WINONA, Minn. — There are big wins, and there are big wins.

And then there's Friday night.

UW-Superior entered Friday's nonconference men's hockey game against Saint Mary's with a gaudy 6-1-0 record — including a four-game winning streak in which the Yellow Jackets had outscored their opponents 32-6.

SMU, meanwhile, limped into the contest with a nothing-flashy 1-2-1 overall mark, including its most recent setback, a 4-2 decision to UW-River Falls.

When the dust finally settled, however, it wasn't the Cardinals who limped out of the SMU Ice Arena — it was UW-Superior.

Chad Damerow (Albert Lea, Minn.) broke in alone and beat Yellow Jacket goalie Mathieu Bonnelly with less than a minute remaining in overtime as the Cardinals knocked off UW-Superior 3-2.

"That was a great college hockey game," understated SMU coach Don Olson, whose team had not beaten UW-Superior since opening the 1985-86 season with an 8-4 win. "This win was so big for us — we needed a win against a top 10 team like that to show these guys just how good they can be."

Good? If Friday's performance is any indication, they have the potential to be great.

"This was a total team effort," Olson said. "It's pretty tough to single out any one person in a game like this — everyone did their job, and because of that, as a team we were able to come out with the victory."

One person who deserved to be singled out, however, was SMU goalie Ryne Ess (Eden Prairie, Minn.), who stopped 36 of the 38 shots he faced in posting the win.

"Ryne played outstanding — by far the best performance by an SMU goalie in the last three years," praised Olson of his junior netminder. "He was under control, focused and controlled all the rebounds.

"But he also didn't do it alone," continued Olson. "A lot of people played a huge part in (the victory). We did a lot of good things out there."

After a scoreless first period, SMU jumped out to a 1-0 lead on Nick Meeker's (Rochester, Minn.) shorthanded goal five minutes into the second period. UW-Superior responded with a powerplay goal five minutes later, and the two teams headed into the third period tied 1-1.

SMU regained the lead, 2-1, on Mike Bry's (Manvel, N.D.) second of the season at the 2:58 mark of the third period, but again Superior bounced back, as Beau Moyer sent the game into overtime.

UW-Superior appeared to have a golden opportunity to pull out the win late in the five-minute extra session, as SMU's Graham Murphy (Wester Groves, Mo.) was whistled for slashing with less than two minutes remaining.

Instead, it was Damerow to the rescue as he intercepted a Yellow Jacket pass in the neutral zone and broke in alone on Bonnelly, beating the UW-Superior goal to the glove side for the game-winner.

"I'm at a loss for words," said Olson, whose team must now put this win behind them and focus on Saturday's nonconference home game against St. Scholastica on Saturday. "To put forth that type of effort — to never get down, to never give up — it's just a testament to the type of team we have.

"Hopefully they proved something to themselves tonight."

They certainly proved something to the Yellow Jackets.