Game Summary

ST. CLOUD, Minn. — They were unbeaten and ranked No. 4 in the latest national poll — St. John's was the cream of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference crop.

The Saint Mary's University men's hockey team, however, wasn't intimidated.

They weren't very lucky, either.

SMU battled the Johnnies from start to finish, only to have SJU's Darryl Smoleroff score the game-winner with 49 seconds left in overtime to lift St. John's to a 3-2 win over the Cardinals Saturday afternoon.

The Johnnies — who pushed their season-long unbeaten streak to 16 games (15-0-1) and improved to 7-0-0 in the MIAC — got on the board first on Ryan Langenbrunner's seven goal of the season five minutes into the first period.

Mike Bry (Manvel, N.D.) knotted the game at 1-1 with the only goal of the second period, but the Johnnies once again jumped back on top as Bille Luger beat SMU goalie Ryne Ess (Eden Prairie, Minn.) eight minutes into the third period. David Gross (Grasston, Minn.) gave SMU new life, tallying his sixth of the season with 1:19 left in regulation.

Ess finished with 24 saves in the loss for SMU (2-4-1 MIAC, 6-9-1 overall), while Adam Hanna stooped 18 of the 20 shots he faced for the Johnnies.