ST. CLOUD, Minn. — Fresh off a confidence-building 2-1 victory over Saint John's on Saturday night, the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team set their sights on their first MIAC sweep of the Johnnies since the 1992-93 season when the same two teams took the ice for the second game of their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference series.
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, it was the same opponent, but a not-so-same result this time around.
The Johnnies scored three unanswered goals to snap a 2-2 first-period tie and fueled SJU to a 6-3 victory at the National Hockey Center Sunday afternoon.
"(Saint John's) outworked us all the way around," said SMU coach Don Olson. "I don't know if it was playing Saturday night and then Sunday afternoon, or staying in a hotel and not getting a good night's sleep … whatever the reason, we just did not come out with the same intensity that we had (Saturday).
"But you have to give Saint John's credit, they played well and they deserved to win."
Special teams — which accounted for both SMU goals in Friday's 2-1 win as
Anthony Bohn (Spring Hill, Fla.) and
David Gross (Grasston, Minn.) each netted powerplay goals — proved to be the rise, and fall, of the Cardinals on Sunday.
After falling behind 2-0 in the game's opening five minutes,
Matt Staehely (Shorewood, Ill.) and A.J. Woodward (Lenexa, Kan.) scored powerplay goals seven minutes apart to pull the Cardinals even at the end of the first period.
SJU's Pat Eagles gave SJU a 3-2 advantage midway through the second period, before Pat Connelly netted the Johnnies' second shorthanded goal of the game at the 10:44 mark of the third period to give SJU a 4-2 advantage. Saint John's sandwiched goals by Tom Freeman and Eagles around Bohn's fifth of the season to round of the scoring.
Dan Smith (Rochester, Minn.), who stopped 29 of the 30 shots he faced in Friday's win, kicked out a career-high 43 shots on Sunday — including 20 in the second period and 35 through the game's first two periods.
"This was one of those games where we just didn't have that jump in our step — even when we battled back from that 2-0 deficit in the first period, we still didn't seem to be playing with much energy," said Olson. "It's a little disappointing to end the weekend like that — especially because I thought we played so well (on Saturday).
"I guess if you would have told me before the weekend that we would split with Saint John's — at their place — I would have taken that," Olson admitted. "A split on the road is a pretty solid accomplishment, but I wouldn't say this team is satisfied with it."
