Game Summary

WINONA, Minn. — They have been the backbone of the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team for the past four years.

Saturday night, the 12 graduating seniors were introduced one-by-one and honored for all their efforts during a special pregame ceremony.

For Al Schumacher (Oakdale, Minn.), Ryan Holland (Winona, Minn.) and Jason Fillipp (Fox River Grove, Ill.), hearing their names introduced during that ceremony wasn't quite enough — they needed to hear their names again.

And, much to the delight of the more than 900 people in attendance, they did as the seniors each netted goals — Schumacher and Holland in the second period and Fillipp twice in the third – as SMU rallied from an early 1-0 deficit to beat Gustavus 4-1 at the SMU Ice Arena.

"It is rather fitting that our four goals were scored by seniors," said SMU coach Don Olson, whose team earned three of a possible four points in the two-game series with the Gusties. "They have worked so hard for this program over the past four years, it was nice to see them come up big on their night."

Things didn't get off on the right foot for the Cardinals, as Gustavus outshot SMU 18-3 in the game's opening 20 minutes, and took a 1-0 lead into the locker room, thanks to Tom Awaijane's goal 4:45 into the period.

"On paper, it looked like that first period was a little lopsided, but I really felt it was a fairly even period," said Olson. "We gave them a lot of shots from the outside — several right off the face-off — but they really didn't have that many good scoring opportunities."

Besides, coming from behind is nothing new to SMU, which came from one goal down on three separate occasions en route to Friday's 3-3 tie with GAC.

Schumacher quickly knotted Saturday's game at 1-1, scoring his 11th of the season just 19 seconds into the second period. Holland added a breakaway goal seven minutes later as SMU turned that one-goal deficit into a one-goal advantage heading into the final period.

Fillipp made it 3-1 at 6:13 of the third period, and then iced the victory with his 13th of the year with 33 seconds remaining.

And while SMU's seniors were lighting it up at one end, SMU goalie Ryne Ess (Eden Prairie, Minn.) was doing his part at the other, kicking out 41 of the 42 shots he faced.

"That second and third period was some of the best hockey we've played all year," said Olson, whose team moved to 6-5-1 in the MIAC and 11-8-1 overall. "Ryne kept us in there early, and then our offense got on track and was really buzzing in the second and third (periods).

"I was really pleased with our poise, especially when we got behind," Olson continued. "The guys did a nice job of not panicking, staying with our systems, and battling through it.

"This was a big weekend for us — hopefully we can keep it going."