St. Cloud, Minn. -- For the first time since at least 2004, the College of Saint Benedict hockey team completed a sweep of school rival St. Thomas today (Jan. 30th). After beating the Tommies 3-2 on the road last night, the Blazers beat the Tommies 5-3 in St. Cloud tonight. Coming into the weekend, the Tommies were ranked fourth in the country by the USCHO.com poll.
 
First-year goaltender Angel Hillstrom had a career-high 48 saves, surpassing her previous career high of 41 by seven saves. Hillstrom held the Tommies scoreless through the first 52 minutes of the game, and gave up just one even strength goal during the game.
 
Sophomore forward Brigette Miller scored two goals and assisted two more to led the way on offense for the Blazers. Those two goals mark the second multi-goal game of her career, while 4 points in one game are a new career-high.
 
After holding the Tommies scoreless for most of the first period, the Blazers got on the board first with four minutes to play in the period. Junior forward Stephanie Kirk scored her first goal of the season off assists from Miller and junior defender Katie Cristan.
 
In the second period, the Blazers successfully fought off three penalties and scored twice to take a 3-0 lead heading into the third period. Miller got the scoring started less than a minute into the period, scoring unassisted off a slap shot from the top of the zone. At 9:21, Miller added her second goal of the game, this time scoring off passes from senior forward Aly Hoffman and junior forward Elli Marvin. Hillstrom made 21 of her 48 saves during that second period, and the Blazers took a 3-0 lead into the second intermission against the No. 4 Tommies.
 
With eight minutes to play, the Blazers had retained that 3-0 lead and looked primed to take home the victory. Then the floodgates opened. With eight minutes to play, the Tommies pulled their goalie for the extra skater advantage. Shortly after that, Tommie forward Hannah Burns scored, cutting the Blazer lead to two.
 
With the goalie back in net, the Tommies scored a second goal just 18 seconds later, this time off the stick of Allie Borgstrom. Suddenly, the Blazers comfortable lead had been shaved to one with nearly seven minutes left in the game.
 
With 4:53 left on the clock however, Marvin helped put the Blazers' minds at ease, scoring off a pass from Miller.
 
With 4:09 to play, first-year forward Shelby Schneider picked the perfect moment to score the first goal of her collegiate career. She took a pass from Stephanie Kirk and scored the Blazers fifth goal of the game to seal the Blazer victory.
 
St. Thomas responded by pulling their goalie for the final 3:36. Tommie forward Hannah Burns scored one more goal with 1:09 to play, but it was too little too late for the Tommies, and the Blazers won 5-3.
Those five goals tie the most goals the Blazers have scored in a single game this year (St. Olaf Jan. 15th).
 
Hillstrom's 48 saves mark the most saves a Blazer has had in a single game going back two seasons when Dory Johnson stopped 49 shots against St. Thomas on February, 21st, 2014.
 
Blazer hockey returns to action next Friday, February 5th when they will host St. Catherine University. Faceoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. Please note that game will be played at Bernick's Arena in Sartell due to a scheduling conflict at Dave Torrey Arena.