Game Summary

NORTHFIELD, Minn. — They call it "a man advantage" for a reason.

With five skaters to your opponent's four, it would seem obvious that the team with more skaters on the ice would have a better opportunity to score.

At least that's the way it should go.

Unfortunately for the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team, there wasn't anything special about the Cardinals' special teams, as they not only gave up three power-play goals, but they also surrendered two short-handed goals in dropping a 5-4 decision to St. Olaf Friday evening.

"Special teams really hurt us," said SMU coach Don Olson. "Overall, I thought we played all right here and there, but we weren't as consistent as we needed to be — especially on the powerplay and penalty kill."

The two teams battled to a 1-1 tie after the game's opening 20 minutes, with Colin Emans (Hutchinson, Minn.) netting the Cardinals' goal with just over a minute to play. The Oles grabbed the upper hand with a pair of second-period goals, but the Cardinals battled back — pulling within a goal three times over the final 20 minutes.

Chris Wickersham (St. Louis Park, Minn.) got the Cardinals to within one goal at 3-2, but the Oles sandwiched a pair of Nathan Espiritu powerplay goals around an Al Schumacher (Oakdale, Minn.) tally to make it 5-3. Jason Fillipp (Fox River Grove, Ill.) cut the gap to 5-4 with just over four minutes remaining, but SMU could not get the equalizer.

"We had our chances," Olson said. "But we could quite get over the hump. It's tough to lose a game like this — giving up two shorthanded goals really hurts. Those (powerplays) are a time when we should be at the advantage — instead, we let St. Olaf take control."

Fortunately for Olson, the Cardinals get another shot at the Oles Saturday night — and the SMU head coach expect to see a different SMU team take the ice in the rematch.

"St. Olaf is a very good team, they work hard and they battle you all the time," Olson said. "But we also know that we can play better than we did (Friday night). We've got to come out and raise our level of play up to where it should be. If we do that, we'll be all right."