COLLEGEVILLE — The St. John’s University hockey team had a nail-biter to get there, but
made it back to the NCAA Division III tournament for the first time since 2013.
They overcame a three-goal deficit to beat Gustavus, 4-3, in overtime, for the MIAC tournament title on Saturday, March 7, at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud.
Cashen Naeve, a freshman defenseman from Independence, scored the game-winner at 3:23 of overtime. The Johnnies had trailed 3-0 early the second period.
Now St. John’s (17-6-4) travels to play second-ranked Aurora (23-5-1) at 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 14, at Fox Valley Ice Arena in Geneva, Illinois. SJU is riding a seven-game winning streak.
“After they scored that third goal, we were thinking, ‘Oh my gosh. This is going to be a long night if we don’t get going here,'” SJU coach Doug Schueller said of the game against Gustavus. “We got the first goal and the energy in the building got better. It got louder. We had a great crowd (1,184). Once the energy started to come, we started playing better. Before you know it, the game is tied. The feeling was in some ways, I don’t want to say disbelief, because I believe in the team. I want to say relief. It’s been 13 years and we’ve had some really good teams that have just fallen short. This team … I can’t even categorize them as the best team I’ve had at St. John’s. It’s just a team that has found ways to get it done. They’ve been the best team at that, no question about it. They don’t have the most talent, but they have the most resilience and grit to get these wins.”
St. John’s University senior goalie Jon Howe is 16-5-4 with a 2.40 goals-against average, .932 save percentage in 25 games during the 2025-26 season.
Contributed / Jordan Modjeski
When asked about his team’s strengths, Schueller first went to Jon Howe, a senior goaltender from Chanhassen. He’s 16-5-4 with a 2.40 goals-against average and .932 save percentage going into the national tournament.
“Our best player all year has been our goalie,” Schueller said. “If your best player is your goalie, it’s a good position to have playing well. Jon Howe is probably our No. 1 player right now. He’s been winning us a lot of hockey games down the stretch.”
St. John’s University junior wing Jack Wandmacher leads the team in assists (18) and points (25) going into the NCAA Division III tournament.
Contributed / Jordan Modjeski
Looking at statistics, something else pops out. The Johnnies have played 27 games and their points leader is junior wing Jack Wandmacher, who has 25 points. Junior center Logan Lyke leads the team in goals with 12. But nine players have 15 or more points.
“The biggest thing is our depth,” Schueller said. “We have consistently three lines that can score. They’ve been taking turns having really big games. We’re not reliant on one individual line. If a group of players isn’t having their best game, we have other players on other lines that can step up and contribute.”
St. John’s University junior center Logan Lyke leads the team in goals (12), is tied for the team lead in game-winning goals (3) and is third in points (23) going into the NCAA Division III men’s hockey tournament.
Contributed / Jordan Modjeski
The top line has Chris Kernan with juniors Jackson Bisson and Jack Wandmacher on the wings.
Schueller said the line of Lyke, between junior Jackson Borst and freshman Tyler Smith, typically is the team’s top defensive line.
Then there is the line that the team refers to as the “Key Line,” a play on how the sound of their last names end.
Freshman Jordan Larkee centers freshman Carter Krenke and junior Cam Boche.
Members of the St. John’s University hockey team celebrate after winning the MIAC regular season title on Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026, at the Moorhead Sports Center.
Contributed / St. John’s University Athletic Communications
Yhe Johnnies also won the MIAC regular season title, but Schueller knows there’s a big challenge coming Saturday. Aurora took fourth in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association during the regular season.
Hassan Akl
The Spartans have four players with 30 or more points and nine players with 20 or more.
Aurora’s top scorers are senior forward Hassan Akl (13-25-38), junior forward Jakson Kirk (21-13-34), freshman forward Jaden Davis (12-19-31) and senior forward Lukas Sedlacek (17-13-30).
Jakson Kirk
Junior Matt O’Donnell is 20-3-1 with a 2.12 GAA, .926 save percentage and five shutouts.
Aurora averages 4.7 goals, giving up 2.3 goals, has a power play at 27.7% and a penalty kill at 88.4%.
Matt O’Donnell
“They’ve had a great year,” Schueller said. “They’ve beaten some very highly ranked teams. They play in a tough league with St. Norbert, Adrian … perennial good teams.”
A common opponent is Trine University. Aurora split a series at Trine with a 4-2 loss on Jan. 30 and a 2-0 win on Jan. 31. St. John’s swept Trine (3-2 and 4-2) on Jan. 2-3 at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.
“They’re a team we can have success against,” Schueller said of Aurora. “We’ve got to play a really sound, smart, disciplined game. If we do that, we can have success against them. The rest of the way, for us to win games in the tournament, it’s going to take a good game from us.”
St. John’s is averaging 3.8 goals, 2.6 goals against, has a power play at 22.1% and a penalty kill at 74.2%.
“Our penalty kill is not our strength,” Schueller said. “We definitely need to stay out of the box against Aurora. They have a very good power play. Some of these teams are very skilled. Where you can get them sometimes is if they’re not disciplined or they’re not structured and try to do too much. You’ve got to stay out of the box.”
Parker Gnos
While it has been a good season for the Johnnies, what makes it even more impressive is that the team has been playing without junior defenseman Parker Gnos, one of the captains, since Jan. 22. He suffered a broken femur at St. Mary’s after 57 career games.
St. John’s University coach Doug Schueller receives a water cooler shower from his players after a win during the 2025-26 season.
Contributed / Jordan Modjeski
The MIAC handed out its annual awards on Wednesday, March 11. The Johnnies had eight players recognized and Schueller was named Coach of the Year for a third time. He’s 217-182-53 in 18 seasons at SJU and has led the team to two MIAC playoff titles and 10 MIAC regular-season titles.
The Johnnies named to the All-MIAC team include Howe, defenseman Mason Campbell (Sr., Rosemount), Kernan (Maple Grove), Krenke (Bloomington) and Wandmacher (St. Louis Park).
Borst and Lyke were honorable-mention picks.
Howe, Kernan and defenseman Conner Couet (St. Michael) were named to the MIAC All-Playoff team.
St. John’s players statistics
PlayerGPGAP+/-PMJack Wandmacher2771825+1019Jackson Borst2771724+1619Logan Lyke26121123+1127Chris Kernan 25101020+74Jackson Bisson2791120+712Carter Krenke2611718+176Jordan Newpower267815+1112Mason Campbell2651015+64Jordan Larkee2631215+128Cam Boche275813+136Conner Couet2331013+116Cashen Naeve245611+1540Jacob McPartland26549-26Michael Spinner20347+1417Zach Enebak24167+1011Tyler Smith15336+46Seth Terhell21336+314George Moore III22156+1210Sam Berry22145+1116Rob Christy21134+10Parker Gnos16033+54Kasen Sauer6011-12Cadyn Campbell4000E6Jake Hodd-Chlebeck4000-12Teddy Manlove2000E6
Goaltenders
PlayerGPW-L-TGAASave%SOJon Howe2516-5-42.40.9320Kyle Abrahamson11-0-00.001.0001Tom Kuriscak10-1-04.07.8820