Sartell, Minn. – Fresh off a sweep of No. 4 St. Thomas, the College of Saint Benedict hockey team skated to a 1-1 overtime tie with St. Kate's Friday night at Bernick's Arena in Sartell.
 
The Blazers, who are now 7-11-2 overall and 5-6-2 in the MIAC, moved into a tie for sixth in the conference with Saint Mary's. CSB has 12 points in the conference standings with five games left in the regular season. Concordia and Bethel are tied for fourth with 16 points each.
 
The Blazers came out aggressive in the first period, opening up several scoring opportunities within the first few minutes. Wildcat and MIAC-leading goalie Kristen Pechacek made a couple quick glove saves to keep the Blazers out of the net. Saint Benedict outshot St. Catherine 11-5 in the period, but neither team was able to come off the ice ahead.
 
The second period started and Pechacek continued to keep a flurry of Blazer shots at bay. With eight minutes to play in the period, sophomore forward Brigette Miller crossed the blue line into the zone and fired a wrist shot at the net. Pechacek stopped that shot, but senior forward Aly Hoffman found the rebound and backhanded it into the top of the net, to put the Blazers up 1-0. That goal was Hoffman's second of her senior campaign.
 
With two minutes to play in the period, a penalty on the Blazers for interference set up a power play for the Wildcats. Shortly into that power play, a Wildcat forward screen Blazer goalie Angel Hillstrom. That screen allowed teammate Mallory Ryan to send a slap shot from the top of the zone past Hillstrom. The teams went into the locker rooms at the second intermission tied at one.
 
Albeit exciting, the third period yielded few shots and no goals. The Blazers outshot the Wildcats 5-2 in that period.
 
The Blazers started the overtime period with 23 seconds left on a power play carried over from the third period. Although unable to score, Marvin and Miller kept Pechacek on her toes with a pair of shots each early in the overtime. 
 
With 3:34 to play, a reaching glove save by Hillstrom kept the Blazers alive. Both teams had chances, and the Blazers had five shots on net to St. Kates' three in the extra five minutes, but neither team was able to score.
 
CSB finished with 29 shots to St. Kates' 17. Elli Marvin led the team with six shots on net and Miller finished with four. Hillstrom made 16 saves for the Blazers.
 
CSB and the Wildcats are back in action at 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 6, at SPA Arena in St. Paul.