Northland Men's Hockey dropped the season opener at St. Olaf by a score of 7-1.

Boxscore

Northland College kicked off the winter sports season on Friday night as the Men's Hockey team traveled to St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. St. Olaf, who is receiving votes in the latest D3 hockey poll, outshot the LumberJacks 48-17 on the night and spoiled the season opener by a score of 7-1.

The LumberJacks opened the game on a powerplay following an Ole delay of game penalty before the first faceoff of the season. Less than :30 into the game James Curran fired the first shot of the season wide. Northland would get one more shot in the opening powerplay as Luke Hartge put a shot on goal as the penalty was winding down, but the Jacks ultimately came up empty on the man advantage. Chris Curr, who started in net for the Jacks, faced a barrage of Ole shots over the next four minutes as he made the first seven saves of his new season. Hartge was called for hooking at the 6:07 mark, putting Northland's penalty kill in action for the first time. The LumberJacks were able to successfully kill the penalty, thanks to another Curr save and a block by Jake Lamberty. Unfortunately, the Jacks were not so successful on the next PK as the Oles picked up the first goal of the game at the 15:31 mark. With a minute left in the first period the Oles extended their lead and were able to go into the first intermission up by two.

The Oles were able to score twice more over the first 17:49 of the second period before Northland was able to get themselves on the board. A slashing penalty at the 18:19 mark gave the LumberJacks a man advantage opportunity to end the period. Curran, Ty Brown, Parker Severson, Ben Varga and Josh King took the ice as the powerplay unit for the Jacks. Severson was able to win the opening faceoff of the powerplay before a Varga pass setup King for Northland's first goal of the season, and a 4-1 score at the second break. St. Olaf used a three-goal third period to round out the final score. Curr finished the contest with 41 total saves in the loss. 

Northland will be back on the ice on Tuesday for the home opener. The puck is scheduled to drop at 7:00 PM at the Bay Area Civic Center.

Northland College is an NCAA Division III institution located in Ashland, WI. The LumberJacks and LumberJills sponsor 14 varsity sports and compete in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference, Midwest Lacrosse Conference and the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.