WINONA, Minn. — After impressive wins over UW-Superior and St. Scholastica last weekend, Last Tuesday's nonconference game against UW-Eau Claire was supposed to be nothing more than a final tune-up before the MIAC season kicks off for the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team.

If the Cardinals' performance against the Blugolds is any indication, however, SMU's engine isn't quite running on all cylinders.

SMU struggled from the outset, giving up goals in the first minute of both the first and second periods and never recovered as UW-Eau Claire handed the Cardinals a 5-2 setback at the SMU Ice Arena.

"We certainly didn't play with near the intensity — physically or mentally — that we did over the weekend," said SMU coach Don Olson, whose team knocked off UW-Superior 3-2, then beat St. Scholastica 4-2 last weekend. "Obviously, it's hard to play three games in five days like that, but (Eau Claire) had to do it, too, so you certainly can't use that as an excuse for our performance."

Nor can you use the fact that SMU didn't generate any offense against the Blugolds — after all, SMU finished with a decisive 42-20 advantage in shots on goal.

"That stat is a little deceiving," admitted Olson. "We had a lot of shots (on goal), but we didn't have a ton of good, quality chances. And we didn't finish well — we let pucks sit in front, we didn't crash the net hard. I wouldn't say the final shots on goal really told the story of the game."

UW-Eau Claire (7-1-0 overall) got out of the gates quickly, as Bryan Chambers scored on SMU goalie Justin Simmons (Wolfeboro, N.H.) with the Blugolds' first shot on goal, 44 seconds into the first period. SMU responded less than a minute later as Russ Swanson (Mounds View, Minn.) netted his first career goal at the 1:27 mark, and Devin Bloom (Hartford, S.D.) gave the Cardinals a 2-1 first-period advantage with his first of the season with 24 seconds remaining in the period.

From there, however, the game turned into the Steffan Braunlich Show.

The Blugold goalie stopped the final 25 shots he faced — 18 in the second period and seven more in the third. UW-Eau Claire's offense, meanwhile, erupted for three second-period goals and added their final tally midway through the third to secure their third straight win.

"It's disappointing to head into the (Thanksgiving) break with a loss," said Olson, whose team will open MIAC play next weekend against St. Olaf boasting a 3-3-1 overall record. "But this was just one game. We have been playing some very good hockey — and we did some good things out there (against UW-Eau Claire) — so we just have to keep this game in perspective and get ourselves ready for St. Olaf."