Box Score
RIVER FALLS, Wis. – Saint Mary's University men's hockey coach
Bill Moore was hoping for an early Christmas present for his struggling Cardinals when the team headed to UW-River Falls for their final nonconference game before the Christmas break.
Unfortunately, UW-River Falls proved to be a real Grinch, as the Falcons gave SMU nothing but coal – scoring 1:30 into the opening period and never looking back en route to a 7-0 victory over the Cardinals at W.H. Hunt Arena.
“That was probably the worst game we've played all year,” said SMU coach
Bill Moore, whose team fell to 1-8-0 overall with the loss. “I thought we had made some pretty good strides in our (conference) series against Hamline two weeks ago, but after the two-week break, we seemed to take a giant step backwards tonight.”
The Falcons Ben Beaudoin got the Falcons off and running, beating SMU goalie
Jason Horstman (Faribault, Minn.) on a rebound before the opening period was even two minutes old.
The Cardinals would settle down after that, heading into the locker room after one period trailing by just that one goal.
Then came the second period.
Jamie Ruff opened the scoring with his first of the season at 10:27, and, when Ruff scored his second of the game – and the period seven minutes later, the Falcons' lead had ballooned to 5-0. The 10th-ranked Falcons would add two more goals in the third period to seal the win and improve to 7-3-1 overall.
Horstman finished with 25 saves for the Cardinals, while Bo Storozuk stopped all 16 shots he faced in recording the shutout for UW-River Falls.
The Cardinals are now off until Jan. 2, when they travel to Nichols (R.I.) College to take part in a two-day, four-team tournament.
“It's been a tough couple of weeks – we played two games (against Hamline), then were off for Thanksgiving, played tonight against River Falls, and now we're off again until January,” said Moore. “Hopefully we can regroup after Christmas and get things turned around.”
