Game Summary

WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's hockey team honored its graduating seniors prior to Saturday evening's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against Hamline, so it was only fitting that the seniors remained in the spotlight once the game started.

The Cardinals, behind goals from seniors Tim McNamara (Hastings, Minn.) and Adam Fingerhut (Oak Brook, Ill.), and the superb goaltending of senior Curtis Nosal (Omaha, Neb.), completed their two-game series sweep of the Pipers with a 3-0 victory at the SMU Ice Arena.

"That might have been one of the best games we've played all year," said SMU coach Don Olson, who got a goal by Jesse Polk (Hastings, Minn.) two minutes into overtime to lift SMU to a 2-1 victory over the Pipers in Friday's opening game of the two-game series. "I thought we played pretty well (Friday night), but tonight, we were very dominant."

Thanks in large part to the continued stellar play of Nosal.

The Cardinals' senior had gone 32 games in his career without posting a shutout — and now boasts a pair in his last four starts.

"I can't say enough about the way Curtis is playing right now," said Olson of Nosal, who stopped all 28 shots he faced on Saturday and has now kicked out 126 of the 128 shots he's faced during SMU's current season-high four-game winning streak. "He is so focused and so in control — and the rest of the team just feeds off that."

McNamara gave the Cardinals all the offense they would need, scoring his sixth goal of the season on the powerplay five minutes into the opening period. Fingerhut would make it 2-0 at 2:14 of the third period, and Karl Reinke (Duluth, Minn.) completed the scoring with his first collegiate goal with five minutes remaining in regulation.

"This was a nice sweep for us," said Olson, whose team snapped an 0-7-1 slump on their home ice with the victory. "We seemed to get on a little (offensive) roll last weekend (in 7-0 and 7-2 wins at Concordia) and we just kept that going (against Hamline).

"We are playing with a lot of confidence right now, and, hopefully, that can continue over the last three weeks of the season."