Game Summary

WINONA, Minn. — Through their first three home games, the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team gave its fans plenty to cheer about.

In fact, those three games were some of the most exciting games a college hockey fan could be a part of — after all, all three games went right down to the wire.

Unfortunately, the only thing the Cardinals couldn't give their fans was a win.

Until Tuesday night.

SMU snapped its three-game home losing streak in a big way Tuesday, scoring 53 seconds into the opening period and never looking back in routing Northland 11-1 in a nonconference game at the SMU Ice Arena.

"This was a great win — everyone contributed, and everyone played very well," said SMU coach Don Olson, whose team improved to 3-4-0 overall with its most lopsided win of the season. "These are the kind of games that scare me. On paper, it should have been a no-brainer – Northland was struggling, and had only won once in its first seven games. But I also knew they had some very talented players and we couldn't afford to take them lightly."

They didn't.

Adam Fingerhut (Oak Brook, Ill.) got the Cardinals' offensive party started, scoring a powerplay goal less than a minute into the opening period. By the time the first period ended, SMU would add three more goals — two off the stick of Mike Bry (Manvel, N.D.) and the other by Marcus Reszka (Winona, Minn.) — to take a commanding 4-0 lead into the locker room.

"That first powerplay really set the tone for the rest of the game," said Olson, whose team converted on six of the 11 powerplays they had, while killing off all nine Northland man-advantage situations. "Our special teams were outstanding — on the powerplay we did a great job of moving the puck and creating good scoring opportunities, and on the penalty-kill, we were tough."

SMU added three more goals in the second period, then completed the rout with four more third-period goals, including Bry's third, giving him his first collegiate hat trick. Bry also had a hat trick of another sort, as he picked up three assists for a team-leading six-point night. John Paul (St. Paul, Minn.) chipped in four assists, while Cullum Buetow-Staples (Arden Hills, Minn.) scored twice and David Gross (Grasston, Minn.) added a goal and two assists.,

The Cardinals finished with 47 shots on goal, while Ryne Ess (Eden Prairie, Minn.) stopped all five shots he faced in the opening period, and Curtis Nosal (Omaha, Neb.) stopped 10 of the 11 he faced over the final two periods.

"This was a good way for us to go into the (Thanksgiving break)," said Olson. "I'm very pleased with the way this team is progressing. We're playing very well, and, hopefully, when we get back on the ice (on Sunday) we can pick up where we left off and get ready for Bethel (next Friday in the Cardinals' MIAC opener)."