Birkholz, Fulton lead Pipers to win over #5 St. Thomas

The Pipers started off fast and strong against the Tommies, taking a 3-0 lead within the first ten minutes of play.

Five different Pipers scored goals, with defenseman Joe Long (Jr., Dayton, Minn.) started the Piper scoring at 3:05 in the first period, with assists credited to Andrew Birkholz (So., Maple Grove, Minn.) and Dustin Fulton (Jr., Brooklyn Park, Minn.).

Another defenseman, Chris Berenguer (Fy., Eden Prairie, Minn.) doubled the Piper lead less than a minute later, scoring at 3:54 in the first from Kyle Kurr (So., Elk River, Minn.) and Kyle Mattson (Fy., Maple Grove, Minn.).

Hamline's third goal of the first period came at 9:17 when Nick Zilka (Fy., Mound, Minn.) scored on Birkholz' second assist of the game.

St. Thomas then prevented a Hamline first period shut-out, scoring at 11:17 on a power play goal to make the score 3-1 entering the first intermission.

St. Thomas scored again to start the second period, just 41 seconds in. Hamline waited until there were 52 seconds left in the second before scoring to go up 4-2, when Fulton scored on Berenguer's second assist and Birklholz tallied his third assist of the night.

St. Thomas made the score 4-3 at 13:15 in the third period, but Birkholz added a goal to his hat trick of assists at 17:23. Fulton earned his second assist of the night on the score. Birkholz' goal was the game-winner, as St. Thomas scored with two seconds to play on a power play to bring the final score to 5-4.

The win over St. Thomas was the first since a 7-6 overtime victory during the 1992-93 season. The Pipers were 0-30-1 against the Tommies in that stretch.

Hamline's record improves to 11-6-3, 7-3-1 MIAC while St. Thomas falls to 14-5-1, 8-3-0 MIAC. The same two teams meet again tomorrow, Saturday, February 8, at 7:15 p.m. on Hamline's home ice, Drake Arena.