Game Summary

WINONA, Minn. — Oh, so close.

The Saint Mary's University men's hockey team came within nine seconds of pulling off a huge season-opening upset Friday evening. Instead, the Cardinals were forced to settle with a 3-3 tie in their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game with Concordia-Moorhead at the SMU Ice Arena.

Led by two goals from Colin Emans (Hutchinson, Minn.) and some stellar goaltender from Eric Richardson (Skokie, Ill.), the Cardinals grabbed a 3-1 advantage on the Cobbers — last year's MIAC playoff champions — only to have Concordia rebound with two goals in the game's final two minutes, including Antonio Castaneda's game-tying tallying with nine seconds remaining.

"We played an outstanding game," said SMU coach Don Olson. "It's unfortunate that we weren't able to come away with the win — we certainly felt like we deserved a win — but it was still a great effort."

Emans scored SMU's first two goals, while Todd Hangge (Rochester, Minn.) added the third. Richardson, meanwhile, finished with 34 saves.

The same two teams square off against Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.