Game Summary

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's hockey team threw everything it had at the Augsburg net Friday evening in hopes of snapping its six-year winless streak against the Auggies.

Unfortunately for the Cardinals, everything they threw at the net, Augsburg goalie Erik Young threw right back.

Young stopped a career-high 53 shots as the Auggies handed SMU a 6-3 setback — and extended their stranglehold over the Cardinals to 12 straight games (12-0-1).

"I don't know what it is, but every time we play Augsburg, they're goalies play out of their minds," said SMU coach Don Olson. "To put 56 shots on goal and only come away with three goals, that's tough to swallow.

"What more can I say?" Olson continued. "We created more than enough scoring opportunities, we just couldn't put the puck in the net."

Which is nothing new for the Cardinals against Augsburg.

Two years ago, Ryan McIntosh stopped 93 of the 96 shots he faced — including 54 in the teams' second game — as Augsburg posted wins of 7-2 and 4-1.

Last year, it was Peter Smargia's turn to play the role of brick wall, as the then-junior also allowed just three goals, stopping 69 of the Cardinals' 72 shots in leading the Auggies to a 4-2, 4-1 sweep.

And Friday night, Young just picked up where the Auggies' previous two goalies left off.

SMU peppered the Augsburg net with 18 shots in each of the first two periods, then added 17 third-period shots, only to have Eric Thom's (Portland, Ore.) second-period goal and third-period tallies by Lenny Hofmann (Sartell, Minn.) and Al Schumacher (Oakdale, Minn.) to show for their efforts.

The Auggies, meanwhile, were much more efficient with their offensive opportunities, scoring twice in each period on just 25 shots.

Augsburg jumped out to a 3-0 lead on first-period goals by Brad Schwartzbauer and Brad Holzinger, and an early second-period tally by David May. Thom cut the gap to 3-1 with his fifth goal of the season midway through the second stanza, but the Auggies regained their three-goal cushion on a goal by Brady Fougner at the 16:31 mark.

SMU pulled within one before the third period was half over on goals by Hofmann and Schumacher, but back-to-back goals by Tarik Yumusaklar less than four minutes apart late in the game sealed the Cardinals' fate.