Philipp’s OT goal gives St. Thomas 2-1 edge over Hamline

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Senior captain Robby Philipp led the No. 14-ranked St. Thomas men’s hockey team to a 2-1 victory against Hamline on Friday, Jan. 13 at home.

Philipp, who scored the first of the Tommies’ goals, also got the game-winning shot when junior Riley Horgan found him for the goal with 50 seconds left in sudden-death overtime.

“We have been playing together for two years now…so we got some pretty good chemistry going,” Horgan said.

“All you got to do is get open for (Horgan), half the time he just gives you the puck,” Philipp said. “The first goal was just a rebound. It came in the right place at the right time so basically my line did all the work, and I was there to reap the reward.”

Freshman goalie Drew Fielding, who is just getting over mono, stopped 26 of 27 shots on net in just his second start of the year.

“We have liked him all along, he just had some bad luck at the beginning of the year,” coach Jeff Boeser said. “We played very well tonight.”

The Tommies managed to kill off all three Hamline power plays and outshot the Pipers 42-27.

“They did a good job of plugging things up, and we did a bad job of getting pucks deep, so we have to do a better job of that tomorrow,” Boeser said.

Hamline tied the score 1-1 with 5:57 left in regulation on Cam Stowers’ goal. Beau Christian stopped 40 of 42 shots for Hamline.

“I feel like we have to be a little more physical, we weren’t as physical as we wanted to be,” Horgan said, “I think that tomorrow we are going to respond well, and it should be a good game.”

St. Thomas faces Hamline again Saturday, Jan. 14 in Vadnais Heights and are in first place in the MIAC.

Patrick Roche can be reached at roch6667@stthomas.edu.