SAINT PETER, Minn. - The Gustavus men's hockey team opened its season Friday night with an exciting 3-2 win over the University of Dubuque.
After leading the team in scoring last season,
Nate Stone picked up where he left off by scoring the first goal of the season at the 14:47 mark of the first period. Brandon Sloth was credited with the assist. Nearly three minutes later, Dubuque, playing in its inaugural game as an NCAA Division III program, took advantage of a power play to net the equalizer and the score remained 1-1 at the first intermission.
The second period went scoreless for 19 minutes until Gustavus used a power play goal to take a 2-1 lead with 40 seconds remaining in the period. jack Kubitz and
Artem Korolev fed
Drew Holt for his first career goal.
After the second break, the Spartans were quick to respond with the game-tying goal 26 seconds into the third. Another first-year got on the goal sheet at the 14:50 mark, this time it was
Grant Ellings scoring what proved to be the game-winning goal, with the help pf
Kylar Fenton and
Christian Miller.
Dubuque was unable to score with an empty net at the end of the game and the Gusties held on for their first win of the season. The Gusties outshot the Spartans 26-18 as
Jackson Hjelle made 16 saves in the win.
Game two of the series is 3 p.m. tomorrow at Don Roberts Ice Rink.
