Box Score

	vs.
5		3

Game Summary / GameDay Online

WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's hockey team's bid for a return to the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference playoffs took a serious hit Friday evening, when the Cardinals dropped a 6-2 decision to Bethel.

So what did the Cardinals  do?

They hit back.

Eric Dahl (St. Cloud, Minn.) scored with three minutes remaining in regulation to break a 3-3 tie and lift the Cardinals to a 5-3 victory over the league-leading and defending MIAC champion Royals Saturday at the SMU Ice Arena.

"You don't get many wins bigger than that," said SMU coach Don Olson, whose team rallied from a 3-2 third-period deficit to snap their three-game losing streak — and keep their playoff hopes alive. "After (Friday's) loss, we could have easily come out and gone through the motions tonight. Instead, they came out and played a great game — against a great team.

"It was nice to see us bounce back the way we did."

With the win, the Cardinals improved to 5-7-0 in the MIAC and moved to within three points of idle St. Olaf for the fifth and final MIAC playoff spot with four games remaining.

"We've still got hope," said Olson, whose team closes out the regular season with two-game series against St. Thomas and Augsburg. "We've got our work cut out for us — and we're probably going to need a little help along the way — but thanks to their effort tonight, we've still got a shot."

Adam Gill (Rochester, Minn.) scored a pair of goals for the Cardinals, his first giving SMU a 1-0 first-period lead, while his second gave SMU a 2-1 advantage midway through the second period. The tally not only gave the Cardinals their second one-goal lead, but it also marked SMU's first even-strength goal in more than 194 minutes, snapping a string of five straight power-play goals.

Bethel answered just under two minutes later, however, when Kent Bostrom raced to the net untouched off a faceoff in the Cardinals' zone, scored and tied it at 2-2. The Royals then took a 3-2 lead on a power play just over a minute into the third on Bostrom's second goal.

Just under seven minutes after Bostrom's second score, SMU's Kevin Eidsmo (Chanhassen, Minn.)  fired a wrister from the blue line that somehow made it through heavy traffic and found the back of the net.

The game remained in a 3-3 stalemate until Dahl's heroics with 3:15 remaining.

Mike Glaesmer (Traverse City, Mich.), who leads all MIAC freshmen in goals (9) and points (16), added an empty-net score to seal the win for SMU.