Forward Connor McBride’s pair of second-period goals broke a 1-1 tie and helped lead the St. Thomas men’s hockey team to a 4-2 win over Hamline Friday at the St. Thomas Ice Arena.
McBride’s first goal broke the draw at the 16:14 mark of the second period, and his second tally just 10 seconds later, assisted by forwards Willie Faust and Cullen Willox, put the Tommies in the lead.
“They crashed the net, and I was kind of hanging out high,” McBride said.” I just snuck back and called for it from Willox, and he found me on the back door.”
While a game between MIAC foes is significant enough, the Tommies had a little extra motivation Friday. Hamline (4-4-2 overall, 1-3-1 MIAC) knocked St. Thomas (6-3-2 overall, 4-1 MIAC) out of the MIAC playoffs last year with a 6-3 win in the conference semifinals. Coach Jeff Boeser downplayed the concept of revenge, saying “Last year is last year,” but McBride saw a different scenario on the ice.
“We have a lot of seniors on this team so we don’t like them, and they don’t like us,” McBride said.
After a scoreless first period, Hamline jumped out to an early lead on a goal from defenseman Mitch Hall at the 9:17 mark of the second frame. The Pipers’ lead would only last around three minutes however.
The Tommies rattled off three goals in a span of just over four minutes to seize the lead. Defenseman Steve Sorensen netted his first goal of the year at the 12:21 mark before McBride’s back-to-back scores.
“We have been struggling scoring the last couple games, so to get those quick ones like that lifts our team and our bench,” Boeser said. “You could just see the energy starting to pick up a little bit.”
St. Thomas closed the second period with a 3-1 lead but opened the third period with a costly penalty. Defenseman Ben Jentsch was called for checking from behind, and Hamline would capitalize with a goal from defenseman Jesse Kessler on the ensuing power play.
“We should have got a puck deep in the neutral zone and we didn’t,” Boeser said. “They came back, and we had to take a penalty because there’s an odd-man rush.”
St. Thomas was called for six penalties Friday, a stat that Boeser, for obvious reasons, was “disappointed with.”
“That’s the only way they could play with us tonight is getting those opportunities on the power plays,” Boeser said. “We have to clean that up.”
Clinging to a one-goal lead, the Tommies buckled down for the remaining 17:23 of the game. Goaltender Joe Morris stopped 33 shots for his MIAC-leading sixth win of the year. The senior netminder said the Tommies know how to play in tight scenarios – St. Thomas has three one-goal wins this season.
“An inexperienced team might start panicking, but we’ve been through it. We have a lot of seniors, and we know what to do,” Morris said. “We’re used to one-goal games, so that’s kind of our forte.”
A shorthanded goal from Faust with just over seven minutes left would ice the Tommies’ 4-2 win.
St. Thomas concludes the home-and-home series against Hamline Saturday at Oscar Johnson Arena.
Tom Pitzen can be reached at pitz2014@stthomas.edu.