Game Summary

WINONA, Minn. — Talk about a case of bad timing.

The Saint Mary's University men's hockey team could not have picked a worse time to have everything go wrong all at once than Friday night, with league-leading St. Thomas in town.

It was a game that seemed to have every bounce go against the Cardinals — three of the Tommies six goals barely trickled across the goal line, including one that caromed off the glass at the blue line and made a beeline into an open net.

Add to that the fact that the Cardinals' overall performance ranked graded out at a C- at best, and it was no surprise the Tommies skated out of the SMU Ice Arena with a 6-1 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference win.

"We did not play very well," understated SMU coach Don Olson, whose team trailed 3-1 after the first 20 minutes and 4-1 after two periods. "We came out a little sluggish and then gave up two goals late (in the first period), which really put us behind the eight ball a bit. We played a little better in the second and third periods, but we still weren't at the high level we needed to be at to compete with a team of St. Thomas' caliber."

Dax Leepart opened the scoring for UST six minutes into the first period, beating Curtis Nosal (Omaha, Neb.) with a shot from point-blank range. SMU's Chad Damerow (Albert Lea, Minn.) knotted the game at 1-1 two minutes later, but it was all downhill from there as Drew Palmgren and Brad Davis scored 35 seconds apart late in the period to give the Tommies a commanding 3-1 advantage.

"That third goal took a lot of wind out of our sails," admitted Olson of Davis' goal, which was nothing more than a dump-in that Nosal went to stop behind the net, only to have the puck hit the glass perfectly and deflect into the open net. "Anytime you give up goals at the beginning or the end of a period it hurts. But those two goals weren't the difference — we didn't play up to our ability, that was the difference."

Leepart netted his second goal of the game in the second period, and the Tommies added third-period goals by Dave DuBord and Dustin Lick en route to their league-leading fifth MIAC win of the season.

"Obviously a win in your own building against a team like St. Thomas does a great deal to boost your confidence," said Olson. "But sometimes it's how you respond to adversity — how you respond to a poor performance like we had — that defines your team.

"There's still an awful lot of hockey to be played — and as a team you choose how you are going to respond (to Friday's loss)," Olson continued. "Hopefully our choice is to go out (Saturday) and prove that this 6-1 game wasn't a true indication of the type of team we are."