Game Summary

WINONA, Minn. — Rust? What rust?

The Saint Mary's University men's hockey team may have been playing their first game since Dec. 6 — but they certainly didn't show it.

Mike Bry (Manvel, N.D.) and Lenny Hofmann (Sartell, Minn.) each had a goal and two assists and Al Schumacher (Oakdale, Minn.) chipped in a goal and an assist, as SMU rang in 2004 in the exact same fashion they ended 2003, posting a 6-1 nonconference win over Milwaukee School of Engineering Friday evening at the SMU Ice Arena.

"The first three days we were back were a little ragged, but after that, I thought Wednesday and Thursday we had great practices, and that seemed to carry over to tonight," said SMU coach Don Olson, whose team outshot the Raiders 40-18 — including 27-10 over the final two periods. "We played with good speed and tempo — we did a lot of good things."

Bry kicked things off for the Cardinals, scoring his third goal of the season just 1:15 into the opening period. Schumacher made it 2-0 at the 15-minute mark as SMU took a 2-0 lead into the locker room after the game's opening 20 minutes.

MSOE cut the gap to 2-1 two minutes into the second period, but that was as close as the Raiders would get, as SMU rattled off four unanswered goals — second-period tallies by Nick Meeker (Rochester, Minn.) and Jason Fillipp (Fox River Grove, Ill.), and third-period goals from Hofmann and Graham Murphy (Webster Groves, Mo.) — en route to its second straight 6-1 victory.

"I thought other than the start of the second period, we played pretty well," said Olson. "When they scored their first goal, they had 10 shots on goal. When the game is over, they had 17 — which means we allowed just seven shots over the game's final 37 minutes.

"I was very pleased with our performance," continued Olson, whose team plays host to the Raiders again Saturday afternoon (2:05 p.m.). "It was nice to see us pick up where we left off before the break."