Box Score They built a 3-0 lead through the opening minutes of the third period but the Saints had to survive a furious rally from host Augsburg College to pull out the 3-2 win on Saturday night at the Augsburg Ice Arena.
St. Scholastica (2-2-1) scored a goal in each period while Augsburg (0-3-1) saved their scoring for a 45 second span in the middle of the final period and nearly pulled out the tying goal but for a few timely saves over the final frantic minutes by Saints winning netminder Tyler Johnson (East Grand Forks, Minn./East Grand Forks HS).
Kyle Luschinski (Headingley, Manitoba/Waywayseecappo (MJHL)) scored his first goal of the year at 18:29 of the opening period to put the Saints ahead 1-0. A.J. Tucker and Trevor Geiger (Salmon Arm, British Columbia/Salmon Arm (BCHL)) picked up assists on the goal.
In the 14th minute of the second period it was Tucker's turn as his third score of the season, this one on a power play, with assists by Joey Martini (Calgary, Alberta/Canmore (AJHL)) and Geiger staked the Saints to a 2-0 lead.
St. Scholastica out shot the Auggies 26 to 13 over the opening two periods and the third period started off with the ice continuing to tilt towards the Auggie's defensive end.
Jameson Lundquist (Superior, Wis./Fairbanks (NAHL))'s first goal of the year, assisted by Simren Sandhu (Calgary, Alta./Calgary Canucks) and Jordan Baird (Port McNeill, British Columbia/Victoria (BCHL)), put the Saints ahead by a seemingly safe 3-0 score at the 4:05 mark of the final period but four minutes later Augsburg finally solved the defensive wall built by Johnson and the defensive pairings in front of him.
First, Colin Briscoe scored at the 8:22 mark, then Cory Ellertson cut the lead in half with a goal at 9:07.
Each team had to survive a man-advantage over the next nine minutes, then with the Saints still ahead the Auggies pulled their goalie for an extra attacker with 58 seconds remaining.
Three Augsburg shots in the waning seconds were blocked by Saints, preserving the victory in the non-conference battle.
Johnson finished with 22 saves to register the win while Andrew Kent had 28 saves in the loss.
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