Game Summary

WINONA, Minn. — Two wins, one loss.

Two wins, one loss.

Two wins … .

And so went the first eight games of the season for the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team.

After each of their first two, two-game winning streaks, the Cardinals were saddled with a loss. It was a pattern the Cardinals were bound and determined to break out of Tuesday evening in their nonconference game against UW-Stout.

And break out they did.

Led by Lenny Hofmann (Sartell, Minn.) and B.J. Gaustad (Portland, Ore.), the Cardinals got scoring from six different players en route to a 6-2 win over the Blue Devils — and their first three-game winning streak of the season.

"I thought we played very well — especially offensively," said SMU coach Don Olson, whose team improved to 7-2-0 with the win. "We created some great scoring opportunities and put together some really nice passing combinations on a number of our goals."

Despite the lopsided final score, the Cardinals were fighting for their lives through the first two periods, clinging to a 2-1 advantage heading into the game's final 20 minutes.

In that 20 minutes, however, the Cardinals erupted for four goals — giving SMU 24 third-period goals in its first eight games — to put the game out of reach.

After Mark Zoller (Rochester, Minn.) and Gaustad had given SMU their one-goal lead through two periods, Marcus Reszka (Winona, Minn.) got the ball rolling in the third, scoring his first collegiate goal just 16 seconds into the period. Just over a minute later, Hofmann made it 4-1, and the onslaught continued as Justin Brigl (Apple Valley, Minn.) and Chris Wickersham (Spring Lake Park, Minn.) also scored for SMU before the period was 11 minutes old.

"We had a lot of good scoring chances in the first two periods, but just couldn't capitalize on them," explained Olson. "We didn't do anything different in the third period, the shots just went in."

Ryne Ess (Eden Prairie, Minn.) picked up the win in goal for SMU, turning aside 25 of the 27 shots he faced. Three UW-Stout goalies combined to make 38 saves.

"This was a nice win for us," Olson said. "We got a number of people involved offensively, and I thought we did a pretty solid job on the defensive end."