Game Summary

WINONA, Minn. — With 10 of his 18 skaters playing in their first collegiate game, Saint Mary's University men's hockey coach Don Olson wasn't quite sure what to expect from his team when they took the ice Friday evening at the SMU Ice Arena.

And it didn't help matters that the Cardinals' season-opening opponent was UW-Stevens Point — the same UW-Stevens Point team that beat the Cardinals 10-1 a year ago.

And when the Pointers erupted for two goals in the game's first four minutes, Olson must have had an eerie sense of deja vu.

Fortunately for the Cardinals' veteran head coach, Friday's outcome was not another lopsided loss.

Unfortunately, it was a loss just the same, as UW-Stevens Point scored three of the game's final four goals en route to a 5-3 nonconference win.

"Anytime you lose a game, you feel disappointed, but I was very pleased with a lot of things," said Olson. "I thought we played with great energy, we battled back from two goals down, and overall I thought we did a pretty good job of competing — especially five-on-five."

Problem was, there wasn't a whole lot of five-on-five being played, as officials whistled the two teams for a combined 30 penalties.

"There wasn't a whole lot of flow to the game because of all the penalties," said Olson, whose team was 1-for-15 on the powerplay, while UW-Stevens Point netted one powerplay goal in 10 chances. "We spent more time killing penalties or playing on the powerplay than we did at full strength — and right now, (Stevens Point) is better on special teams than we are."

While all the SMU rookies were busy getting their feet wet, veterans Adam Gill (Rochester, Minn.) and David Gross (Grasston, Minn.) were busy getting the Cardinals back into the game, as Gill and Gross netted back-to-back goals early in the second period to tie the game at two.

UW-Stevens Point, however, quickly regained the lead less than a minute after Gross' goal — then sandwiched a pair of goals around Gross' second of the night to account for the rest of the scoring.

"The biggest thing we have to remember right now is, it's very early in the season and we are very young," said Olson, whose team returns to action Saturday, traveling to UW-Eau Claire for another nonconference game. "We had a lot of players playing in their first collegiate games — and they are going to make mistakes.

"The key is, making sure they learn from those mistakes."