The Teams
Saint Mary's Cardinals (2-1-1, 7-5-1)
vs.
St. Olaf Oles (2-4-0, 3-9-0)
The Vitals
Friday, Jan. 12 • SMU Ice Arena • 7:05 p.m.
Last Action
The Cardinals are coming off a weekend split with UW-Eau Claire and UW-Stevens Point. SMU rallied from a 6-2 second-period deficit to beat Eau Claire, 7-6, then blew a 3-1 lead in falling to Stevens Point 6-4. … St. Olaf, meanwhile, lost to both UW-River Falls (6-2) and UW-Stout (3-2) last weekend..
Last Meeting
The Cardinals split their two-game series with the Oles a year ago, winning 5-4 in overtime, then dropping a 5-1 decision in Game 2
Conference Standings
Through Thursday, Jan. 11, 2001
This and That
Ryan Stinson (Winona, Minn.) pushed his team-leading goal total to 13 with 5 goals — including a hat trick vs. Stevens Point — last weekend, earning the junior forward MIAC Player of the Week honors. … Lenny Hofmann (Sartell, Minn.) and Matt Hangge (Rochester, Minn.) both scored two goals for SMU last weekend. … Sam Phillips (Red Wing, Minn.) had 5 assists in the Cardinals’ two games. … SMU scored 7 powerplay goals last weekend.
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CARDINAL PROFILETodd Hangge
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conventional win against Oles
WINONA, Minn. — Yogi Berra made a name for himself as much with his, “It’s not over ’til it’s over,” remark as he did as the catcher for the New York Yankees.
And, while Berra has been the brunt of numerous jokes over his infamous words of wisdom, he really did have a valid point.
Just ask the Saint Mary’s University men’s hockey team.
In the span of less than 24 hours, the Cardinals experienced both the high, and the low, of a game that’s not over ’til it’s over.
On Friday evening, the Cardinals rallied from a four-goal deficit to beat UW-Eau Claire 7-6, then turned around and couldn’t hang on to a 3-1 lead in dropping a 6-4 decision to UW-Stevens Point on Saturday.
“It was a pretty up-and-down weekend,” admitted SMU coach Don Olson. “There were times when we played very, very well, and there were other times when we didn’t play so well.”
The Cardinals spotted UW-Eau Claire leads of 2-0 and 3-2 in the first period, then gave up three straight goals in a span of 11 minutes to start the second to dig themselves a seemingly insurmountable four-goal, 6-2 hole.
Unfazed by the four-goal deficit, however, the Cardinals began digging out with back-to-back goals by Colin Emans (Hutchinson, Minn.) and Matt Hangge (Rochester, Minn.) in the final four minutes of the second period — with Hangge’s coming just one second before the period expired (remember what Yogi said, it’s not over … .)
Todd Hangge (Rochester, Minn.) scored three minutes into the third period and brother Matt added his second with 2:13 remaining in regulation to knot the game at 6-6. Lenny Hofmann (Sartell, Minn.) then completed the improbable comeback at the 18:16 mark.
“We never gave up,” Olson said. “Even when we were down 6-2, guys were staying upbeat and positive and they just kept working hard. They kept battling and cashed in on the scoring opportunities they had.
“Anytime you can come back from a 6-2 deficit, it’s a great win.”
Unfortunately, the Cardinals got a first-hand look at what UW-Eau Claire must have felt like in Saturday’s game against UW-Stevens Point.
Ryan Stinson (Winona, Minn.) scored twice and Hoffman added another as the Cardinals raced to a 3-1 lead early in the second period. But UW-Stevens Point rattled off three unanswered goals, the third three minutes into the final period, to take a 4-3 advantage. Stinson completed his hat trick — giving him five goals for the weekend — midway through the third period to pull SMU even at 4-4, but the Pointers scored twice in the final 1:21 to seal the win.
“Obviously we need to get more consistent,” understated Olson. “I thought we did a lot of good things in both games. But for as many things as we did well, we also had a lot of lapses, both mentally and physically.
“That was a big weekend for us,” continued Olson. “We needed to get that competitive atmosphere back — in the locker room, on the bench and on the ice — and I think we did that.”
And just in time. With their nonconference schedule behind them, the Cardinals now close out their season with six straight MIAC series — beginning tonight against St. Olaf.
“Playing against teams from the NCHA (the MIAC’s rival conference) is a great experience, and hopefully it has helped to prepare us for what lies ahead,” Olson said. “But what’s happened in the past means nothing now. If we are going to make a run (at winning the MIAC title) we have to make sure we’re ready to play every minute of every game.”