SAINT MARY'S VS. BETHEL / FRIDAY, FEB. 24, 2006 / SMU ICE ARENA / 7:05 P.M.

Saint Mary's Cardinals
7-8-0 MIAC, 8-14-1 Overall
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Bethel Royals
8-5-2 MIAC, 10-12-2 Overall
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Cardinal In The Spotlight

The Cardinal Team

From Coach Olson: "This team has overcome a lot to get where they are tonight. We struggled early on in the season, and it would have been easy for them to throw in the towel, to give up on themselves and the team. Instead, they hung in there and worked hard and put together a nice run in February that put them in the position they were in this weekend. This team showed its true character this season — and I could not be prouder of them.”



Game Notes
The Royals erupted for 10 goals in their two-game series vs. SMU a year ago, posting wins of 5-1 and 5-3. … Bethel scored twice in both the first and third period, and held a commanding 41-29 advantage in shots in goal in eliminating the Cardinals’ from MIAC playoff contention with a 5-3 victory Friday evening in Fridley, Minn. 

Cardinal Notes

Adam Gill
Team-best
13th goal
in loss Friday
The Cardinals’ loss to Bethel on Friday snapped their season-high six-game winning streak. … SMU’s MIAC sweeps of Concordia, Hamline and St. Olaf had marked the first time the Cardinals had won back-to-back-to-back MIAC series since sweeping Bethel, Saint John’s and Hamline during the 1989-90 season. … The Cardinals’ six-game winning streak was also their longest longest since stringing six together early in the 1994-95 season. … Adam Gill (Rochester, Minn.) scored his team-leading 13th goal of the season vs. the Royals Friday night. Andy Roberts (Rochester, Minn.) and Jesse Polk (Hastings, Minn.) also scored vs. Bethel. … After going the season’s first 16 games without a goal, Polk has now scored five in the Cardinals’ last seven games. … Curtis Nosal (Omaha, Neb.) stopped 36 of the 40 shots he faced vs. the Royals. The SMU netminder boasts a 3.04 goals-against-average and a .016 save percentage. … The Cardinals, who snapped an eight-game home losing streak with last Saturday’s 3-2 win over St. Olaf, will be looking for their third home win of the season vs. the Royals tonight.

Royal Notes
Friday’s win was the second straight for the Royals. … Since snapping a season-high five-game losing streak with a 7-3 win over Augsburg on Jan. 20, the Royals have gone 8-1-2 in their last 11 games. … Bethel’s 12-goal outburst vs. Hamline last Saturday was a season high. … Kent Bostrom scored his team-leading 17th goal of the season vs. the Cardinals Friday, while Nick Miller, Dan Boone, Jeff Balvin and Jon Kramer accounted for Bethel’s other goals. … Dustin Thompson stopped 26 of SMU’s 29 shots, lowering his goals-against-average to 2.94, while pushing his save percentage to .902. … Bethel has six players with 20 or more points, led by Bostrom’s 32 and Boone’s 29. … The Royals also have 11 players who have at least 10 points. … The Royals, who scored the game’s first two goals Friday, improved to 11-0-1 when scoring first.