Game Summary

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — It was a weekend of bad timing for the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team.

On Friday, the Cardinals squared off against third-ranked St. Norbert — a team that was coming off a disappointing 7-4 loss to Augsburg the week before.

And the Green Knights took out their frustrations on the Cardinals, cruising to an 11-3 victory..

Saturday, it was Lake Forest — fresh off a 3-2 win over fourth-ranked St. Thomas — that played host to the Cardinals.

And Lake Forest picked up right where they left off against the Tommies, scoring the game's first three goals, then holding off a late Cardinal charge to hand SMU a 4-2 nonconference setback.

"It was a tough loss, but I was much happier with our effort," said SMU coach Don Olson. "(Friday night) we did not play well at all — St. Norbert picked up some early momentum, we never recovered and things just snowballed.

"Today, we played much more like we are capable of playing — it's still a tough loss to swallow, but hopefully it's also a sign that we are headed back in the right direction."

Olson admitted that, following Friday's disaster, he wasn't sure what to expect from his Cardinals — and after falling behind 3-0 early in the second period, those fears intensified.

Instead of throwing in the towel, however, the Cardinals rose to the challenge, getting back-to-back goals from Adam Fingerhut (Oak Brook, Ill.) — the first midway through the second period and the other with less than 10 minutes remaining in regulation — to cut the Lake Forest led to 3-2.

That was as close as SMU would get, however, as Lake Forest's Chris Wilson netted his second of the game three minutes later to ice the win.

"I felt like everyone stepped their games up a notch or two today," admitted Olson, whose team dropped to 0-2-1 overall and opens MIAC play Friday at home against St. Thomas. "We've still got a long ways to go, but at least I feel better about the effort that was put forth."