One-hundred, forty-six shots on goal, nearly five hours of elapsed time and almost 121 minutes of playing time later, Augsburg is the MIAC men's hockey tournament champion for the fourth consecutive year. The Auggies outlasted St. John's 2-1 in four overtimes on Saturday night at Ed Saugestad Rink in Minneapolis in the second-longest game in NCAA Division III history.
Tommy Carey, a sophomore from Moorhead, scored a power-play goal on a rebound 54 seconds into the fourth overtime, setting off an Augsburg celebration after the teams played 120 minutes, 54 seconds. Only Gustavus' 6-5 four-OT win over the Auggies in the 2010 MIAC semifinals lasted longer among Division III games. That one needed 138:38 to determine a winner.
"My linemate, Alex Rodriguez, made a great play to find me all alone in front,'' Carey said. "All I had to do was tap it in. I was the lucky guy; anyone on the team could have done that.''
With the victory, Augsburg (21-3-3) earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament. The Auggies, ranked No. 7 in the U.S. College Hockey Online poll, will travel to St. Norbert on Saturday for a 7 p.m. game.
St. John's (12-10-5) lost despite an outstanding effort by goalie Andrew Lindgren, who made a school-record 86 saves. Augsburg goalie Nick Schmit made 57 saves.
"I feel for the kid. He played unbelievable,'' Carey said of Lindgren. "They both did.''
Augsburg took a 1-0 lead on a power-play goal by Rodriguez at 7:49 of the second period. It remained a one-goal game until late in the third period, when the Johnnies pulled Lindgren for an extra attacker and Robb Stautz scored with 1:21 left.
"We were 1:20 away from posting a shutout win,'' Augsburg coach Chris Brown said. "The guys were really hungry to win the league for a forth time in a row. To have that all of a sudden ripped away late it regulation, I thought it took us a little bit to recover.''
Then came the overtimes, in which Augsburg outshot St. John's 51-40. With 30 seconds left in the third overtime, the Johnnies' Travis Brown was called for slashing, and Carey scored the winner after the fifth intermission, ending the game after 4:48 of elapsed time.
"You had guys on the bench between shifts taking rollers to their legs because they were cramping up,'' Brown said. "There were a few guys we lost. They just cramped up.''
"Guys were so drained,'' Carey added. "Honestly, it didn't seem like it would ever end. My body aches pretty good.''
St. Thomas tops Hamline for MIAC women's title
Senior goalie Kenzie Torpy stopped all 30 shots she faced as No. 1 St. Thomas beat No. 4 Hamline 2-0 on Saturday in Mendota Heights. The Tommies (24-1-2) got goals from Estee Frantz in the first period and Sarah Moy in the second to avenge their only loss of the season against the Pipers (21-3-3).
With the victory, St. Thomas earned an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The Tommies will be host to Wisconsin-Eau Claire on Saturday at a time to be announced. Hamline also received a bid to the tournament and will be host to Wisconsin-River Falls at 2 p.m. Saturday.
