Game Summary
WINONA, Minn. — After watching his team's sluggish performance in a 5-2 loss to UW-Stevens Point 24 hours earlier, Saint Mary's University men's hockey coach Don Olson summed up his squad's play against UW-Eau Claire on Saturday in four words: "That's more like it."
Unfortunately, a Blugold goal with 30 seconds remaining in regulation put a little damper on the Cardinals' impressive performance as SMU was forced to settle for a 3-3 tie.
"I thought that may have been our best game of the season. Overall, we played extremely well," said Olson. "Obviously it would have been a little nicer to have gotten the win, but I can't think of a game this season in which we played better than we did tonight.
"Two give up a two-goal lead in the third period was a little disheartening, but you certainly can't fault the effort, that's for sure."
After a scoreless first period, B.J. Gaustad (Portland, Ore.) put the Cardinals on the board with the first of their two power-play goals six minutes into the second period. Erik Strand knotted the game at 1-1 midway through the period, banging a rebound past SMJ goalie Dave Rogalski (St. Louis Park, Minn.).
The Cardinals came out flying in the third period, getting goals from Ryan Stinson (Winona, Minn.) and Al Schumacher (Oakdale, Minn.) before the period was five minutes old to take a commanding 3-1 advantage.
Down, but far from out, UW-Eau Claire began chipping away as Jeff Pradal pulled the Blugolds within one, 2-1, on a shot that beat Rogalski low on the stick side with six minutes remaining. UW-Eau Claire pulled its goalie for the game's final minute, and it paid off as Jamie Minor picked up a loose puck in front of the SMU goal and beat Rogalski with 30 seconds remaining in regulation.
Scott Sutton, who finished with 36 saves for the Blugolds (8-6-2 overall) saved his best save for last as he robbed SMU's Lenny Hofmann (Sartell, Minn.) from point-blank range midway through the five-minute overtime period.
"Our challenge tonight was to go out and compete hard for 60 minutes — something we didn't do against Stevens Point," Olson said. "I thought our guys put forth a great, great effort. Sure, there were mistakes here and there, and we need to find a way to finish around the net better, but overall, I was extremely pleased with our effort.
