Game Summary

MOORHEAD, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's hockey season has come down to this: One-game, winner-take-all.

The Cardinals entered their regular season-ending MIAC series with Concordia needing one win in the two-game series to secure a berth in the conference's five-team post-season tournament.

Sixty minutes later, the Cardinals still need one win.

And they've only got one more chance.

Concordia scored twice in each of the first two periods and held off a late SMU charge to hand the Cardinals a 5-3 loss.

"We came out played nervous at the start — playing out of a fear of losing, rather than playing with that drive to win," said SMU coach Don Olson. "The tough part is, we are continuing to make progress, but we still need to find a way to play a complete 60-minute hockey game — and we need to find a way to win the big games."

Antonio Castanedo and Brady Burgess netted first-period goals as Concordia jumped out to a 2-0 advantage after the opening 20 minutes of play. SMU's B.J. Gaustad (Portland, Ore.) cut the gap to 2-1 with his 11th goal of the season four minutes into the second period, but the Cobbers' Toby Schneider and Nate Ronning both found the back of the net before the period was over as Concordia grabbed a 4-1 edge heading into the final period.

Eric Thom (Portland, Ore.) and Ryan Holland (Winona, Minn.) pulled the Cardinals to within a goal, 4-3, with more than nine minutes remaining in the final period, but again the Cobbers found some breathing room as Ronning netted his second of the game at the 14:08 mark to ice the win.

"I thought we played an outstanding third period," said Olson, whose Cardinals outshot the Cobbers 15-6 over the game's final 20 minutes. "We come out and get two goals to cut the lead to 4-3, but we couldn't get over that final hump.

"It's the same old story — the guys are working hard and playing well, they're just not getting the end results they deserve for their efforts."