Gustavus Adolphus College

SAINT PETER, Minn. - Special teams were not nice to the Gusties on Friday night in their season opener, dropping their matchup to St. Norbert, 2-0. Gustavus held the advantage in just about every category, but could not find the twine twice to match the Green Knights.

Gustavus came out of the gate hot in the first period, holding the offensive pressure over the Green Knights from the jump. In the first four minutes of the game, the Gusties had two shots saved and one more blocked and went on the power play 7:29 into the contest for the first time this season. The player advantage was unsuccessful though and only one shot from first-year Ava Eernisse (Grafton, Wis.) showed offensively on the first time of asking tonight. The best chance of the period came for sophomore Makaela Reinke (Hayward, Wis.) at the 12:30 mark, who hit the crossbar just seconds after a shot from junior Noelle Hemr (Blaine, Minn.). Senior Kylie Scott (Dayton, Minn.) had the other marquee chance of the period for Gustavus, going inches wide and high after picking the puck up with space in between the dots. Senior Macy Janssen (Blaine, Minn.) took a penalty at the 15:32 mark for body checking, but the Gusties were able to kill it off after being held in their own zone for over a minute. Senior Hannah Thompson (Lino Lakes, Minn.) was key on the penalty kill, blocking a shot and forcing another wide 10 seconds later. Through 20 minutes, Gustavus held a slight advantage in shots on goal, 8-7, and continued their dominance in the dot, leading in faceoffs, 11-5. 

In the second period, the pace picked up for both teams who seemed to have settled into the season a little more after the first stanza. The Gusties took two penalties in the period while St. Norbert only took one and the first for Gustavus plagued them as St. Norbert scored just seconds after it expired. The shots on goal echoed the evenness of the game, as both teams had 10 shots on goal. Gustavus led in shots overall, 24-16, but were less effective in shots on goal overall. Just like the first 20 minutes, the Gusties led in the faceoff dot, 12-7, but could not find anything from those faceoffs to generate a goal. 

The third period was completely dominated by Gustavus offensively with 14 of 20 faceoffs won and 16 of 20 shots on goal. The Gusties gave up one more penalty in the third period and St. Norbert capitalized, taking a shot from the middle of the zone that was screened past junior Lily Timmons (Lake Elmo, Minn.) to double the Green Knight lead. The best opportunity of the period came from first-year Bre Koehler with just over a minute to play, when she dropped one defender with a deke to her backhand, but raised it over the bar, keeping the deficit at two. The Gusties had a two-player advantage as time expired but couldn't cut the lead in half. 

Gustavus ended with a 34-21 advantage in shots on goal, led by Eernisse with five, followed closely behind by senior Kylie Ligday (Lake Elmo, Minn.), junior Eva Nelson (Buffalo, Minn.) and Reinke with four each. First-year Addy Benson (Superior, Wis.) led in faceoffs won with 10 in her first collegiate game while Timmons made 19 saves in goal. 

The teams are back at it again at 2 p.m. tomorrow to finish the weekend series at the Don Roberts Ice Rink.
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