MIAC Hockey Notebook

A hockey-centric version of the MIAC Weekly Notebook

AROUND THE LEAGUE Take a look at this week’s top hockey news items, headlines and interesting facts from the MIAC’s institutions, submitted by each school’s sports information director.

HAMLINE | MIAC Member Page| Athletics home page | Men’s hockey enters critical stage of season The HU men’s hockey team split a pair of games last weekend at Concordia, winning 2-0 and losing 4-1. That kept the Pipers in the thick of the conference race with 16 points. That’s a mere two behind Augsburg and St. John’s (who are tied for fourth) and three behind third place St. Mary’s. And guess who Hamline plays in the final three series of the year? Yep. St. John’s this weekend, followed by Augsburg and St. Mary’s.

SAINT CATHERINE | MIAC Member Page| Athletics home page | Wildcats end MIAC winless streak with win, tie vs. Bethel After going five-straight MIAC games without a win, the Wildcats finally snapped the streak with a 3-2 win Friday night thanks to a hat trick from senior Megan Killmer. Then, behind a 38-save performance from Abbi White in goal Saturday, the Wildcats managed a 0-0 tie for the second time this season. With the hat trick, Killmer moves to No. 9 all-time at St. Kate’s in points (63) and No. 10 in goals (29). White currently leads the MIAC and Division III in save percentage (.959) and goals against average (1.09).

SAINT JOHN’S | MIAC Member Page | Athletics home page | Mr. Clutch Saint John’s sophomore forward Kevin Becker (Roseville, Minn.) was clutch in the Johnnies’ hockey series against Gustavus Adolphus, in which SJU picked up five of the six possible points on the weekend. Down 1-0 Friday night, Becker tallied the game-tying goal, on the power play, with 3:07 remaining in the game. SJU later earned the extra point with a 1-0 shootout win. Three minutes after SJU tied Saturday night’s game with a shorthanded goal, Becker scored the game-winner with 1:53 left in the 3-2 win in St. Peter. The win was just the second for SJU in the last nine meetings at Don Roberts Ice Rink (2-5-2 record). The Johnnies (9-5-5, 5-3-2 MIAC) take on Hamline for a home-and-home series this weekend, beginning with a 7 p.m. game on Friday, Feb. 6, at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud. Not so rare anymore Junior goaltender Saxton Soley (Elk Mound, Wis.) made 28 saves to record his fifth tie of the season (7-3-5 record) Jan. 30 against Gustavus. He entered his junior season with one career tie in 44 previous games between the pipes (29-13-1 record). He is currently second in the MIAC in save percentage (.939) and third in GAA (1.87) overall, and is tied for the league’s best winning percentage (.667, 5-2-2 record) in conference play.

SAINT MARY’S | MIAC Member Page | Athletics home page | T.G.I. Fridays With their 3-0 win over St. Olaf last Friday, the Cardinal men’s hockey team improved to 3-0-2 in conference play on Friday nights—and 5-2-2 overall on Fridays. The 3-0 victory over the Oles was also the second straight 3-0 shutout win on a Friday—Saint Mary’s also beat Gustavus 3-0 on Feb. 23. Sweeping away the opposition With their sweep of St. Olaf last weekend, the Cardinal women’s hockey team has now recorded four two-game series sweeps this season—the most since the the 2003-04 season. Along with St. Olaf, the Cardinals have swept Bethel (2-1, 1-0), UW-Eau Claire (4-1, 4-1), and Saint Benedict (3-2, 2-0).

SAINT THOMAS | MIAC Member Page| Athletics home page | Milestones Tommie Men’s Hockey, 8-1 since mid-December, recently became the first current Division III men’s hockey program to reach 1,100 victories. In 92 seasons, St. Thomas has built an 1,101-635-90 won-loss record. Middlebury (Vt.) is second in victories at 1,064. Last weekend, St. Thomas (12-4-3) secured the hockey program’s 33rd consecutive winning season as it split two games against Augsburg. The Tommies share the conference lead with six games to go and are looking to reach the playoffs for the 30th time in the 30-year history of the format. UST ranks second nationally in scoring defense as it has allowed just 29 goals in 19 games. The Toms killed off all 23 opponent power plays in eight January games.

MIAC ATHLETES-OF-THE-WEEK The MIAC Athlete-of-the-Week awards honor the top performances in each conference sport throughout the regular season. The awards are nominated and selected by the MIAC sports information directors. The MIAC will recognize Athletes-of-the-Week in each sport throughout the 2014-15 season. Throughout the winter, basketball and hockey will be announced each Monday with swimming and diving to follow on Tuesday and indoor track and field on Wednesday. | Men’s Hockey | Women’s Hockey |

MIAC WEEKLY Each week, Host Mike Gallagher delivers a new episode of “MIAC Weekly.” The podcast covers all the top news, scores and standings from around the league, and features guest appearances each week from MIAC coaches, student-athletes and administrators. All episodes are archived on the MIAC Weekly home page, and the podcast is also available on iTunes.

MIAC MEDIA MIAC Media is an online initiative devoted to providing additional multimedia coverage of the conference through. The three main MIAC Media features are the MIAC Media Weekly Podcast (more info above), theMIAC Media Blog, and the MIAC Media Video series, which can be found on the MIAC YouTube Channel.

CONNECT TO THE CONFERENCE The MIAC’s new web site – MIACathletics.com – offers several new ways fans can stay connected to the conference. Visit the MIAC scoreboard on game days to follow all the action, and download the MIAC mobile app to have all the information with you anywhere you travel. Also, connect to the conference on its Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages for updates and interaction throughout the 2014-15 season. The MIAC also just joined Instagram and will share photos through that new social media site.