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The Saints have been a road team all season long and Hunt Arena in River Falls, Wis., has seemed to be a welcome ice sheet for more than just this season.
Last year the Saints eliminated Wis.-River Falls in the semifinals of the Peters Cup, having defeated the Falcons in Hunt in the regular season as well.
This year the Saints took the regular season game there, then won last night's quarterfinals series opener to keep the Hunt-string alive. But on Saturday night they'd be facing a desparate No. 7 Falcons squad that knew it was win or...stay home. A tie would do no good as the Saints would win the series if Saturday's game ended in a draw.
For two periods the host Falcons had the better of the Saints, opening up a 3-1 lead on a first period score from Jim Henkemeyer and a pair of Dustin Norman goals in the second.
A.J. Tucker tied the game at 1-1 early in the third with his 15th goal of the year, but Norman's goals would put the home team back in front as they entered the second intermission with a two goal lead and a 29-19 advantage in shots.
The Saints came out for the third with a little more spark and sure enough, it paid dividends.
Just 2:18 into the final period Jeff Gagnon (Quesnel, British Columbia/Victoria (BCHL)) was parked in front of Falcons netminder Tyler Owens on a power play opportunity and found the puck at his feet. One, two, maybe even three whacks later, it was behind Owens and the momentum began shifting.
Only 1:31 later Dustin DeGagne (Winnipeg, Manitoba/Salmon Arm (BCHL)) blasted one from the right point that Jordan Baird (Port McNeill, British Columbia/Victoria (BCHL)) deflected in for the tying goal and his 10th of the year.
Back at the other end of the ice, Saints goalie Tyler Johnson (East Grand Forks, Minn./East Grand Forks HS) was busy keeping his team in the game. Though the Saints broke out to a wide margin in shots in the period's early going, the desparate Falcons began pressing more and more bringing their blue-liners up in an attempt to break the tie. But Johnson was on a roll now, time and time again making the big save.
A glove here, a blocker there, a pad over there. Up to the task, Johnson stopped all 12 shots he faced in the third to help his Saints send the game into a sudden-death overtime.
It was truly do-or-die for UWRF now as a tie did them no good.
After an early power play in the overtime period was unsuccessful, the Falcons pulled their goalie with about a minute remaining to create a 6-on-5 man advantage. Another Saints penalty made it 6-on-4 with 26 seconds to play.
Johnson made every save. The Falcons out shot the Saints 8-0 in the OT but it didn't matter. With Johnson holding down the fort, the Saints closed out the series with the 3-3 tie.
River Falls finishes the season with a 16-8-3 record -- three of their eight losses coming against St. Scholastica.
The Saints (11-12-4) move on to the semifinal game next weekend where they'll play the nation's top-ranked team, the Green Knights from St. Norbert who eliminated Lake Forest in their quarerfinal series.
This season St. Scholastica tied the Green Knights in an early season match-up but fell at home in Mars Lakeview Arena late in the regular season.
Next Saturday's match-up will also be a rematch of the 2007 Peters Cup championship game, won by Norbert.
