Game Summary

WINONA, Minn. — After scoring just seven goals in their last four games — all losses — the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team spent extra time this week focusing on hitting the net with their shots.

Friday evening against Concordia, however, the Cardinals proved that practice makes perfect — literally — as the Cardinals hit the pipe four times against the Cobbers.

Fortunately for SMU, the Cardinals also put four shots between the pipes, as Saint Mary's rallied from an early 2-0 deficit with four unanswered goals en route to a 4-2 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference win at the SMU Ice Arena.

"That was a big win, no doubt about that," said SMU coach Don Olson, whose team snapped its season-high four-game losing streak and kept its slim MIAC playoff hopes alive with their first win since Jan. 15. "It's big because (Concordia) is right above us in the standings, and it's big because the guys were finally rewarded for their efforts.

"It would have been nice to get a couple of those pipe shots to go in — it might have made things a little easier down the stretch."

Things were anything but easy for the Cardinals early on, as Concordia jumped out to a quick, 2-0 first-period lead behind goals by Noah Katz and Shawn Klevin in the opening 11 minutes.

Rather than get down on themselves, however, the Cardinals just got down to work, knotting the game at 2-2 on goals by Marcus Reszka (Winona, Minn.) and Adam Fingerhut (Oak Brook, Ill.) before the first period ended.

John Paul (St. Paul, Minn.) gave the Cardinals the lead for good, beating Concordia goalie Mike Dowers with a shot midway through the second period and Fingerhut added his second of the game six minutes later to ice the win.

"I was very pleased with the way we battled — especially after getting behind early," said Olson, whose team plays host to the Cobbers against Saturday in the second game of the two-game series. "We were a little tentative out of the gates. When you lose four straight you begin to lose some confidence, and when you lose confidence, you tend to play tentative.

"Fortunately, we were able to regain some momentum on Marcus' goal and things just snowballed."