Golden at Gustavus

Pat Christman/The Free Press

The Gustavus Adolphus men's hockey team advanced in the NCAA tournament on Wednesday night, defeating Milwaukee School of Engineering 3-1 at the Don Roberts Ice Rink in St. Peter. The Gusties' super senior, Ross Ring-Jarvi, had a goal and two assists, and 6-foot-8 freshman goalie John McLean, who saw just six shots in the first two periods, was outstanding in the third, making 11 saves.

Gustavus will now travel to Wisconsin to play St. Norbert on Saturday. The winner will get the West's lone entry into the final four.

Ring-Jarvi, the lone senior on the Gusties' roster, is closing out an outstanding career in fine form. His final two home games were the NCAA win over MSOE and the MIAC championship-game win Saturday against St. Olaf. The Gustavus rink was packed for both games, for an amazing small-school atmosphere.

"Going through the handshake line, I just looked up at the crowd. It was an unbelievable crowd," said Ring-Jarvi, who this week was named MIAC player of the year.

That atmosphere should be similar on Saturday when the Gustavus women open NCAA play with a home game against Wisconsin-River Falls. The women's bracket is an eight-team tournament, so the Gusties need win just one game to get to return to the final four.

There's a good thing going on over at Gustavus, with Brett Petersen's men and Mike Carrol's women. Both teams are in the NCAA quarterfinals, both teams won the MIAC tournament title and both teams have the league's best player (Allie Schwab won the POY award in the women's league).