Game Summary

SUPERIOR, Wis. — When the final horn sounded Friday night, signaling the end of the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team's nonconference game against UW-Superior, SMU head coach Don Olson must have felt like he was in some sort of time warp — the opponents seem to keep changing, but the margin of victory never does.

SMU vs. St. Nobert — 5-4 loss. … SMU vs. UW-Stout, 4-3 win. … SMU vs. UW-River Falls, 2-1 loss.

Three straight games decided by one goal.

Make that four.

UW-Superior scored three times in the second period, then held on for dear life as SMU netted two goals in the first 10 minutes of the final period, only to come up one goal short — again — in falling to the Yellowjackets 3-2.

After a scoreless first period, thanks in part to the play of SMU goalkeeper Ryne Ess (Eden Prairie, Minn.), who stopped all 14 UWS first-period shots, the Yellowjackets finally got on the board at 1:39 of the second period on a goal by Jay Dardis. Beau Moyer had pushed the lead to 3-0 with back-to-back goals 33 seconds apart midway through the period as UWS peppered Ess with 15 second-period shots.

The Cardinals, who have failed to score the game's first goal in three of their four losses, came storming back in the final period, getting a powerplay goal from Tim McNamara (Hastings, Minn.) at 7:34 and followed that up with John Paul's (St. Paul, Minn.) second of the season less than three minutes later to cut the lead to 3-2.

That, however, was as close as the Cardinals would come as they saw their record fall to 1-4-0 overall.