ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – The College of Saint Benedict hockey team had a big year in 2019-20. The Bennies won 11 games – the most for the program in nearly 20 years – and just the sixth time in history the team has reached double-digit wins.
Over the course of the season, several key milestones were reached both by the team and individually, including a big win over St. Thomas, many individual firsts. A weekend sweep of Finlandia in early January was full of firsts for the Bennies.
On Jan. 10 and 11, Saint Benedict swept the Lions in a home series, winning 6-0 Friday and 5-0 Saturday in St. Cloud. Not only did that mark the team’s first sweep since 2016-17 and push the Bennies’ unbeaten streak to five games – its longest since 2002-03 – there were also six individuals who recorded career firsts throughout the two-game series.
In Friday’s win, sophomore goalie Maggie Gilchrist recorded the first shutout of her Bennie career, stopping all 16 shots she faced to keep the Lions off the board. On the offensive side of the puck, first year Hannah Lynse had a big game with several firsts, and sophomores Sophie Stoffers and Maria Gaertner both finished the night with the first assists of their careers.
Lynse kicked off the scoring for CSB with the first goal of her career early in the first period. That would end up being the game-winning goal – another first – and over the course of the game she notched a pair of assists to mark the first multi-point game of her career. Her first assist came in the second period, and her second assist came on a late goal by Bria Ferns (who had just returned from studying abroad) with less than two minutes left in the game.
Stoffers teamed up with Lynse to assist on Rylan Bistodeau’s goal at the 13:54 mark of the second for her first assist, and Gaertner and Lynse both notched an assist on Fern’s goal in the final two minutes of the game.
On Saturday it was junior goalie Kailee Medved’s turn to pick up her first shutout after stopping 20 shots in the Bennies’ 5-0 win to complete the sweep against Finlandia. After picking up the first assist of her career Friday night, Gaertner recorded the first multi-goal game in her two seasons with the team Saturday. She scored midway through the second period, then added another goal – this one unassisted – at the seven-minute mark of the third period. First year Olivia Reid also notched her first goal as a Bennie in game two of the series, scoring unassisted less than four minutes into the third period.
Over the course of the series, eight different players scored for Saint Benedict, and 11 notched at least one assist. When all was said and done in 2019-20, 15 different players scored at least once for the Bennies, and 19 players had at least one assist.
