Greg Miller, Staff Writer

Augsburg men’s hockey ended the regular season on a cold streak, losing both games in the weekend series against St Thomas. These losses dropped the Auggies from first in the MIAC standings to third as they head into the tournament. 

On Friday, the Auggies found themselves down 1-0 before a goal by Gunnar Goodmanson early in the second period to tie the game up. Not long after, St Thomas netted their second of the game and the period ended with the Auggies down 2-1. The lead would not last long as, just 16 seconds into the start of the third period, John O’Connor tied it up for the Auggies and, a little over three minutes later, Grant Reichenbacher scored on the powerplay to give the Auggies a 3-2 lead. St Thomas would come back to score two goals within 30 seconds of each other and put the game on ice with an empty net goal and handed the Auggies a 5-3 loss.

In the second game of the series, the Auggies responded to a first period goal by the Tommies with one of their own 40 seconds later when Jarod Blackowiak tied it up 1-1. Two early second-period goals by St Thomas saw the Auggies down 3-1 before Tommy Carey blasted home a power-play goal, but St. Thomas responded with another before the end of the period making the score 4-2. Gavin Holland opened up the third period with a goal for the Auggies and Austin Martinsen gave the Auggies another but it was not enough to top St Thomas, who won the game 5-4. 

Augsburg, as the third seed, heads to Concordia Moorhead on Saturday for their first game in the MIAC playoffs. The Auggies have won the tournament the past four years, and will now look to make it five MIAC championships in a row.