MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — Saint Mary’s University men’s hockey coach Bill Moore could only shake his head in frustration following Saturday’s Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against Augsburg.
After all, his Cardinals did everything he could ask of them, and yet it still wasn’t enough, as the Auggies scored twice in the first period, erasing an early, 1-0 SMU lead en route to a 4-2 conference win.
“What can I say? Our guys played hard, they battled from start to finish, we just couldn’t get that big goal when we needed it,” said Moore, whose team came out on the short end of a 5-4 decision in Friday’s opener of the two-game conference series at the SMU Ice Arena. “I certainly can’t fault our guys’ effort — we just have to find a way to get the puck to bounce our way for a change.”
Vincent Unklesbay (Maplewood, Minn.) gave the Cardinals the lead early in the first period, netting his fourth goal of the season less than two minutes into the first period. The lead would be short-lived, however, as Augsburg’s Chris Johnson scored two minutes later, and Nick Guran gave the Auggies the lead for good at 14:13, netting the team’s second powerplay goal of the period.
Augsburg would push its lead to 3-1 in the second period, but the Cardinals would not go quietly, as
Anthony Bohn (Spring Hill, Fla.) got the Cardinals within one with his fifth of the year at 3:36 of the third period.
That, however, would be as close as SMU would get, as Johnson sealed the win with his second of the game — an empty netter — with 40 seconds remaining in regulation.
“The disappointment in a game like this is that the guys didn’t get rewarded for their effort,’ said Moore, whose team is back in action on Friday, playing host to Saint John’s in the first of two home games against the Johnnies at the SMU Ice Arena. “That was a good, college hockey game. Unfortunately, we came out on the short end."