Box Score WINONA, Minn. — In college hockey, it's an unwritten rule — don't give up a goal in the first or last minute of a period.
Unfortunately for coach
Bill Moore, his Saint Mary's University men's hockey team had a habit of breaking that rule this weekend.
A day after giving up a goal in the first minute of the second period in falling to Hamline 5-1 Friday, the Cardinals surrendered what proved to be the game-winning goal in the first minute of the third period, as Hamline held off SMU 3-2 to complete the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference sweep at the SMU Ice Arena.
“I thought, overall, we played pretty well,” said Moore. “But after a while, we have to start finding a way to turn those moral victories into real victories. Our biggest problem right now is that we just aren't shooting enough — we're creating some pretty good chances, we just aren't pulling the trigger.”
Nick Carlson (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) gave SMU a 1-0 lead, netting his first of the season off assists from
Joey Nadeau (Winona, Minn.) and
Anthony Bohn (Spring Hill, Fla.).
For the second game in a row, the Cardinals would take that 1-0 lead into the locker room after the opening 20 minutes.
And, for the second game in a row, the second period proved to be their downfall, as Hamline — which scored three times in the second period on Friday — netted two more second-period goals Saturday to grab a 2-1 lead heading into the final stanza.
Then came that first-minute letdown, as Danny Vranek scored 47 seconds into the third period to push the Pipers' lead to 3-1.
Morgan Shepherd (Brainerd, Minn.) made it a one-goal, 3-2 game with seven minutes remaining in regulation, but that was as close as the Cardinals would get in falling to 1-3-0 in conference play.
“We're improving and playing some pretty solid hockey,” said Moore, whose team travels to UW-River Falls on Dec. 4 in its final game before the Christmas break. “It's those little letdowns — especially early in the period — and that's what's killing us right now.”
