BLAINE, Minn. — Everything seemed to be going the Royals’ way through two periods Friday night at Bethel University Arena. Up 3-0 with 19 minutes to play, the Royals appeared to be cruising to an easy win over an Augsburg squad that came into the night 1-5-0 in MIAC play. But the remainder of the third proved that record means nothing at this point in the year.
“I know their record is what it is,” head coach Chris McKelvie said. “But we knew it was going to be a really tough challenge tonight.”
After a scoreless first period that saw little action outside of one Auggie powerplay opportunity, the Royals got their first power play opportunity of the game at the 6:51 mark of the second after freshman defenseman Connor Brazil created a turnover in the Auggie zone and was tripped up by defenseman Zachary Reim.
Nearing the end of the man advantage Braccini fed Kring at the point and fired it past Auggie goaltender Carsen Stokes for the first lead of the game.
Braccini, Bethel’s leading goal scorer, came through at the 9:56 mark of the second on a 2-on-1 opportunity to give the Royals a 2-0 lead on his 10th goal of the season.
Herter’s goal early in the third put the Royals in the driver’s seat with 19 minutes to play. But a costly four-minute slashing double minor by defensemen Caydon Meyer gave Augsburg new life.
The Auggies stormed back, taking advantage of the double minor. Junior forward Payton Hanson got the Auggies on the board at the 6:50 mark.
Freshman Conner Schnieder brought Augsburg within one at the midway point of the period, scoring on a breakaway.
With less than two minutes to play Augsburg pulled goaltender Carsen Stokes, and a near empty-net goal by Bethel turned into a scoring opportunity the other way for the Auggies. Forward Landon Parker took advantage, tying the game at three to send it to a 3-on-3 overtime period.
With less than a minute to play, the Kring and Braccini duo connected once more. Kring created a turnover in the Royals’ zone, sending the puck into the neutral zone and on to the stick of Braccini who surged into the Auggie’s zone, firing a shot on goal. Kring grabbed the rebound and deposited it into the net for the overtime winner.
“He [Kring] has got an extremely good vision for the game,” McKelvie said. “And he gets rewarded for it. Good players make good things happen.”
The win moves the Royals to 4-1 in the MIAC and 8-5-1 overall on the season as they play the road portion of their season series Saturday night against Augsburg, looking for the sweep. The teams are primed for another battle despite what their records may show.
“Quite honestly, we don’t look at them as 1-5,” McKelvie said. “They’ve won the league the last several years…their record is not an indication of what kind of team they are.”
