For a little more than two periods St. Scholastica gave visiting Bethel University -- an NCAA Tournament Qualifer last season as well as the 2006-07 MIAC champion -- everything they could handle, but three consecutive goals in the final 14 minutes from the Royals stretched out a tight game between the two non-conference foes into a 7-4 win over the host Saints (2-5-1, 0-2-0 NCHA) .

Bethel (5-2-0, 0-2-0 MIAC) scored first on a flukey play in which Saints goalie Zach Kleiman (Ottawa, Ontario/Quinnipiac Univ.) thought he had a loose puck covered up laying flat on his back in front of the net, but the puck somehow was poked free before the whistle and Matt Hall put his Bethel team up 1-0 at the 9:57 mark of the first.

Freshman Simren Sandhu (Calgary, Alta./Calgary Canucks) evened the score for St. Scholastica with a goal from just to the right of Royals netminder Aaron Damjanovich. Junior A.J. Tucker slid the puck across the crease to just outside the post and Sandhu finished the play for his second goal of the season.

Less than two minutes later the Saints grabbed their first lead of the game when Kyle Luschinski (Headingley, Manitoba/Waywayseecappo (MJHL)) scored his second of the season, this one coming off passes from first Matt Saler then Matt Stangl to Luschinski who was waiting on the doorstep by the right post.

Unfortunately the lead was short-lived as Bethel raced down the ice and scored the tying goal only 18 seconds later.

In the second stanza, each team scored one goal -- Christian Fogerty for Bethel, and Tucker for St. Scholastica -- as both teams skated evenly against each other for the game's middle 20 minutes. The Saints, who out shot the Royals 14 to eight in the first, still held the advantage but only by a 10 to nine margin in the second period.

So far this season the Saints have had trouble pulling out a win when their opponent scores the first goal in the third period, so when Brent Kettelekamp scored for Bethel from just inside the right face-off dot, things didn't look good for the home team.

But they looked that way for only 58 seconds as Tucker scored his second of the game to tie the score at 4-4 and give the Saints life. Sandhu picked up his third point of the game with an assist after scoring his own goal and assisting on Tucker's first of the game.

Then the final 14 mintues played out and with goals at the 6:09, 15:17, and 16:57 marks, Bethel added to the Saints' third period miseries this year.

The feisty Kleiman made 20 saves of the 27 shots he faced in taking the loss, while Damjanovich stopped 34 of 38 shots in earning the win for his Royals teammates.

St. Scholastica takes the holiday weekend off after this rare Wednesday night game then travels to St. Norbert on Friday, Nov. 30, where they face the No. 5 in the nation Green Knights.

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