Box score

Hitting the Hunt Arena ice in River Falls, the Saints were certainly the underdog against a nationally-ranked Wis.-River Falls squad on Friday night in the opener of their quarterfinal series in the NCHA Peters Cup.

All it took was 26 seconds for St. Scholastica (10-12-4) to get on a roll as sophomore Neil Sauter (Superior, Wis./Superior HS (Lincoln-USHL) )'s blast from the left point put his Saints up 1-0 before many fans had made it to their seats. Only the defender's second goal of the season, it got the Saints in an offensive mind-set in the opening period which led to a 5-2 victory and gives the blue and gold a 1-0 lead in the series.

Before the first period was over, the Saints led 4-1 and chased Falcons starting netminder Stephen Ritter who finished the night with 16 saves on 20 shots.

Jordan Chong (North Vancouver, British Columbia/Dryden (SIJHL)) made it 2-0 9:13 in then following a short-handed River Falls goal Simren Sandhu (Calgary, Alta./Calgary Canucks) restored the two goal lead with his fourth of the season which proved to be the game winner.

For good measure, Matt Stengl (East Grand Forks, Minn./Selkirk (MJHL)) notched his fifth of the year with 1:12 remaining in the opening stanza to increase the distance between the Saints and Falcons.

By the end of the second period the Saints owned a 4-2 lead and a 26-22 advantage in shots. The lone score in the period came with just 15 seconds left from UWRFs Dustin Norman.

The final 20 minutes was a bit more eventful as six penalties were called, more than the first two periods combined, but not so eventful that the Saints allowed the host Falcons back in the game.

Any rally Falls thought was coming was made more difficult with Jordan Baird (Port McNeill, British Columbia/Victoria (BCHL))'s score 1:37 into the final frame. Chris Meagher (Victoria, British Columbia/Brooks (AJHL)) sent a pass to Trevor Geiger (Salmon Arm, British Columbia/Salmon Arm (BCHL)) who flew down the left side and fed Baird for his ninth of the year.

Still, though, No. 7 River Falls found themselves on the power play four times in the third, but each time Tyler Johnson (East Grand Forks, Minn./East Grand Forks HS) turned the Falcons away.

Johnson picked up the win in goal for the Saints stopping 29 of 31 shots and improved his season mark to 4-4-2.

The Saints and River Falls (16-7-3) will square off again on Saturday night in Hunt Arena. Should the Saints win they'll close out the series and move on to the Peters Cup semifinals. If the Falcons take the win the two teams will go at it one more time in a 20 minute winner-take-all game after a breif break.