Game Summary

ARDEN HILLS, Minn. — If Saint Mary's University men's hockey coach Don Olson could have one wish, it would be to allow his Cardinals to have a "do over" of the first period of Saturday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against Bethel.

The Royals erupted for four goals in the game's first 20 minutes, then held on for dear life in posting a 5-3 win over the Cardinals and complete a sweep of their two-game MIAC series.

Bethel converted on four of their 11 shots as Kris Birch sandwiched two goals around goals by Dan Bonne and Neal Carlson all beat SMU starting goalie Ryne Ess (Eden Prairie, Minn.) and give the Royals a 4-0 lead heading into the locker room after one period.

Olson made a change in goal, replacing Ess with Nick Berra (St. Louis, Mo.), and the move ignited the Cardinals, as they scored three unanswered goals — the first by Adam Fingerhut (Oak Brook, Ill.) just 51 seconds into the period, and the others by Tim McNamara (Hastings, Minn.) and Graham Murphy (St. Louis, Mo.) 30 seconds apart late in the period — to pull within one, 4-3, heading into the game's final 20 minutes.

Jeff Balvin iced the win for the Royals (2-0-0 MIAC, 6-2-0 overall), beating Berra with less than two minutes left in regulation.