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Our two conference series this weekend resulted in fight for second place in the conference standings. #8 Waldorf kept their hold on the second spot after a series sweep of St. Mary’s. However, their lead over third place #17 Robert Morris University – Maroon is now up to two points. RMU was unable to keep up with Waldorf with their five point effort against #25 University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. Friday night’s game saw RMU come back from a two goal deficit in the third period and ultimately coming out with the victory in a shootout, while on Saturday the two teams again played tough but RMU came out victorious in regulation time. RMU has played two less games than Waldorf, so there is still the chance of a lot of volatility in the second and third positions as we get closer to February’s conference tournament.

#8 Waldorf University sweeps #33 St. Mary’s University in Albert Lea

#8 Waldorf University got off to a fast start in Saturday’s game against St. Mary’s University. A mere 2:36 was all it took for Jess Engquist, off assists by Jeff Bartel and Alex Fleming, to put Waldorf ahead. The lead was increased to two at the 9:48 mark when Eric Long put one past St. Mary’s goaltender Jake Kelcher. Long scored again 4:41 later, making the score 3-0, with an assist by Cameron Batchelor. St. Mary’s would get on the board and cut the lead down to two when John O’Grady found the back of the net with 1:33 remaining. A minute later Buddy Napier put Waldorf back up by three with a power play goal, assisted by Drew Soderberg and Jake Taylor. The period came to an end with Waldorf up 4-1.

Two goals were scored in the second period, both by Waldorf and assisted by Tyler Wilson. At 9:50 Spencer Johnson was able to get one across the goal line and at 11:01 Matt Liggett scored a second Waldorf power play goal to put Waldorf up 6-1.

Daniel Schmidt of St. Mary’s tried to ignite a rally as he scored 1:07 into the third, assisted Jared Hippman, but they were unable to record anymore goals after that. Engquist started the scoring for Waldorf and finished it when he scored the final goal of the game at 6:55. He was assisted by Wilson and Batchelor. The game came to a close with Waldorf ahead 7-2.

Credited with the loss was Kelcher. In 31:01 of ice time he stopped 25 of the 31 shots that came his way. Finishing out the final 28:59 for St. Mary’s was Blair Sanders and he stopped 24 of the 25 shots he faced. Dustin Stevens earned the victory for Waldorf, stopping 21 of the 23 shots put on net by SMU.

In Sunday’s contest Waldorf again got off to a fast start. Drew Soderberg scored a power play goal 2:31 into the period, assisted by Jeff Bartel and Buddy Napier. SMU would get the equalizer 3:16 later when Barrett Lipinski got one past Waldorf’s goaltender Hunter Marsh. Bartel would break the tie in Waldorf’s favor with 5:28 remaining in the period with a second Waldorf power play goal off assists by Soderberg and Jake Taylor. Eric Long would increase the lead two when he was able to find the back of the net at the 15:57 mark, again on the power play, credited with assists were Tyler Wilson and Matt Liggett.

Waldorf’s two goal lead after the first period would be cut to one when SMU’s Mitchell Plonka put one past Marsh, assisted by John O’Grady and Kenneth O’Connor. Unfortunately it would be SMU’s last goal of the game. Twenty three seconds later Waldorf would regain their two goal advantage on a Buddy Napier goal, assists went to Soderberg and Cameron Batchelor. Goal number five for Waldorf would come off the stick of Liggett, assisted by Wilson and Long, with 4:48 remaining in the period. The second period would come to a close with Waldorf up 5-2.

Period three would be all Waldorf. Soderberg recorded his second goal of the game at 4:39, with assists credited to Reed Loucks and Batchelor. Jake Engquist scored for Waldorf a 1:38 later, increasing their lead to 7-2. Engquist was assisted by Napier and Soderberg. A minute and a half later Waldorf scored once again, this time Jacob Bales put one past Tait Carlson who had come into replace Blair Sanders in net. Waldorf’s lead would increase to seven when Batchelor scored at the 12:11 mark with an assist from Loucks. The scoring onslaught would come to an end ten seconds later. Recording the final goal for Waldorf and the game was Jason Roeske from Jacob Bales. Final score of the game was 10-2 in favor of Waldorf.

Blair Sanders absorbed the loss for SMU in 46:17 of ice time where he stopped 37 out of 44 shots on net. Finishing the game in net was Tait Carlson and he turned away four of the seven shots he faced. In net for the victory was Hunter Marsh. He saw 27 shots on the night and stopped 25 of them.

#17 RMU breaks tie for third with 5 point weekend

#17 Robert Morris University – Maroon and #25 University of Wisconsin Oshkosh met in a rematch of last season’s conference championship game for the Hap Cup. UWO was the first team to put a goal on the board when 12:40 of the period Jason Johnson picked the upper right corner of the net, putting one past John Floro of RMU, with assists from Andrew Schulenburg and Bryce Kuschel. Thirty seconds later Logan Polack would be the beneficiary of a bouncing puck and put UWO up 2-0. The fast paced scoring was not finished as 24 seconds later Sam Sereiko of RMU would cut the deficit to one when he sniped the upper glove corner of the net. He was assisted by Frankie Pintz and Sean Daily. UWO regained their two goal advantage when Schulenburg put home a rebound with 4:55 remaining in the period. Logan Polack and Johnson were credited with assists. Period one came to an end with UWO up 3-1.

RMU wasted no time in the second period to cut into UWO’s two goal advantage. Ryan Marciniak took a shot from the left dot in the UWO zone and put one past Eric Vela, again on the glove side, just 1:44 into the period. AJ Kapcheck and Michael Melka were credited with assists. At 3:30 UWO once again extended the lead to two when on the back door Mitchell Musack buried a pass out of the left corner from Evan Rentmeester, also assisted by Brandon Beier. The back and forth continued with Kapcheck’s power play goal through a sea of bodies at the 13:31 mark, assisted by Joey Daniels and Brad Voice. At the end of two, UWO led 4-3.

When RMU’s Frankie Pintz was assessed a cross checking minor 1:33 into the third UWO took advantage. Johnson put his shot accuracy on display a second time by putting one in the upper corner of the net from the right dot, just above the glove of Floro. Assisting on the power play goal were Anthony Grebe and Kuschel. RMU fought back. At the 11:23 mark Jack Warren put one past Vela from just inside the right hash mark, assisted by Daniels. All of 41 seconds had elapsed when Anthony Andras put home the tying goal for RMU off a pass from Zac Carbine. Regulation time ended with the score tied at five. Neither team was able to light the lamp in overtime bringing about a shootout. Each team was able to score one goal during the first round of the shootout, so three more players were selected for round two. In round two RMU was able to get their third attempt through the five hole of Vela and after UWO was unable to counter RMU came away with the shootout victory and two points.

Eric Vela had a busy night in defeat, stopping 51 of the 56 shots he faced. John Floro brought home the victory with a 33 save effort on 38 shots.

Game two on Saturday would be a back and forth battle once again. This time RMU struck first when Joey Daniels, from Jack Warren and Ryan Marciniak, put home a shot in the upper corner from the bottom of the circle at the 10:08 mark. UWO tied the game up 1:40 later when Adam Carlson’s bad angle shot from the right corner, assisted by Anthony Elsen, somehow deflected off the goalie stick of Darryll Smith and made its way into the net. Anthony Andras would put RMU back in the lead by one at 14:03 when he tipped home a pass from Greg Sommesi. After 20 minutes of play RMU lead 2-1.

Period two was only 59 seconds old when Owen Ahlstrom buried a shot five hole on Smith, with assists by Cortland Maxfield and Tanner Good. UWO would take their first lead in the game at the 8:07 mark when Andrew Schulenburg was left open on the back door and put home Benjamin Jaeger’s pass from the bottom of the left circle, also credited with an assist was Tanner Good. RMU would get the equalizer with only 41 seconds remaining in the period when Brad Voice was left wide open on the back door and put the puck in the back of the net, with assists to Jordan DeYoung and AJ Kapcheck. The second period came to a close with both teams knotted at three.

Joey Daniels would score the eventual game winner for RMU 6:22 into the third period when his back hand shot slipped in between Tony Francois’ arm and body and off the right post into the net. Credited with an assist on Daniels’ goal was Zac Carbine. With a minute remaining in regulation time Francois was pulled for an extra attacker. It was to no avail and Michael Melka sealed the victory for RMU with an empty net goal at 19:57.

Darryll Smith earned the victory for RMU, stopping 27 of the 30 shots that came his way. In 59 minutes of play for UWO Tony Francois brushed aside 50 of the 54 shots he faced in a losing effort.

(Note: extra detail for this series due to the Co-Commissioners being in attendance)

Non-Conference:

#35 Northern Michigan University split with #18 St. Cloud St. University, losing 7-0 on Friday and winning 6-3 on Saturday.

Idle

#4 Marian University

#10 Lewis University