Game Summary

WINONA, Minn. — After Friday night's emotional overtime win over UW-Superior, it would not have surprised anyone if the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team came out a bit flat when the Cardinals played host to St. Scholastica on Saturday.

In fact, to almost everyone, it would have almost been expected.

Everyone but the Cardinals themselves.

Fueled by a pair of goals from Jason Fillipp (Fox River Grove, Ill.), the Cardinals cruised past the Saints, 4-2 at the SMU Ice Arena.

"I was a little worried about how we would respond after last night's game," admitted SMU coach Don Olson, whose team got a goal from Chad Damerow (Albert Lea, Minn.) with less than a minute remaining in overtime to beat the high-powered Yellow Jackets 3-2 on Friday. "And the way we responded pleased me more than anything else tonight. To play such an emotionally draining game like that, and then come back and play the way we did (tonight), that's outstanding."

Saturday's win certainly wasn't as pretty as Friday's, but that certainly didn't matter to Olson and the Cardinals — after all, a win is a win.

"It wasn't pretty, but sometimes you just have to win ugly," said Olson, whose team improved to 3-2-1 overall. "(St. Scholastica) came in with a little bit of an advantage because they didn't have to play last night. But our guys hung in there and ground it out."

St. Scholastica actually got on the board first as Jamie Coffey scored an unassisted goal two minutes into the opening period. SMU got the equalizer five minutes later as Graham Murphy (Webster Groves, Mo.) scored his first collegiate goal and the two teams went into the locker room after 20 minutes tied at 1-1.

"We were a little sluggish early, but overall, I thought it was a pretty good first period," said Olson, whose team outshot the Saints 12-6 in the first period. "Once we got rolling a bit, things went pretty well."

The Cardinals sandwiched a pair of FIllipp goals around one by St. Scholastica's Curtis Markewich in the second period, then got an insurance goal from Mark Zoller (Rochester, Minn.) five minutes into the third.

"Overall it was a great weekend for us," said Olson, whose team returns to action Tuesday night, playing host to UW-Eau Claire. "We sustained a very high level for two straight nights, which was great to see."