WINONA, Minn. — It took 40 minutes for the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team to get on track, but once they did, they were unstoppable.

Well, at least Al Schumacher (Oakdale, Minn.) and B.J. Gaustad (Portland, Ore.) were.

After sleepwalking through the first two periods, SMU — make that Schumacher and Gaustad — erupted for three third-period goals en route to a 4-2 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference win over Bethel Friday evening at the SMU Ice Arena.

Gaustad scored two of SMU's three third-period goals, while Schumacher — who notched the Cardinals' first goal midway through the second period to pull SMU even at 1-1 — scored the other as the Cardinals pushed their conference record to 2-1-0.

Bethel's Kris Birch scored the lone goal of the first period, beating SMU goalie Curtis Nosal (Omaha, Neb.) from point-blank range. Schumacher pulled SMU even at the 13:39 mark of the second period, banging home a rebound off a shot from Marcus Reszka (Winona, Minn.).

Gaustad gave the Cardinals the lead for good, scoring a powerplay goal at 5:12 of the third period. Bethel's Chris Carroll, cut the lead to one, 3-2, on a wrap-around goal less than a minute later. Schumacher then gave SMU a little breathing room, netting his second of the game — and team-leading 11th of the season — at the 13:45 mark.

Nosal finished with 32 saves for the Cardinals (2-1-0 MIAC, 5-2-0 overall) in pushing his overall record to 3-0-0. Bethel goalie Matt Millar, meanwhile, tallied 34 saves.