St. John's second period barrage too much for Men's Hockey

MEQUON, Wis. -- Calling the style of play aggressive in the men's hockey matchup between Saint John's University and Concordia University Wisconsin would be an understatement. The two clubs battled fiercely for three periods, but it was the Johnnies who ultimately came out on top winning 5-2 in front of an animated crowd at the Ozaukee Ice Center Friday evening.

The Falcon crowd helped fuel an already electric atmosphere at the OIC, keeping the officials occupied for the majority of the game. A combined 17 penalties were administered between the two clubs for the matchup.

SJU (3-4-1) struck first in the opening frame on a goal by Trent Johnson at the 12:57 mark, but the Falcons (4-8-0) were quick to respond. Freshman forward Franco Loparco notched his fourth goal of the season off a powerful miss by freshman forward Dan Szerlip (Newton, Mass.). Szerlip in addition to freshman Connor Pennell (Kamsack, Saskatchewan) were credited with the assist.

The second frame proved to be the turning point for the Johnnies as they fired off three consecutive goals to take a sizeable advantage over the Falcons heading in to the final period. Jascha Pettit led the second stanza surge with two goals while Jobe Peterson added another for SJU.

With 3:36 seconds in to the final frame, freshman forward Lawrence Childs broke away during a five-minute power-play opportunity and launched a shot in to the back of the net, cutting the deficit to two. Freshman forward Ben Jaremko (Anoka, Minn.) was credited with the assist. It would end up being the closest CUW would get to the Johnnies as Dave Mylrea capitalized on a power-play opportunity of his own at the 14:10 mark to put SJU ahead for good 5-2.

Freshman goalie Jake Hebda saved 27 shots for the CUW while J.D. Wells made 20 saves for SJU.

The two teams will face each other again Saturday afternoon for the second game of the non-conference series at the Ozaukee Ice Center. The puck is set to drop at 1:00 p.m.