Game Summary

WINONA, Minn. — A year ago, the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team scored three goals in the final six minutes of their nonconference game against Lake Forest, rallying from a 5-2 deficit to salvage a 5-5 tie.

Friday evening, the Cardinals were at it again, scoring three unanswered goals — erasing a 2-0 Lake Forest deficit and giving SMU a 3-2 edge with 17 minutes remaining in regulation.

This time, however, the Cardinals couldn't make the comeback stand up, as the Foresters responded with back-to-back-to-back goals of their own to earn a 5-3 victory at the SMU Ice Arena.

"It's a disappointing loss, because we put ourselves in position to win," said SMU coach Don Olson. "I was very happy with the way we battled back like that, but then (after SMU grabbed the 3-2 lead) we turned the puck over twice in our own zone, and (Lake Forest) took advantage.

"This is a young team and we're going to make our share of mistakes, it's just unfortunate that we weren't able to make that lead hold up."

The Foresters looked like they were going to turn the Cardinals' season-opener into a rout, scoring a pair of goals six minutes apart to take a 2-0 lead after the game's opening 20 minutes.

Ryan Radke (Woodbury, Minn.) got the Cardinals on the board at 12:48 of the second period, and Jesse Polk (Hastings, Minn.) tied it 57 seconds later with a laser from the right circle that beat Lake Forest goalie Joel Cameron to the glove side.

Radke added his second of the game on the powerplay three minutes into the third period, but the Cardinals couldn't hang on as Blake O'Keefe tied it, 3-3, with his first of the season at 6:12, and David Williams netted two straight 10 minutes apart to seal the win.

"I thought we did a lot of good things out there, we just go careless a few times and it cost us," said Olson, whose team returns to action Saturday, playing host to second-ranked St. Norbert. "This was a good start — but the road's going to get a lot tougher real fast."