WINONA, Minn. — For some reason, the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team decided to be generous to its opponents over the team's last four games.

And while generosity in general is a good thing, giving away leads on the ice isn't.

For the third time in their last four games, the Cardinals carried at least a two-goal lead into the third period, only to give the lead — and on two of the three occasions, the game — away.

Last weekend, SMU held a 3-0 advantage over Concordia, only to surrender four unanswered goals, including three in the third period, in losing 4-3.

A day later, the Cardinals scored the game's first four goals, but needed B.J. Gaustad's (Portland, Ore.) overtime goal to pull out a 5-4 win.

When the Cardinals took the ice Friday evening, there was still a glimmer of hope that the Cardinals would qualifying for the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference playoffs.

When visiting Hamline scored five goals on its first eight shots, that glimmer was quickly distinguished.

Hamline erupted for five goals in the first period and added two more in the second en route to a 7-4 victory over the host Cardinals, officially eliminating the Cardinals from post-season consideration — and giving the Pipers their first regular-season conference win over SMU since the 1985-86 season.

A day later, SMU was back to its generous self, as the Cardinals were once again 20 minutes away from certain victory, boasting a 4-2 cushion.

In those 20 minutes, however, Hamline made the most of its scoring opportunities, netting four goals on just nine shots en route to a 6-5 victory.

"It was a tough way to end the season," admitted SMU coach Don Olson, whose team put itself behind the eight ball early in Friday's first game of its series against the Pipers, giving up five goals on eight shots in losing 7-4. "This weekend was a perfect example of the way our season has been — up and down. On Friday, we come out flat and before we know it, we're down 4-0. Then (Saturday), we come out flying, get out to a 2-0 lead, then fall apart in the third period.

"I don't know what it is about us and third periods lately," continued Olson. "We work so hard to get into position to win, then we just aren't able finish what we started."

In the first game of the two-game series, SMU almost recovered from its disastrous state — almost.

After Jim Deschene, Troy Kleven, Ryan Manke and Jason Stellino gave the Pipers' their four-goal advantage SMU's offense got on track — getting back-to-back-to-back goals from Al Schumacher (Oakdale, Minn.), B.J. Gaustad (Portland, Ore.) and Jason Fillipp (Fox River Grove, Ill.) to cut the lead to 4-3 with five minutes remaining.

Unfortunately, Manke netted the second of his three goals before the period ended and added goal No. 3 five minutes into the second period as Hamline's lead once again ballooned to 6-3 and the Cardinals never recovered.

On Saturday, Eric Thom (Portland, Ore.) and Todd Hangge (Rochester, Minn.) scored three minutes apart late in the first period, giving SMU its first two-goal lead of the game.

The two teams traded goals in the second period, with Hangge and Lenny Hofmann (Sartell, Minn.) accounting for SMU's, as the Cardinals went into the lockerroom after two periods leading 4-2.

Hamline tied the game before the seven-minute mark of the third period, but Devin Bloom (Hartford, S.D.) scored his first of the season at 9:01 to give the Cardinals the lead again, 5-4. That lead, however, was short-lived, as Hamline's Mike Froroni tied the game with a powerplay goal, and Jim Deschene netted the game-winner three minutes later.

"Obviously, things didn't work out the way we would have liked this season," said Olson, whose team dropped 10 of its last 12 conference games in finishing 5-11-0 in the MIAC and 10-13-1 overall. "The frustrating part is, we were that close … so many games where a break here or there and it's a win, not a loss.

"This team worked so hard all season, it's unfortunate that they weren't rewarded a little more for those efforts."

* THIS AND THAT: After failing to score a goal in SMU's first 18 games, senior Todd Hangge (Rochester, Minn.) netted four in SMU's final four games — including two in Saturday's 6-5 loss to Hamline. … The back-to-back losses to Hamline were SMU's first vs. the Pipers since the 1985-86 season. … Al Schumacher (Oakdale, Minn.) finished as SMU's leader in goals (18) and points (25), while Chad Damerow (Albert Lea, Minn.) led the team in assists (19) and was second in points (24). … SMU gave up 30 first-period goals this season — including five to Hamline on Friday. … Eight of SMU's 11 wins came at home. … After winning eight of their first 11 games, SMU managed just three wins over its final 14 games (3-10-1).