The Teams
Saint Mary's Cardinals (5-2-1)
vs.
Marian Sabres (3-6-3)
The Vitals
Saturday, Dec. 2 • SMU Ice Arena • 7:05 p.m.
Last Action
Denny O'Connor (Roseville, Minn.) scored once in all three periods for his third collegiate hat trick as the Cardinals beat Marian 5-2 Friday evening.
Conference Standings
Through Friday, December 1
This and That
The win over Marian was the Cardinals third straight. … Ryan Stinson (Winona, Minn.) scored his team-leading sixth goal vs. the Sabres. … Matt Hangge (Rochester, Minn.) chipped in a goal and an assist, while Lenny Hofmann (Sartell, Minn.) added two assists in the win over Marian. … Eric Richardson (Skokie, Ill.) picked up his fourth win in six starts, stopping 27 shots. … SMU has outscored its opponents in every period, including an 11-6 edge in the first period and a 13-7 advantage in the third.
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CARDINAL PROFILENate Agard
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eyeing 2-game sweep of Marian
WINONA, Minn. — Denny O’Connor (Roseville, Minn.) has made a name for himself as a set-up man.
In his first three seasons with the Saint Mary’s University men’s hockey team, O’Connor assisted on nearly three times as many goals as he has scored.
In fact, during the 1999-2000 season, O’Connor led the team in assists with 19 — while scoring just three times.
In other words, O’Connor’s philosophy seemed pretty simple and straight-forward — it’s much more fun to give than to receive.
Until Friday night that is.
Stepping a bit out of character, O’Connor scored three goals — yes, scored — as the Cardinals notched their third straight win, beating Marian 5-2 in a nonconference game at the SMU Ice Arena.
“It was great to see Denny get in on the scoring a little bit,” said SMU coach Don Olson. “The opportunities were there, he was set up with some very good passes, and he put them away.
“Obviously it’s a huge confidence-booster for him, because the last few games he’s had some good scoring chances, but wasn’t quite able finish.”
O’Connor and Ryan Stinson (Winona, Minn.) scored first-period goals for the Cardinals, who outshot Marian 18-12 in the first period en route to its 2-0 advantage.
O’Connor made it 3-0 midway through the second period, and Matt Hangge (Rochester, Minn.) pushed the SMU advantage to 4-0 with just one second remaining in the period to give SMU a commanding 4-0 advantage.
The Sabres (3-6-3 overall) threatened to get back in the game when Kirk Joudrey scored just 39 seconds into the third period, but O’Connor iced the SMU victory, completing his third collegiate hat trick with goal No. 3 at the 5:14 mark. Joudrey scored his second goal at the 16: 41 mark, but it was too little, too late as SMU pushed its overall record to 5-2-1.
“All-in-all, I thought we played pretty well,” admitted Olson. “There were some valleys — especially late in the first period and a couple of times in the second — where we let down and allowed Marian to out-work us.”
O’Connor’s trip into the limelight may not be for too long – Olson figures his senior forward will be back setting up his teammates when the two teams square off again tonight — but it certainly was a welcome sight.
“Our scoring has been extremely balanced so far this year,” explained Olson. “To be able to get so many people into the mix is such a big positive for us.”
And a big negative for any Cardinal opponent.