BLAINE, Minn. - The Bethel University men's hockey team returned to regular season action for the first time in a month and their 2018 debut was ruined by the College of St. Scholastica in a 5-1 defeat. The Royals came out firing scoring the games first goal but CSS scored five unanswered goals to pull away from Bethel. 

Justin Bonanno and Dallas Marvin teamed up to put Bethel on top just under five minutes into the game. Bonanna finished off a Marvin setup on a two-on-one break away for the Royals. Bethel fired off five shots to just two for the Saints in the early going before the Royals momentum was slowed by a strange faceoff violation penalty and a subsequent score on the power play by the Saints to make it 1-1. From there it was all St. Scholastica as they scored once more in the first period, once in the second and twice in the third while keeping Bethel off the scoreboard. CSS outshot BU by a 34-22 margin. 

The Royals will faceoff this weekend with a pair of opponents from Wisconsin as they host both UW-Superior and UW-River Falls and Friday and Saturday nights at 7 p.m. in the final non-conference games of the season.