Photo courtesy of Jax Collins/St. Olaf Athletics
On March 2, the No. 5 seeded Oles faced No. 2 seeded Bethel in Blaine, Minn. The winner would become the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Champion, and receive an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament.
This was not the first time the Oles had played Bethel; their regular-season encounters resulted in winless outcomes against Bethel. However, the Oles have been dominating their recent away games, and this one would be no different, as the Oles won 4-1.
In a sold-out rink, the Oles and the Royals made the environment extremely loud and exciting. St. Olaf opened up the scoring at the six minute mark when Troy Bowditch ’24 capitalized on a rebound from Eric Brown’s ’25 shot. Bethel was able to respond early in the second period making the game tied at 1-1. The fans and the players continued to battle back and forth. The score remained level until Sean Walsh ’25 netted the eventual game-winner with an unassisted wraparound goal.
In the third period, St. Olaf extended their lead to 3-1 with an unassisted goal from Kelijah McElroy ’26. Desperate to score, Bethel took out their goalie to have an extra skater on the ice. Unfortunately for them, with 1:09 remaining, Bowditch ’24 assisted Matthew Pointer ’25 to make the final score 4-1 in favor of the Oles.
The win secured St. Olaf’s third MIAC playoff title in program history (2006, 2022, 2024). In addition, the Oles became the second No. 5 seed to win the MIAC tournament. The Oles will play for a chance to win the NCAA title on March 9 at 7:00 p.m. against St. Norbert College in the opening round of the tournament.
