APPLETON, Wis. — The Lawrence University men's hockey team opened its home schedule Saturday afternoon against St. Olaf College, building a first-period lead before the Oles rallied for a 6-3 victory at the American Family Ice Center.
St. Olaf struck first with a power-play goal just 2:09 into the contest, but Lawrence responded with two goals to take the lead. Jex Sheffield tied the game at 9:11, finishing a pass from Cody Brekke for his first goal of the season. The Vikings then took the lead late in the period when Alexey Trischuk converted on the power play at 19:50. Jackson Murphy and Jacob Jakusz assisted on the goal, sending Lawrence into the first intermission with a 2-1 advantage.
The Oles took control in the second period, scoring three times to move in front 4-2. Connor McNaughton tied the game at 4:18 before Joey Kennelly gave St. Olaf the lead at 13:32. The Oles added a power-play goal at 15:59 to extend their advantage heading into the final period.
St. Olaf added another goal at 1:49 of the third period, but Lawrence continued to push offensively. Mason Johnson cut into the deficit at 9:29, scoring his second goal of the season off an assist from Ethan Look. The Vikings generated 19 shots on goal in the third period, but could not close the gap. St. Olaf added an empty-net goal with 52 seconds remaining to finish the scoring.
Lawrence finished with 36 shots on goal, including 19 in the third period, compared with 20 for St. Olaf. Sheffield and Trischuk each recorded four shots, while Ethan Beaumont also put four shots on goal. Mason Johnson led the Vikings with a goal, and Brekke, Look, Jakusz and Murphy each recorded an assist.
In goal, Nolan Mahaffey made 12 saves over 41:49 of action, while Collin Lemanski stopped two shots in relief. Lawrence finished 1-for-5 on the power play, while St. Olaf converted twice on two opportunities.
