Parker Burman-
This past weekend, both the Gustavus Men’s and Women’s hockey teams were in action against conference rival Concordia. The men had the opportunity to host the Cobbers at the Don Roberts Arena while the Women made the trek up to Moorhead and looked to close out yet another MIAC regular season title.
The men put on a display for the home crowd as they dominated the first game of their weekend series winning 7-2, after having been down 1-0 early into the second period. Game two was a closer contest but the Gusties managed to walk it off in overtime to win 5-4. Not to be outdone in the goal-scoring category, Saturday’s matchup for the Women saw Gustavus put up five goals in the game followed by a 6-0 shutout on Sunday.
After scuffling through a winless January, the Gustavus Men started off February better with a split of a two-game weekend series against Hamline, the first weekend of the month. Looking to build off of this momentum, and hopefully get a win streak going, the Men looked to take advantage of home ice.
The Cobbers got off to a strong start – including taking a one-goal lead into the first intermission of game one. First-year Drew Holt would bury the equalizer just 1:49 in the second period to swing momentum back in favor of the Gusties. Just two minutes later, Concordia would reclaim the lead but it would not last long as First-year Grant Ellings, who had assisted Holt’s goal, went top shelf to put away the power play goal. Gustavus would go on to have five more individual goal-scorers in the win.
“Our team moved the puck well, but we moved our feet even better. When we use our speed, I don’t think anyone can skate with us and I think we really set the pace for the weekend after the first game,” First-year Connor Mahony said.
Unlike game one, Gustavus was on the board first as Sophomore Mason Hendrickson and Junior Joey Gimberlin found First-year Hunter Newhouse for his first goal of the season to put the Gusties up 1-0. Both the Gusties and Cobbers would fight back and forth over the following two periods before heading to overtime tied 4-4. In overtime, with less than a minute left, Holt found Sophomore Wilmer Svensson who put away the puck to give the Gusties the walk-off victory, 5-4.
“We just stuck to our game plan and worked hard. It was special for sure, great feeling seeing the puck go in,” Svensson said.
While not playing on home ice as the men were, the Gustavus Women were 7-2 on the year heading into the weekend series against Concordia, hoping to push that to a 9-2 mark. First-year Kylie Scott kicked off the scoring for Gustavus, firing from the point she ripped it past the Cobber net minder far post, off a feed from Sophomore Lily Mortenson for a 1-0 Gustie lead. This lead would hold into the first intermission and would only grow heading into the second.
Sophomore Kayla Woytcke scored what would be the game-winner, halfway through the period, as she sped into the Cobber zone, scoring her first goal in Gustavus black and gold. Concordia would finally break the shutout in the third after slipping one past All-American, Fifth-year Goalie Katie McCoy. As retribution, the Gusties put away two more goals of their own for a one-sided 5-1 victory. With the win, Gustavus secured their 19th Conference Championship and the number one seed in the MIAC playoffs. In addition, McCoy picked up her 77th career win between the pipes, moving her into a tie with former UW-River Falls goalie Angie Hall for the most ever in Division III Women’s history.
Game two was even more of an all-encompassing dominating performance by the Gustavus women as they shut out the Cobbers for a 6-0 victory. Gustavus was all over Concordia in the first period as the Gusties put up 17 shots on the net, with two getting past the goalie for goals. First-year Kylie Ligday and Fifth-year Hailey Holland were each credited with a goal, the first of three points on the day for Holland.
“It’s always fun going on the road with the team; a long road trip like that gives the team a chance to bond and have lots of laughs together. Getting the sweep makes it that much better. While it is a lot of work it’s so worth it to have fun bus rides and be able to compete out of town with each other,” Ligday said.
“There was a switch that got flipped during Concordia and finally we got the bounces to go our way. We know when to be selfish and when to make passes,” Holland said.
In the middle frame, the Gusties turned up the heat managing to put three goals past the Cobber netminder to push their lead to 5-0. Senior Brooke Power put one more away in the third to make it a 6-0 Gustie lead and victory. Gustavus put up a season-high 57 shots on a game in the contest and managed to outshoot Concordia 103-24 on the weekend.
With the win, Katie McCoy officially moves into the all-time lead for wins by a Division III Women’s goalie with her 78th career win. “It is incredible to be the winningest goalie. This really should be a team award because everyone on the ice is working hard to get the win and I’m only one piece of the puzzle. I couldn’t have done it without them,” McCoy said.
“The coaches have prepared us for the playoffs and we are ready for another championship run. We are excited to represent Gustavus and this great hockey program,” Ligday said.
Both the Men and Women will wrap up their seasons this weekend. The Men will host St. Olaf on Friday at 7:00 p.m. in Don Roberts Arena and will close out their season Saturday at the Oles. The Women will play two at St. Olaf on Friday and at Don Roberts on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. Make sure to come out and support the Gustavus hockey teams and especially our Gustie Seniors on Senior Day.