St. Norbert hockey hosts Division I Minnesota State University

DE PERE – For the first time since the University of Hawaii tennis team played at St. Norbert College in 1997, a St. Norbert men’s sports team hosted a Division I opponent. 

On Tuesday, Jan. 7, The Green Knights hockey team entertained Division I Minnesota State University (MSU) in an exhibition game at the Cornerstone Community Ice Center. 

St. Norbert and the Mavericks skated to a 5-5 tie. 

The Green Knights (12-3 overall) came into the contest ranked No. 4 in the latest Division III USCHO.com Poll, while Minnesota State (14-4-2) is ranked No. 12 in the Division I USCHO.com Poll. 

The exhibition game was played with controlled situations and overtime was not played. 

Mavericks Coach Luke Strand was a former assistant at St. Norbert from 2001-03. 

“I was happy with our effort,” St. Norbert Coach Tim Coghlin said. “The value we take from those situational opportunities is very beneficial. There were lots of things from this game I was happy about, but then there are also things we need to clean up. Going forward, it’s all NCHA games, which is the most important part of our season.”

After starting the season 12-0, the Green Knights have dropped three consecutive games regular season games. 

“We were not very good last weekend (Jan. 3-4) coming off our break, so we needed to get some good vibes back,” Coghlin said. “We were able to play a lot of guys in different situations tonight. We need to play the game the right way, and quite frankly, in the last few games where we took the losses, we weren’t playing the right way. Our attention to detail was not where it needed to be.” 

MSU jumped out to a 2-0 first-period lead before St. Norbert’s Ethan Byrne scored to cut the deficit to one. 

The Mavericks eventually led 4-1 in the second period before Calvin Hanson tallied for the Green Knights to make it 4-2. 

MSU took a 5-2 lead at the 14:49 mark of the second period, but then it was all St. Norbert from there. 

Logan Dombrowsky tallied with about a minute remaining in the middle period before Bryan Gilman and Dombrowsky scored in the third period to tie the game. 

Green Knights goalie Hunter Garvey made 28 saves in net, including several down the stretch that kept the game even. 

Braden Lindstrom had a pair of assists for St. Norbert. 

“It feels great,” Garvey said of his team’s tie. “The score of this game didn’t matter as much as us getting back on track – it’s been a tough stretch for us. (In the last few minutes of the game), I had to make up for the pretty bad goal I let in earlier in the game – I’m glad I could do that.” 

St. Norbert is off until Jan. 17-18 when it will play a two-game home-and-away series against Concordia Wisconsin.