On Saturday Nov. 1 in De Pere, Wis., St. Olaf Men’s Hockey pulled off a thrilling upset, defeating No. 5 St. Norbert College. Just one night after a 0-3 loss, the Oles stormed back with determination to claim their first victory over the Green Knights since 1992.
The game opened with early pressure from St. Norbert, as Braydon Beahm and Bryan Gilman each scored within the first five minutes, making it 2-0. The Oles held their ground. At 16:04, left winger Panayioti Efraimidis ’28 capitalized on a power play, assisted by Assistant Captains Gunnar Johnson ’26 and Jonathan Panisa ’26. Three minutes later, Panisa evened the score with assists from Joey Kennelly ’27 and Adam Johnson ’28, igniting the Ole bench.
Early in the second period, St. Norbert’s Jack Seaverson reclaimed the lead, but Eli Miller ’29 quickly answered with his first college career goal. The teams battled intensely as St. Norbert regained a 4-3 edge on a goal by Logan Domrowsky at 7:37.
In the final minutes, the Oles dug deep. Assisted by Adam Johnson, defenseman Jack Boxer ’26 buried the equalizer at 14:19 to force overtime. After winning the opening faceoff, Gunnar Johnson fed Connor McNaughton ’29, who backhanded the game-winner just 33 seconds into overtime. As the final horn sounded, the Oles erupted in celebration.
Building on his new role as head coach, Tyler Lindstrom has witnessed the program evolve into one he is proud to lead.
“The support around the program’s tremendous,” Lindstrom said in an interview with The Olaf Messenger. “We’ve been fortunate to recruit players all over North America. The St. Olaf experience draws highly motivated individuals who invest in hockey, the classroom, and the community.”
Lindstrom sees his players’ time at St. Olaf as a well-rounded, four-year development process.
“[It’s] a huge time span for guys to develop as players, but also as people,” Lindstrom said.
When asked about the team’s consistent Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) semifinal appearances, Lindstrom credits his players.
“No matter how hard I want to draw a conference championship on the whiteboard, I can’t,” he said. “It’s the guys who put the chin pads on and block the shots. It’s the guys who put the shoulder pads on, check guys, and finish hits. It all comes back to the guys in the locker room and them executing at a very high level.”
That accountability showed after the early-season loss against St. Norbert.
“We didn’t put together a full 60 minutes and made some uncharacteristic mistakes,” he said.
He spoke about how they took five penalties, did not take enough shots to the net, and made some poor puck decisions.
“We reviewed film on Saturday and asked guys to make those adjustments,” Lindstrom said. “I’m super proud of how the guys bought in, got pucks to the net, made smarter decisions, and played at pace. They continued to play our way until the very end.”
Resilience has been crucial for a team with 18 underclassmen.
“You want your team to feel under fire early in the season,” Lindstrom said. “So when you’re playing MIAC games down the stretch, they know what it feels like to be down 2-0 on the road and come back to win.”
His pride in the group is clear.
“In moments of pressure, the guys have done a great job at continuing to be who we are,” he said. “It points to strong culture and strong leadership.”
That belief is affirmed as younger players step up. They had nine freshmen in the lineup against St. Norbert and “those guys earned their minutes.”
“Ryan Nolan [’29] started both games as a freshman goalie and gave us a chance to win by making 49 saves over two days,” Lindstrom said. “And Eli Miller’s been incredibly impressive; he plays at pace and plays heavy on the puck.”
Lindstrom’s focus remains simple.
“If we continue to build on where we were yesterday, the sky’s the limit for this crew,” Lindstrom said.
