Forward Alex Altenbernd’s fourth game-winning goal of the season propelled the No. 7-ranked St. Thomas men’s hockey team to a 2-1 victory over St. Olaf Saturday night at St. Thomas Ice Arena in the MIAC semifinal.

Altenbernd added an assist, and his 2-point night coupled with a strong team defensive performance shut down St. Olaf (12-10-5 overall, 9-4-3 MIAC) on offense for a majority of the game. The win is St. Thomas’ (20-4-2 overall, 13-1-2 MIAC) first in the playoffs since 2010 and gives the Tommies a berth in the MIAC championship game on March 8.

“Their goalie played really well, and it was a typical playoff game. Both teams played their hearts out and fortunately we ended up on top,” coach Jeff Boeser said.

The victory is Boeser’s first in the postseason as the head coach at St. Thomas and is also the first postseason win for most players on the team.

“For us juniors and seniors, that was our first playoff win, it’s nice to get the first one out of the way and just kind of take a breath and go back to work,” Altenbernd said. “I think we get too caught up in the different atmosphere and the hype of the playoff game.”

St. Thomas seemed to rehash its playoff struggles early in the game when St. Olaf forward Nick Marsh sprang forward Andrew Anderson on a breakaway with a stretch pass up the middle of the ice. One-on-one with goaltender Drew Fielding, Anderson fired a snapshot over Fielding’s glove for the first goal of the game.

Forward Tyler Gubb responded for St. Thomas nearly three minutes later with his first point of the game to level the scoring at one. After a series of St. Thomas chances in the St. Olaf zone, Gubb finally snuck one past St. Olaf goaltender Steve Papciak just before the first intermission.

Altenbernd capped the scoring 13:17 into the second period when he netted the game-winning goal after a scramble in front of the net. Defenseman Charlie Donlin gathered a puck at the point and fired it toward the net. After the shot glanced off Gubb in front of the net, Papciak lost track of the puck before Altenbernd gathered it and slid it into the open net for the second St. Thomas goal.

“Donlin just got a good shot on net, and I just kind of picked it up,” Altenbernd said. “I didn’t really have to do a whole lot, so that was kind of nice. I’ll take those whenever I can.”

With the lead heading into the third period, St. Thomas locked it down on defense for the rest of the game and the teams skated through a scoreless final frame.

“We didn’t give them a lot of chances. We kept them on the perimeter and maybe they had a couple good chances, but for the most part we just played really solid and were just trying to keep that 2-1 lead and not make any mistakes as far as coughing up pucks in good areas of the ice,” Boeser said. “I’ll give all the credit to St. Olaf. They played really hard, we just played really well defensively tonight.”

St. Thomas now advances to the MIAC championship where they will take on Gustavus, who defeated St. John’s Saturday night 3-2. The game will be St. Thomas’ first appearance in the MIAC championship since 2010.

“I think we got that monkey off our back and I think this year’s team just has the right mindset that winning the conference isn’t enough. We have to really bring it in the playoffs to continue our play in the postseason,” defenseman Michael Krieg said.

Though St. Thomas has been ranked in the top ten nationally for most of the season and won the MIAC regular-season title, Boeser said he isn’t sure his team has done enough to make it to the NCAA playoffs.

“I’ve been in this for 30 years, and I’ve seen crazy things happen, so we just can’t worry about it right now,” Boeser said.

St. Thomas will host Gustavus at St. Thomas Ice Arena March 8 for an automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs.

Jacob Sevening can be reached at seve8586@stthomas.edu.