WINONA, Minn. — Just when it looked like the Saint Mary’s University men’s hockey team might finally have gotten back on track, the Cardinals were derailed again.

Only this time, it wasn’t an MIAC or nonconference opponent, but rather a four-week break.

The Cardinals have not played since Dec. 6 — way back in 2003 — when they rode the goaltending exploits of Curtis Nosal (Omaha, Neb.) to a key, 6-1 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory.

That win not only evened SMU’s conference mark at 1-1, but it also snapped their first two-game losing streak — and, more importantly, equalled their highest offensive output of the season.

Instead of being able to ride that wave of momentum, however, SMU had to shut things down for final exams and the Christmas holiday.

“(The St. Olaf game) was important for us, not in that we had to win, but as a team, we needed to play hard for 60 minutes and we did that,” said SMU coach Don Olson, who got scoring from six different players, and a 25-save effort from Nosal en route to the lopsided win over the Oles. “It was also important that all 19 guys that played worked hard and gave a complete effort, and we did that.”

The Cardinals also showed just how dangerous a team they can be when everyone is on the same page."

Starting with the goaltender. certainly did his share in giving the Cardinals conference win No. 1 vs. the Oles. Not only did he stop the first 25 shots he faced — but he also stymied the Oles on three breakaway attempts in the game's opening two periods.

"Curtis played extremely well,' praised Olson "He made some big saves for us when we needed them most. You never want to give up breakaways like that, but if you have to, it's good to have Curtis in there — he's our best goalie on breakaways."

Which was good news for SMU, but bad news for the Oles' Dan Norsten and Wally Cisewski.

Norsten was thwarted by Nosal twice — the first on a sprawling glove save late in the first period with SMU nursing a 1-0 lead, and the second on a pad save midway through the second period. Cisewski was equally as unlucky, as Nosal stoned his second-period breakaway attempt as well.

And while Nosal was doing his part at one end, the Cardinals' offense was doing theirs on the other.

Devin Bloom (Hartford, S.D.) opened the scoring 40 seconds into the first period and the Cardinals never looked back. Lenny Hofmann (Sartell, Minn.) and Eric Thom (Portland, Ore.) added second-period tallies, and Nick Meeker (Rochester, Minn.), Jason Fillipp (Fox River Grove, Ill.) and Chad Damerow (Albert Lea, Minn.) gave the Cardinals a commanding 6-0 advantage with five minutes remaining in the third period.

St. Olaf's John Egge spoiled Nosal's bid for his first career shutout, scoring a powerplay goal with 3:11 left in regulation.

“That was as close to a complete team effort as we’ve had all season," said Olson, whose team moved to 4-4-1 overall with Saturday's win. “Everyone played well — from the goaltender on up.”

Now, with less than a week of practice under their belts, Olson is hoping his Cardinals don’t show too many signs of rust when they return to action tonight against Milwaukee School of Engineering.

“In some ways, (the break) was a good thing, and in other ways, it wasn’t,” said Olson. “We had been going hard for a number of weeks —and we had a few key injuries — so in that respect, the time off gave us a chance to get everyone rested and healthy.

“On the other hand, we had also been playing pretty well, so it would have been nice to keep that going,” Olson continued. “I don’t think the layoff will affect us too much — we’ll just have to wait and see.”