SAINT PAUL, Minn. – After the coming back from a three goal deficit on Friday night, the Gusties were the ones to fall back on their three goal lead in the Saturday night series closer against Hamline in the 5-5 tie. The Gusties battled through a second straight overtime to a shootout with Connor Clemons (Sr., Savage) finding the back of the net in the first round to gain the extra point. With the tie the Gusties move to 5-13-4 and 0-7-3.
Nick Klishko (Sr., San Diego) got the Gusties on the board six minutes into the game with assists credited to George Hansen (Sr., Patchogue, N.Y. and Jack Suchy (Fy., Medina) . After Gustavus killed off a late penalty with a minute and a half left, the Pipers scored an equalizer to make it a 1-1 game with shots evened at 9-9 after the first.
At 9:12 into the second period, the Gusties earned a power play as the Hamline net-minder dove for the puck, he left a wide open opportunity for Mason Etter (Sr., Grafton Wis.) to drive it into the back of the net with Dylan Gast (Sr., Dellwood) on the assist. With 11 minutes remaining Toby Sengvongxay (Sr., Luverne) connected on a pass to Klishko before a final delivery to an open Suchy who fired a one time shot to the back of the net for a two goal lead. Two minutes later, Patrick McDonald (So., Camillus, N.Y.) and Micah Gernander (Fy., Coleraine) combined before feeding the puck to Dan Sandvig (Sr., Savage) for a 4-1 Gustie lead.
Hamline tacked on a goal with seven minutes left in the middle frame to narrow the score to 4-2.
3:50 into the third, Jack Westlund (Fy., Alexandria) skated the puck up and was spun out by a Piper before finding the back corner of the net, gaining a 5-2 Gustie edge. Hamline went on a scoring blitz in the final seven minutes of play to send the game into overtime for the second night in a row before heading into a shootout.
Clemons was the first skater up and rolled the puck over from forehand to back before poking it in the right side of the net to gain the extra point for Gustavus.
Justin Damon (Jr., St. Michael) made 26 saves in the tie while the Piper net-minder made 22.
The Gusties will host their final home game of the regular season on Thursday night where they face St. Scholastica for the first time as a conference opponent.