Box Score Game Summary vs. Augsburg / GameDay Online
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's hockey team didn't waste any time getting on the scoreboard Friday evening, scoring just 1:31 into the opening period.
The Cardinals may have struck fast, but the Auggies struck often, as Augsburg scored twice in the first period, three times in the second and once in the third — in handing SMU a 6-2 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference setback.
"It was a tale of two halves," said SMU coach
Bill Moore. "For the first 30 minutes, we didn't play very well in our defensive zone, and we fell behind 5-1. For the last 30 minutes, we played much better in our defensive zone and it was 1-1.
"The problem was, by the time we decided to play the way we are capable, we were staring at a four-goal deficit — it was too little, too late."
Steve Murphy (Anchorage, Alaska) gave the Cardinals the early lead, netting his team-leading ninth goal of the season before most of the fans in attendance could even get comfortable in their seats.
The Auggies would pull even seven minutes later, as Trevor Doden scored for the eighth time this season, beating SMU goalie
Karac Davis (Pittsburgh, Pa.) at 8:55. Augsburg would then take the lead for good with just 22 seconds remaining in the period on Nick Guran's ninth goal of the season.
And Augsburg was just getting warmed up, as Chris Johnson, Jim Jensen and Nick Guran all beat SMU goalie
Karac Davis (Pittsburgh, Pa.) in the game's middle 20 minutes to give the Auggies a commanding 5-1 advantage.
Murphy would net his second of the game with 36 seconds remaining in the second period, but that would be the extent of the SMU offensive attack, while the Auggies' Jensen would add his second of the game 14 minutes into the third period to round out the scoring.
Davis finished with 30 saves for the Cardinals, who fall to 2-10-1 in the MIAC and 3-18-1 overall with the loss, while Andrew Kent kicked out 25 of the 27 shots he faced in recording the win for the Auggies.
The Cardinals return home on Saturday (7:30 p.m.), playing host to Augsburg in the second game of the teams' two-game conference series at the SMU Ice Arena
.
