The Teams
Saint Mary's Cardinals (2-6-3 MIAC, 7-10-3)
vs.
Augsburg Auggies (6-4-1 MIAC, 9-9-2)
The Vitals
Saturday, Feb. 3 • SMU Ice Arena • 7:05 p.m.
Last Action
Mike Jackson recorded his first collegiate hat trick as Augsburg handed the Cardinals their third straight loss, 7-2, Friday evening.
Conference Standings
Through Friday, Feb. 2, 2001
This and That
Jason Fillipp (Fox River Grove, Ill.) scored both of the Cardinals' goals vs. Augsburg — and both were on the power play. … Matt Hangge (Rochester, Minn.) had a pair of assists vs. the Auggies. … The Cardinals are looking for their first win since Jan. 5, when they defeated UW-Eau Claire 7-6. … Augsburg has now won three straight.
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SENIOR SALUTEDustin Noble
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to mid-season funk vs. Auggies
WINONA, Minn. — You’ll have to forgive Saint Mary’s University men’s hockey coach Don Olson if he doesn’t seem to be himself of late.
It’s just that this dark cloud that’s been hovering over his Cardinal team is beginning to become a bit annoying.
“We just can’t seem to catch a break,” said Olson following Friday’s 7-2 loss to Augsburg, the Cardinals’ third straight loss. “You can’t necessarily tell by our record, but we’ve been playing some very good hockey — we just can’t seem to get the puck to bounce our way.”
The problem is, the more the Cardinals press to get out of this late-season funk, the darker that cloud over them seems to get.
In Friday’s loss to the Auggies, the Cardinals outshot their host 41-37, while also converting two of their five power-play opportunities.
And while those may seem like silver linings, the bottom line remains the same — Augsburg 7, Saint Mary’s 2.
“It was a tough loss, because I thought we played better than the final score indicates,” admitted Olson, whose team is searching for its first win since a come-from-behind 7-6 triumph over UW-Eau Claire on Jan. 5. “We’re creating good scoring opportunities, we just can’t seem to convert as often as we need to.”
Augsburg got on the board first Friday, getting a power-play goal from Joe Johnson at the 14:41 mark of the first period. The Cardinals retaliated with a power-play tally of their own three minutes later as Jason Fillip (Fox River Grove, Ill.) scored the first of his two goals to knot the game at 1-1 heading into the locker room after one period.
“We certainly had the upper hand early,” said Olson, noting that the Cardinals outshot Augsburg 11-8 in the first period, but only had the one goal to show for their efforts. “(Augsburg) is a very good team and they’ve got an outstanding goalie in (Ryan) McIntosh. He kept them in there in the first period, and that gave them a little momentum heading into the second period.”
With McIntosh holding the Cardinal offense at bay, the Auggies’ offense turned up the heat, scoring three times before the second period was eight minutes old — twice by senior Mike Jackson, who notched his first career hat trick — as Augsburg jumped out to a 4-1 advantage.
Fillipp closed the gap to 4-2 with his second of the game, but less than a minute later, the Auggies’ Jeff Arndt squelched any hopes the Cardinals had of a late-game comeback, netting Augsburg’s fourth goal of the period.
“That fifth goal really hurt,” admitted Olson. “We cut the lead to two, and then, boom, they come down and get a goal a minute later. That really takes the wind out of your sails.
“This team has battled hard all year,” continued Olson, whose team plays host to the Auggies tonight in the second game of their two-game conference series. “We’ve dug ourselves some pretty deep holes to try and dig out of, but we’ve never stopped trying to climb out.
“We’ll battle through this — we’re not about to throw in the towel.”
No matter how dark it may get.