Game Summary

WINONA, Minn. — There were plenty of silver linings for the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team in their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener against St. Thomas on Friday at the SMU Ice Arena.

After giving up 29 goals in their first four games, the Cardinals held the high-flying Tommies — last year's NCAA Division III national tournament runners-up – to just two goals.

While on the offensive end, SMU sophomore Adam Gill (Rochester, Minn.) continued to have the Midas touch around the net as he scored for the fourth time in the Cardinals' five games.

Unfortunately, the final score — a 2-1 St. Thomas victory — had a way of tarnishing things for the Cardinals.

"It's a tough loss in that we played our hearts out and came up just short," said SMU coach Don Olson, whose team saw its season-opening winless streak climb to five (0-4-1) with the loss. "But it's hard to feel too disappointed — I thought we played by far our best game of the season. We worked hard from start to finish, we battled, we competed — despite the final score, it was a great hockey game."

One in which, with a bounce or two, the Cardinals could have easily won.

"We had our chances, we just couldn't seem to get over that hump," said Olson. "Defensively I thought we were very solid — we got very good goaltending, we didn't give up too many great scoring chances, and we did a nice job of clearing out in front of the net.

"I thought near the end (of the third period), we really started to take it to them — we just ran out of time."

St. Thomas netted the first two goals of the game – the first a powerplay tally by Nick Harris less than two minutes into the second period and the second, also on the powerplay, midway through the third period.

The Cardinals cut the lead to 2-1 with one minute to go in regulation as Gill picked up a loose puck in front of the Tommie net and beat UST goalie Jeremy Earl. SMU pulled their goalie in the game's final minute, but could not get another one by Earl.

"It's one of those games where you feel bad for the loss, but you feel good about the way we played," said Olson, whose team travels to St. Paul, Minn., for Game 2 of the two-game MIAC series vs. the Tommies Saturday night. "I thought we made huge strides last Saturday (in a 4-2 loss to Lake Forest) and I think we did the same here tonight.

"This is the type of game that should give everyone a bit of confidence (heading into Saturday's rematch)," Olson added. "They beat us in the first game last year and we turned around and did the same to them (in the second game). Hopefully we can repeat that effort this year."