Game Summary

ARDEN HILLS, Minn. — For the first time in their last four games, the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team failed to score six goals Friday evening in their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against Bethel.

But then, when you've got a red-hot goaltender like Ryne Ess (Eden Prairie, Minn.) between the pipes, who needs six goals?

For the third straight game, Ess was near-perfect, allowing just a third-period goal to Bethel's Chris Carroll, as SMU cruised to a 4-1 win over the Royals, and extended their winning streak to four straight.

"It really wasn't one of our better performances, it was kind of a ragged game all the way around," said SMU coach Don Olson, whose team moved to 2-1-0 in the MIAC and 7-4-1 overall. "Ryne played very well again. He controlled the puck, he didn't make any careless mistakes. He was solid — and when you get goaltending like that, you are going to be in position to win a lot of games."

With Ess doing his part, stopping 37 of the 38 shots he faced, all the offense the Cardinals would need was Al Schumacher's (Oakdale, Minn.) first-period goal and Ryan Spencer's (Winona, Minn.) second-period tally. Chad Damerow (Albert Lea, Minn.) netted SMU's second second-period goal and Lenny Hofmann (Sartell, Minn.) added his team-leading ninth in the third period for good measure.

"I wouldn't say this was one of our better overall performances, but in this league, a win is a win," Olson said. "It was nice to get that first road win (SMU was 0-3-1 away from the SMU Ice Arena heading into Friday's game), and it was nice to spread the scoring out like we did.

"Hopefully we can come back tomorrow (in the 7:05 p.m. rematch with the Royals on the Cardinals' home ice) and pick up our game a bit and come away with another win."