Game Summary

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — So close.

The Saint Mary's University men's hockey team was less than a minute away from picking up its second Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory Friday evening against Augsburg.

In fact, MIAC win No. 2 was just 32 seconds away when Augsburg's Steve Belde picked up a loose puck in front of the SMU net and rifled a shot past Cardinal goalie Ryne Ess (Eden Prairie, Minn.) to lift the Auggies to a 4-4 tie.

"It was a great college hockey game," said SMU coach Don Olson, whose team moved to 1-3-1 in the MIAC and 5-8-1 overall. "It was a hard-fought, intense contest. Both teams had their fair share of chances — Augsburg got the last of those chances and took advantage of it."

SMU scored the game's only goal of the first period as Graham Murphy (St. Louis, Mo.) netted his third of the season.

The two teams combined for six second-period goals, with Adam Fingerhut (Oak Brook, Ill.), Adam Gill (Rochester, Minn.) and David Gross (Grasston, Minn.) accounted for the Cardinals' three tallies, as SMU took a 4-3 advantage into the final 20 minutes.

The Auggies got the lone goal of the third period as Belde's shot beat a screened Ess, who finished with 41 saves.

"It's a tough tie in that we were so close to winning in regulation," said Olson. "We had a chance to clear the puck (before Belde's game-tying goal), but we couldn't get it out of our zone. (Belde) got the puck and fired a shot on net that Ryne never even saw.

"Obviously a win would have been a just reward for the effort," Olson continued. "But we'll take the point."