The St. Thomas men’s hockey team left Game 2 of their CCHA playoff quarterfinal in doubt until late before exploding for three goals in the final three minutes of the third period to defeat Lake Superior State 5-2 Saturday night at the Lee & Penny Anderson Arena in St. Paul.
It was a 2-2 tie game at 15:48 of the final frame before the second-seeded Tommies decided they’d had enough of the pesky Lakers by launching a blitzkrieg to eliminate the seventh-seeded visitors from the postseason and advance to the Mason Cup semifinals.
St. Thomas never trailed in the game, scoring first on a Colton Jameson tally just two minutes into the game before LSSU knotted the game at 1-all into the first intermission. After an earlier goal was waived off, Lucas Wahlin scored one that counted at 10:41 of the second as the Tommies took a 2-1 edge into the third.
The Lakers were not about to go quietly into the capital city night, drawing even after nearly 16 minutes of scoreless third-period play and sending a cold shudder though the home crowd.
But there would be little drama left for the favored hosts as Lucas Van Vliet put the home side up for good approximately 90 seconds later. Wahlin added his second of the night 45 seconds after that for a 4-2 lead before LSSU pulled goalie Roke Applebee, who made 38 saves, and Van Vliet took advantage of the empty net to promptly pump in his second of the contest and end matters with a sudden three-goal victory.
Tommies netminder Carsen Musser made 27 saves as his team now moves on to a single-elimination semifinal next Saturday against a yet-to-be determined opponent.
Third-seeded Augustana and No. 4 seed Michigan Tech also won their best-of-three quarterfinal matchups in two-game sweeps. However, Eighth-seeded Ferris State upset top-seeded Minnesota State 2-1 in overtime on Saturday night to force a winner-take-all third game on Sunday. If the Mavericks overcome their upset-minded rivals in Game 3, the Tommies will host Augustana; if the Bulldogs are able to finish off a stunner in Mankato, St. Thomas will inherit the top seed and host Michigan Tech.
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