West wrap: Feb. 11

There is a new team atop the MIAC. Saint John’s completed a sweep of rival St. Thomas over the weekend to skate to the top of the conference standings.

A pair of 4-1 wins did the trick for the Johnnies, who are now 15-6-2 overall and 10-4 in the conference. They hold two-point lead over the No. 13 Tommies with one weekend remaining in the regular season.

In Saturday’s game, Sam Valerius helped propel the Johnnies to the victory behind a goal and two assists.

Garrett Riebling also came through with a goal and dished out three assists. Robb Stautz came through with the other goal for the Johnnies, who cooled off the hottest team in the conference. St. Thomas came into the weekend riding a seven-game winning streak.

Andrew Lindgren did his job in goal, stopping 25 shots for his 10th win. He helped Saint John’s sweep the season series against the Tommies for the first time since the 2004-05 season.

Friday’s game was a thriller for the Johnnies, who scored three goals in the final 5:44 of the game to secure the win. Riebling scored the game-winner at the 14:16 mark of the third period.

Gusties salvage split
Gustavus kept its MIAC tournament hopes alive by salvaging a split with Concordia Saturday night. The Gusties took down the Cobbers, 5-1, in a must-win game. Gustavus is in fourth place in the standings with 24 points and is four points ahead of fifth-place Concordia in the standings.

Colin Hernon scored twice, with both goals coming in the first 3:06 of the game. He now has eight goals on the year and helped the Gusties improve to 9-11-3 overall and to 8-6 in the MIAC.

Robbie Goor, who is only a freshman, stepped up in goal, making 20 saves to notch his third win of the year.

Pointers win the WIAC
Wisconsin-Stevens Point took down Wisconsin-Stout, 2-1, Friday to clinch the WIAC championship and then finished off the weekend by playing rival Wisconsin-Eau Claire to a 4-4 tie in the regular-season finale.

Against the Blue Devils, Tanner Karty scored the game-winner to lead the second-ranked Pointers to the win. It’s his 18th of the season. Logan Fredericks scored the other goal. Max Milosek made 22 saves. The Pointers went into the season picked to finish second.

In Saturday’s showdown with the Blugolds, the Pointers got 33 saves from Milosek and two goals from Brennen Miller as they finished out the regular season at 18-4-3 overall and 6-0-2 in the league. They are unbeaten in their last seven games. Willem Nong-Lambert tallied a goal and an assist.

Jake Bresser paced the preseason conference favorite Blugolds with a goal and an assist. Adam Parsells came through with a goal and an assist as well.

Zach Dyment made 17 saves for the Blugolds. Wis.-Eau Claire finishes the regular season at 15-9-1 overall and 5-2-1 in the conference, good enough for second place.

Bulldogs win regular-season crown
The Peters Cup belongs to Adrian.

The top-ranked Bulldogs clinched the title with an impressive 6-0 win over the Milwaukee School of Engineering Friday night. It’s the third championship in the last four seasons and the 10th in program history.

The Bulldogs improve to 20-4 overall and to 16-4 in the conference and will be the No. 1 overall seed in the NCHA tournament.

Kyle Brothers fueled the offense with a pair of goals and Bryan Yim dished out three assists. Cory Dunn added two assists as the Bulldogs stretched their win streak to 12 games. Adrian has outscored the opposition 54-16 during its impressive win streak.

Kevin Entmaa has been instrumental to the defensive success of the Bulldogs, stopping 24 shots to earn his third shutout of the season. His record now stands at 13-2.

Adrian and MSOE will meet again in the quarterfinal round of the NCHA tournament.

Vikings headed to the postseason
Lawrence assured itself of a spot in the Harris Cup playoffs with a 1-1 overtime tie against Northland Friday night. The Vikings went into the game needing either a win or a tie to secure a postseason berth.

Lane King, who leads the NCHA in points, scored with just 3:47 left in the game to forge the tie against the Lumberjacks. The Vikings are now 10-12-2 overall and 8-8-1 in the NCHA.

Lawrence held a 40-32 advantage in shots. Kalib Ford scored the lone goal for the Lumberjacks.

Evan Cline made 31 saves for Lawrence, including a key one late in overtime. A.J. Smith stopped 39 shots for Northland.

Vorva records another shutout
Hunter Vorva was at his best for No. 14 Marian Saturday, helping the Sabres blank Northland, 3-0, in the final game of the regular season Saturday night.

Vorva stopped 27 shots as he recorded his fifth shutout of the season.

Marian has won its last seven games and is 18-6-1 overall and 12-6 in the league.