Game Summary

ASHLAND, Wis. — It took a little longer than coach Don Olson had hoped — six games to long, to be exact.

But the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team finally notched its first win of the season Tuesday evening, as the Cardinals scored six unanswered goals in beating Northland 6-1 in a nonconference game.

"It's nice to finally get that win," admitted Olson, whose team improved to 1-5-1 overall. "It took a little longer than we would have liked, but at least we were able to finally get that monkey off our back."

After spotting the Lumberjacks a 1-0 first-period lead — the seventh straight time this season that an SMU opponent has scored first — the Cardinals erupted for three goals in the second period and three more in the third in beating Northland for the seventh straight time.

"We needed our offense to come to life like this," said Olson of his team's season-high offensive output. "And it was nice to see some other people get into the scoring column.

"We've been relying on two or three guys to carry the (scoring) load," Olson added. "But (against Northland) we were able to really spread the scoring around."

Marcus Reszka (Winona, Minn.) got SMU on the board 23 seconds into the second period, and Jim Becker (Lockport, Ill.) and Adam Fingerhut (Oak Brook, Ill.) also found the back of the net in the second period as the Cardinals turned that 1-0 deficit into a 3-1 advantage.

It was more of the same in the third period, as Ryan Radke (Woodbury, Minn.) sandwiched a pair of goals — his first two of the season — around Adam Fleischman's (Vernon Hills, Ill.) first collegiate goal to complete the rout.

"Obviously, scoring six goals shows that we played well offensively, but we also did a nice job on the defensive end," said Olson, whose team outshot Northland 51-26 — holding the Lumberjacks to seven shots in both the second and third periods. "This was a nice way for us to head into the (Thanksgiving) break.

"Hopefully we can come back and pick up where we left off against Augsburg next weekend."