Sophomores Stinnett and Timm lead CSB hockey against Augsburg

The St. Ben’s hockey team played two closely contested games against top-ranked Augsburg this past weekend. Augsburg was ranked 15th in Division III at the time of this series.

The Bennies were in both games until the end, as Augsburg scored the winning goals in the third period and overtime. In the first game of the series, St. Ben’s lost 2-1 at home, with junior Corrine Brown scoring the lone goal. It was her sixth of the season. In the second game of the series, St. Ben’s lost 3-2 in overtime at Augsburg. Sophomores Ava Stinnett and Jenna Timm scored goals for the Bennies. The goals were Stinnett’s fifth of the season and Timm’s fourth. Although they dropped both games of the series, these games will improve this team moving forward.

“I think we grew a lot in understanding that we can come back and we can give it our all, and when we give it our all, good things happen,” CSB head coach Lindsay Macy said.

Some of the players also talked about the positive challenges of this series.

“It was a pretty fast-paced game, and it’s nice to know that we can definitely play at that pace,” senior forward Emily Lemker said.

Brown talked about how they’ll benefit from the intensity they and Augsburg brought to the series. Augsburg challenged this team, but they were able to develop and learn the level of intensity they’ll have to play with for the rest of the season.

This team has found a way to consistently put shots on net, as they have outshot opponents 534-426. They have also outscored opponents by a margin of 46-42. Looking at the rest of the season, Macy talked about this team’s tough schedule down the stretch. This team has eight games left, including a pair against St. Olaf, who currently sits in third place in the MIAC, a pair against St. Kate’s, who sits two spots behind St. Ben’s in the conference and a game against River Falls, who is also one of the top-ranked teams in the nation. The St. Ben’s hockey team is 9-8 overall on the season and 7-5 in conference games. They currently sit fourth in the MIAC standings.

“Just making [the] playoffs would be a huge step for our program,” Brown said.

Other than last season, where every team made the MIAC playoffs, CSB hockey hasn’t made the playoffs since the 2001-2002 season. The Bennies will have to upset a few teams to make the playoffs, but they have the right mindset going into it.

“[We need to have] the attitude that anyone can win any game on any given night. [It just] depends on which team shows up,” senior goaltender Ally Frantzick said.

Only five teams in the MIAC make the postseason conference tournament, which starts at the end of February. St. Ben’s looks to lock up a spot in the tournament as they move into the season’s final month. The Bennies are back in action this weekend with another two-game series against St. Mary’s, which will take place in Ritsche Arena at 7 p.m. on Friday and 4 p.m. on Saturday.