. The nation’s fifth-ranked team in the DCU/USCHO NCAA Division III men’s poll won the opener 5-3.

The Green Knights have now won 17 consecutive wins, the longest streak in program history, and the 15 goals they scored in the two wins over the Thunder are the most in program history.

St. Norbert improved to 18-3 overall and 14-0 in the NCHA thanks to hat tricks by Peter Pates and Ben Schmidling. 

Bates also dished out two assists as he pushed his career totals to 60 goals and 83 assists.

He also recorded his third hat trick of the season and is one of only three players in program history to have at least three hat tricks in a season.

The Thunder and Green Knights were tied at 2-2 after one before the Green Knights scored five goals in the second period and went into the third with a 7-4 lead. 

Frank Trazzera scored twice for the Thunder, which was just outside the top 15 nationally coming into the game.

Garrett Hallford, Drew Welsch and Hunter Payment all tallied two assists apiece for Trine, which is now 14-7 overall and 8-6 in the NCHA.

Trine seemed to be on its way to a win in the opener, jumping ahead 3-0 after one period of play.

Brett Tierney, Matt Bielinski and Welsch all scored for the Thunder as it took aim at the upset win.

But St. Norbert scored five goals over the next two periods to come away with the win. Bates and Peyton Frantti each scored twice in the comeback win.

Spartans stay on track

Aurora needed overtime to finish off a series win over Marian Saturday. The 15th-ranked Spartans notched a 2-1 win in overtime after winning the opener 7-3 on Friday.

Matt Weber scored the game winner for the Spartans, lifting them to their fourth consecutive victory. Aurora is now 14-5-1 overall and 9-3-0-1 in the NCHA.

Jack Jaunich also scored for Aurora and Josh Boyko made 43 saves.

Raiders roll past Lions

MSOE pushed its win streak to four games with a 6-3 win over Finlandia Saturday. The Raiders won the opener 3-1 on Friday.

MSOE improved to 9-10-6 overall and 6-5-1-1 in the conference after trailing 2-1 early.

The Raiders scored three goals off the power play in the win and six different players scored, including Jack Nickels, who also dished out three assists.

Marcus Gloss made 30 saves for MSOE, which has its first four-game win streak of the year. It’s the first time the Raiders have won at least four consecutive games since starting off the 2019-20 season with five wins in a row.

Bulldogs make it 20 in a row

Adrian dominated Concordia in a two-game series to stretch its win streak to 20 games. The top-ranked team in the DCU/USCHO NCAA Division III men’s poll outscored the Falcons 21-1 in the two games, finishing out the series with a 10-0 win.

The Bulldogs have scored five or more goals in each of their last 10 games. They are 20-1 overall and 14-0 in the conference

Blugolds keep streak going

UW-Eau Claire is in the midst of a late-season surge. The Blugolds stretched their win streak to three games Saturday with a 2-1 win over UW-Stout. The win comes on the heels of a 4-1 win over the Blue Devils on Friday.

Ty Readman scored the game winner on a breakaway goal in OT as the Blugolds improved to 9-11 overall and 5-6 in the WIAC.

Colin Stein gave the Blugolds a 1-0 lead late in the first before Peyton Hart tied the game with under two minutes to play in the opening period.

Ryan Ouellette made 19 saves for the Blugolds, who held a 26-20 edge in shots and end the month of January with five wins in eight games.

Falcons bounce back
After a 2-1 loss to Northland Thursday, UW-River Falls bounced back with a 3-1 win over the Lumberjacks Saturday.

Jack Kilroy gave UW-River Falls an early 1-0 lead. Caleb Anderson and Cayden Cahill also scored for the Falcons, who held a 31-9 advantage in shots. Dean Buchholz made eight saves for his third win. UW-River Falls is 11-9-1 overall and 7-4 in the WIAC.