WINONA, Minn. — When things are clicking and your team is playing well, the game of hockey seems to be easy and effortless.

On the other hand, when things aren't clicking and it seems like every bounce and break goes against you, hockey can be a very frustrating sport.

Just ask the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team.

Friday evening, the Cardinals outshot Augsburg 56-25 — but came out on the short end of a 6-3 decision.

Twenty-four hours later, the Cardinals put another 28 shots on the Augsburg net, only to have Peter Samargia stop 24 — and the goal post stop two others in the game's final minute — as the Auggies completed the MIAC sweep with a 3-2 victory Saturday evening at the SMU Ice Arena.

"It's frustrating," admitted SMU coach Don Olson, whose team has now dropped four straight conference games to fall to 3-5-0 in the MIAC and 9-7-1 overall. "Just like Friday night, we created some great scoring opportunities — especially late in the third period — but we just couldn't put the puck in the net.

"We have two shots (in the final minute) go off the post, and another hits the shaft of (Samargia's) stick. When you are playing well, those kind of things don't seem to happen — those kind of shots seem to find their way into the net. But when you are struggling a bit … every bounce seems to go against you."

On Friday, SMU peppered the Augsburg net with 18 shots in each of the first two periods, then added 17 third-period shots, only to have Eric Thom's (Portland, Ore.) second-period goal and third-period tallies by Lenny Hofmann (Sartell, Minn.) and Al Schumacher (Oakdale, Minn.) to show for their efforts.

The Auggies, meanwhile, were much more efficient with their offensive opportunities, scoring twice in each period on just 25 shots.

On Saturday, the Cardinals once again found themselves down 3-0 early in the second period.

But as down as the Cardinals were, they were far from out.

Jason Fillipp (Fox River Grove, Ill.) got SMU on the board with an unassisted goal at the 13:26 mark of the second period, and Chad Damerow (Albert Lea, Minn.) made it 3-2 just over a minute later, taking a feed from Al Schumacher (Oakdale, Minn.) and beating Samargia.

That, however, was as close as SMU would get — despite several golden opportunities.

With Augsburg's Brad Holzinger in the penalty box, SMU pulled its goalie with 39 seconds remaining. In those final 39 seconds, Schumacher and B.J. Gaustad (Portland, Ore.) both clanged shots off the post, and Samargia got the butt end of his stick on a Fillipp shot that was labeled for the upper right-hand corner.

"Right now our confidence is a little shaky," said Olson, whose team returns to action this Saturday and Sunday, traveling to St. John's for a two-game conference series. "We just played two games in which we put 84 shots on goal and managed just five goals. It's not for lack of effort — the guys worked extremely hard in both games. We just have to find a way to continue to create the offensive opportunities we have been getting, but then to finish them off."

* THIS AND THAT: With the two losses, SMU is now 0-13-1 in its last 14 games against Augsburg, with the Cardinals' last win against the Auggies a 4-1 decision on Feb. 21, 1997. … Al Schumacher (Oakdale, Minn.) scored one of SMU's three goals in Friday's loss, giving the SMU junior a team-leading 17 goals. His 17 goals also rank him No. 2 in NCAA Division III, one behind Brian Yingling of Lebanon Valley. … Schumacher also added two assists on the weekend to push his team-leading point total to 22. … Chad Damerow (Albert Lea, Minn.) had a goal and assist vs. Augsburg and is first on the team in assists (17) and second in points (20). … SMU has eight players with at least 10 points. … SMU has now dropped four straight and is winless in its last five games (0-4-1). … SMU has been outscored 18-11 in the first period, and has scored 33 of its 70 goals in the third period. … Six of the Cardinals' nine wins have come at home. … The Cardinals are averaging one power-play goal per game and have scored five shorthanded goals — all by Schumacher.