MENOMONIE, Wis. — Their resume is an impressive one:

UW-Stout, ranked No. 5 in the latest USCHO.com poll, entered Friday's nonconference game against the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team with a 12-1-2 record — the best start in the school's history.

The Blue Devils were in the midst of a seven-game unbeaten streak and a five-game winning streak — not to mention the fact that they were unbeaten at home (6-0-2) and against MIAC opponents (7-0-1).

Despite the Cardinals' best efforts, the UW-Stout ended Friday night with all of its streaks intact.

UW-Stout scored three unanswered goals, including two in the third period — the second an empty-netter with less than two minutes remaining in regulation — as the Blue Devils handed SMU a 4-1 setback.

"I thought we played very well — even better than we did last Saturday against St. Scholastica (in a 3-1 SMU win)," said SMU coach Don Olson. "(UW-Stout) is a very good team, they big and strong and they work extremely hard. They've only got one loss and a couple of ties and there's a reason for that — they are a solid team top-to-bottom."

The Cardinals gave the Blue Devils all they could handle, taking an early 1-0 lead on a goal by Anthony Bohn (Spring Hill, Fla.) at 7:51 of the first period.

The goal may have give SMU the early advantage, but it also served as a wake-up call for the Blue Devils' offense, as UW-Stout peppered the Cardinal net with 20 first-period shots, netting the equalizer on a goal by Scott Motz four minutes after Bohn's tally.

UW-Stout then took the lead for good at 2:44 of the second period, before icing the win with goals by Andrew Stearns and Motz in the game's final 20 minutes.

"The game was a lot closer than the final score would indicate," said Olson, whose team closes out its nonconference schedule Saturday night at home against UW-River Falls. "We had several great scoring chances, including a couple of breakaways, but weren't able to convert on them.

"We're not finishing as well as we need to, but we are generating some good chances, which is certainly a step in the right direction."