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Saturday, January 4, 2003 |
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(Through Friday, January 3) |
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The Cardinals have been off since Dec. 7, when they completed a 1-0-1 weekend vs. Concordia with a 1-1 tie. … Lake Forest, meanwhile, has also been off since Dec. 6-7, when the Foresters were swept by UW-Stevens Point, 7-1 and 3-2. |
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SMU scored eight unanswered goals, including three from Emily Kearns and two from Jaimie Mussehl, en route to an 8-2 win over Lake Forest in Game 1 of their two-game series. Nitara Frost stopped all 21 shots she faced as the Cardinals completed the sweep with a 2-0 win. |
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Emily Kearns (Hopkins, Minn.) pushed her team-leading point total to six with a pair of goals vs. the Cobbers. … Kearns has now scored six of the Cardinals’ last eight goals. … Alissa Schultz’s (LeSueur, Minn.) game-tying goal vs. Concordia was her first of the year. … Jaimie Mussehl (South St. Paul, Minn.) also scored her first goal of the year in against the Cobbers. … The Cardinals have been outscored 13-2 in the first period — and have not scored in a game’s opening 20 minutes since Nov. 16 vs. Hamline. |
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Junior / Defense Hometown Major |
WINONA, Minn. — With the Saint Mary's University women's hockey team stuck in the middle of an early-season funk — including back-to-back losses to Augsburg that put the Cardinals in a 2-5-1 hole — coach Duncan Ryhorchuk reverted to an old coaching standby as his team completed preparation for its last action — Dec. 6-7 vs. Concordia.
Go out and have fun playing hockey.
And have fun the Cardinals did.
The Cardinals rode the stick of junior Emily Kearns (Hopkins, Minn.), who scored two of SMU's three goals, as the Cardinals opened the conference series with a 3-2 win.
The fun continued the following night, as Alissa Schultz (LeSueur, Minn.) netted her first goal of the season early in the second period as the Cardinals rallied for a 1-1 tie.
“It was a good way for us to go into the Christmas break,” said Ryhorchuk, whose team returns from its three-week hiatus tonight against Lake Forest in the first of two nonconference games. “We talked all week about how we needed to get back to enjoying playing out there — we needed to have fun again.
“Yes, you want to be successful and you want to win games, but you always play your best hockey when you are just going out there and having fun.
“(The series against Concordia) was fun.”
Albeit a bit nerve-wracking.
“These players have proven over and over that they are going to battle right to the finish,” said Ryhorchuk, whose team fell behind 2-0 early in the second period of the opener vs. the Cobbers, but got two goals from Kearns and another from Jaimie Mussehl (South St. Paul, Minn.) in the final two periods to seal the win. “We got three out of four points on the weekend, and it put us right back in the hunt for the (conference) playoffs.
“Sure, it would have been nice to get four out of four (points), but three out of four is nice,” Ryhorchuk continued. “We skated better, we moved the puck very well, we passed well … we just did the things that come naturally — and the more you relax and just play, the more success you are going to have.”
Ryhorchuk is hoping his Cardinals haven’t forgotten just how much fun the Cobbers series was as they return to the ice tonight against the Foresters.
“I think the break was good — it gave everyone a chance to get away and refocus,” Ryhorchuk said. “We’ve had a good week of practice and I’m sure we’ll be ready to go.”