Game Summary

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The St. Thomas and Saint Mary's University men's hockey teams picked up right where they left off Saturday evening — and the result was a second straight one-goal decision.

Unfortunately for the Cardinals, that one-goal decision once again went against SMU, as UST scored two third-period goals — the first one a 4-on-3 power play and the second an even strength tally midway through the period — to lift the Tommies to a 3-2 win.

"This was a tough loss – we played better than we did (on Friday) and certainly played well enough to win," said SMU coach Don Olson, whose team scored with a minute remaining in regulation, only to fall 2-1 to the Tommies in Friday's MIAC opener at the SMU Ice Arena. "(Saturday) was the second night in a row that I felt we played good enough to come away with a victory and we didn't — and that's frustrating.

"We've continued to improve with each game we've played, but sooner or later, we've got to get rewarded for those efforts."

The Tommies got on the board first as Brandon Wilcox beat SMU goalie Curtis Nosal midway through the first period. But the Cardinals responded with a pair of second-period goals — the first by Cullum Buetow-Staples (Arden Hills, Minn.) and the second by Andy Roberts (Rochester, Minn.) — as SMU took a 2-1 advantage into the third period.

With the Tommies on a 4-on-3 power play, Nick Harris netted the game-tying goal 7:38 into the third period, and Colin Greenlees completed the UST comeback five minutes later.

"This was a much more even game (than Friday's game), both teams had their share of good scoring chances — they just capitalized on one more than we did," said Olson, whose team fell to 0-5-1 with the back-to-back losses to the Tommies. "St. Thomas is a very good team, and the fact that we played them to two one-goal games is certainly a positive — but moral victories can only carry you so far.

"We need to find a way to get a win for our efforts."