EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — After relying on their two junior captains to account for all three of their goals in their season-opening 5-3 loss to UW-Stevens Point on Friday, the "rookies" finally got into the scoring column for the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team on Saturday against UW-Eau Claire.

Joe Mayer (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Matt Staehely (Shorewood, Ill.) each netted their first collegiate goals as SMU improved its offensive output from three goals vs. the Pointers to five goals vs. the Pointers.

Unfortunately, five goals wasn't quite enough, as UW-Eau Claire scored a pair of goals in all three periods in handing SMU its second straight setback, a 6-5 decision Saturday at the Hobbs Ice Arena.

"I can't say I'm totally disappointed," said SMU coach Don Olson. "To score eight goals in our first two games is definitely a positive — but, the bottom line is, we're still 0-2.

"(Saturday's) game was pretty similar to Friday's — there wasn't a whole lot of flow to it," said Olson, whose team has now played two games, in which 58 penalties have been called. "There are just so many questionable calls being made right now. The guys are to the point, they don't really know what to do, because it seems like, no matter what they do on the ice, it's being called a penalty."

For the second straight night, the Cardinals found themselves staring at a 2-0 first-period deficit against the Blugolds, but Mayer cut the gap to 2-1 before the first period ended, and Jesse Polk (Hastings, Minn.) netted the first of his two second-period goals to knot the game at 2-2. UW-Eau Claire, however, sandwiched two goals around Polk's second goal of the period to take a 4-3 advantage into the third and final period.

The Blugolds pushed their lead to 5-3 early in the third, but David Gross (Grasston, Minn.) — who netted a pair of goals in Friday's loss to UW-Stevens Point — cut the gap to 5-4 and Staehely knotted things up with his first collegiate goal midway through the period. The Blugolds, however, netted the game-winner three minutes later to ice the win.

"Overall, I thought we did a lot of good things this weekend — everyone worked hard and competed at a very high level," said Olson. "But I don't think the players feel the same way. To play two games like this — games that we could have just as easily come away with two wins instead of two losses — it's a tough pill to swallow.

"The biggest key for us right now is to learn from our mistakes this weekend, then put it behind us and focus on next weekend's games (against Lake Forest and St. Norbert)," Olson added. "You can't afford to dwell on (the losses) too long — the road doesn't get any easier."