NORTHFIELD, Minn. — If there's one thing that can be said about the Saint Mary's University and St. Olaf men's hockey team's, it's that they are consistent.

For the third time in as many meetings, the two teams played to a 3-2 decision Friday evening.

Unlike last year's pair of 3-2 SMU wins, however, the final score did not favor the Cardinals this time around.

"It's not that we played poorly, because for two-and-a-half periods, I thought we played very well," said SMU coach Don Olson. "It's not that we played that poorly (in the third period), St. Olaf just outworked us.

"St. Olaf is a good team, and they played just a little bit better than us this time around."

The Cardinals had the upper hand after two periods, sandwiching goals by A.J. Woodward (Lenexa, Kan.) and Adam Gill (Rochester, Minn.) around a goal by the Oles' Andy Ockuly and held a 2-1 advantage heading into the game's final 20 minutes.

The Oles did waste any time getting the equalizer, as Jeff Buish beat SMU goalie Dan Smith (Rochester, Minn.) less than two minutes into the final period, and Dylan Mueller netted the game-winner midway through the period.

"We didn't generate enough offensive chances, especially in the third period," said Olson, whose team was outshot 12-4 in the final period and 34-20 for the game. "We knew coming in that this was going to be a game that could easily go either way — and it certainly lived up to that billing."