The Teams
Saint Mary's Cardinals (2-3-3 MIAC, 7-7-3)
vs.
St. Thomas Tommies (5-3-2 MIAC, 8-8-3)
The Vitals
Friday, Jan. 26 • SMU Ice Arena • 7:05 p.m.
Last Action
The Cardinals are coming off their second straight 0-1-1 weekend, losing 6-5 and tying 4-4 against Bethel … St. Thomas, meanwhile, swept Hamline, winning 8-2 and 6-1.
Last Meeting
The Tommies swept the two-game series from the Cardinals a year ago, winning 7-4 and 5-3.
Conference Standings
Through Thursday, Jan. 25, 2001
This and That
SMU’s Ryan Stinson (Winona, Minn.) is second in NCAA Division III in power-play goals (9), while Matt Hangge (Rochester, Minn.) is tied for fourth in game-winning goals (3). … After going 2-for-5 on the powerplay last weekend, SMU is now ranked 5th in the nation, converting on 29 percent of its man advantages. St. Thomas’ powerplay ranks 8th. … UST has five of the MIAC’s top six scorers, led by Tony Lawrence’s 16 points. Todd Hangge leads SMU with 12 points.
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CARDINAL PROFILEMark Gryniewski
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for battle with UST in town
WINONA, Minn. — Take away the color of the opponent’s jerseys, and Saint Mary’s University men’s hockey coach Don Olson would swear his team had stepped into a time warp.
Flashback to the Cardinals’ Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference series with St. Olaf two weeks ago … .
In the opening game, the Cardinals fell behind 4-1 four minutes into the second period, pulled to within one, 4-3, midway through the period, only to give up three unanswered goals before the period ended en route to a 7-5 loss.
Fast-forward to the Cardinals’ MIAC series with Bethel last weekend … .
Last Friday, the Cardinals gave up five unanswered goals as the Royals raced to a 5-0 lead, only to have SMU cut the gap to one (sound familiar?)
Unfortunately, just 22 seconds after Al Schumacher’s (Oakdale, Minn.) second goal got the Cardinals to within 5-4, the Royals scored the eventual game-winner in what turned out to be a 6-5 Bethel victory.
Flashback to the Cardinals’ MIAC series with St. Olaf two weeks ago … .
In the second game of the two-game series, the Cardinals spotted St. Olaf a 3-0 lead, tied it with three straight second-period goals, fell behind 4-3 early in the third, then tied it up again on a power-play goal by Peter Benecke (St. Louis, Mo.) as SMU salvaged a 4-4 tie.
Fast-forward to the Cardinals’ MIAC series with Bethel last weekend … .
In Saturday’s second game, it was the Cardinals who raced to a 3-1 advantage — getting goals by Ryan Holland (Winona, Minn.), Todd Hangge (Rochester, Minn.) and Colin Emans (Hutchinson, Minn.) — midway through the second period. Unfamiliar with playing with a lead, the Cardinals gave up three straight goals as Bethel regained a 4-3 advantage with 12:39 remaining.
Down, but far from out, the Cardinals got the equalizer at the 10:31 mark as Ryan Stinson (Winona, Minn.) netted his team-leading 14th goal as SMU salvaged a 4-4 tie — again.
“After Friday’s game, our main focus (in Saturday’s second game vs. Bethel) was to make sure we didn’t dig ourselves into a deep hole again,” said Olson, whose team trailed by at least three goals in both games vs. St. Olaf and the opener against Bethel. “When you fall behind like that, you expend so much energy just trying to get back in the game. It’s too hard to win hockey games that way.”
With just two ties during their current five-game winless streak (0-3-2) — and a showdown with MIAC power St. Thomas this weekend — the Cardinals will take a win any way they can get it right now.
“(Saturday’s game against Bethel) was one we let get away from us,” admitted Olson. “We worked hard to get that 3-1 lead and created a lot of other scoring opportunities that we weren’t able to capitalize on — and that’s a little frustrating for all of us.
“This team knows that the race (for the four MIAC playoff spots) is going to go right down to the wire,” continued Olson, whose team currently has eight points and is tied for fifth with eight conference games remaining. “We need to find a way to get over the hump and get a win under our belts.”