The Hamline men’s hockey team lost both games in their home-and-away series with Gustavus this past Friday, Nov. 22, and Saturday, Nov. 23. After losing 5-2 at Lund Arena in St. Peters, Minn. Friday night, the Gusties came to Oscar Johnson Arena the next night and to complete a series sweep with a 5-1 win against the Pipers.

The weekend series was the start of Hamline’s MIAC conference schedule and they are now 0-2 in the league.

Friday night the Pipers got down 1-0 early in the first period, allowed another two goals in the second, and gave up a fourth goal to Gustavus before they were able to get on the scoreboard. Less than a minute after going down by a 4-0 score, sophomore forward Anthony Wolfe broke the shutout bid by the Gustie goalie when he scored off of assists from sophomore forward Cody Mason and senior defenseman Joel Scattarelli.

With just over three minutes left in the game, Hamline was able to get another goal and cut the Gusties lead to 4-2 when Mason scored off of assists from junior defenseman Joe Rubbelke and Wolfe. The Pipers were able to get a power-play chance shortly after, but allowed a Gustavus short-handed goal before Hamline could get within a goal. The Gusties went on to win by a 5-2 score.

Saturday night Hamline returned to their home rink for their conference home opener looking to gain a win for the series split. After allowing the Gusties to get the first goal of the game for the second night in a row, Hamline started to generate some offensive pressure late in the first period. The momentum carried into the second period. Less than a minute into the period, the Pipers tied the game 1-1 when sophomore forward Kevin Novakovich scored off of an assist from junior forward Sam Leslie.

The teams played the next half period tied at one until Gustavus took a 2-1 lead at the midpoint. Despite getting behind by a goal Hamline continued to apply pressure and create chances, but could not beat the Gusties goalie a second time.

What looked to be a one goal deficit going into the third period suddenly doubled to two. With under ten seconds left in the second period a Gustavus forward rushed up ice, found a lane to the net and was able to beat the buzzer to score with 0.6 seconds left in the period to make it 3-1.

The Gusties added two more goals in the third period to finish off the Pipers 5-1, winning the game and sweeping the series. Going into the weekend series, senior captains Tyler Johnson and Joel Scattarelli talked about the teams practice, starting league play, and the Gustavus team. One thing Scattarelli discussed was the competition that the league features.

“I know that it is always a tight league, within a point [in the] standings. Every game can go either way for each team,” Scatterelli said. “The competition is always high.”

Johnson talked about the familiarity that comes along with getting into conference play.

“Each weekend we will go into it with a better understanding of what we will be facing and what kind of game plan we will need,” Johnson said.

Being seniors, they spoke about what they knew about Gustavus from previous year’s and both players stressed the physicality the Gusties play with.

“Gustavus is a good team every year, they play with a lot of grit and are always a tough opponent to play,” Scatterelli said. “To be successful against them we need to match their toughness every shift and out work them in the little things.”

Johnson talked about the Gusties speed.

“They are fast and big, we as a team need to play the body to slow them down and be really good at getting pucks in and getting pucks out,” Johnson said. “With that philosophy we should be successful.”

Despite being swept this weekend, Johnson and Scattarelli will look for a continuation of what they have seen out of the Piper hockey team in practice.

“Practice has been good for us. I think we get better every practice with our systems [that] we run. The practices we have are high intensity which carries over to games,” Scattarelli said.

“Practice has been good, faster pace and physical, which will help us be successful this weekend,” Johnson said. “The first month of the season has showed us many things and has prepared us well for the upcoming MIAC conference.”

The Piper men’s hockey team is in action again next weekend as they play a conference home-and-away series against the Bethel Royals on Dec. 6 and 7. Friday night Hamline will host Bethel at Oscar Johnson Arena and Saturday night the Pipers will travel to Bethel for a road game.