Game Summary vs. CSB / GameDay Online

WINONA, Minn. — It was supposed to be a knock-down, drag-out fight to the finish as the Saint Benedict and Saint Mary's University women's hockey teams squared off in a winner-take-all race for the final Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference playoff berth.

Unfortunately for the Cardinals, they got knocked down and dragged out — and never got out of the starting blocks — as the Blazers raced out to a 3-0 lead after two periods and never let SMU back in the game en route to a 4-1 victory at the SMU Ice Arena.

“It's a tough way to have your season end,” said SMU coach Terry Mannor, whose team needed to beat the Blazers — and had Concordia knock off St. Catherine — in order for SMU to make its third conference playoff appearance in his four years as head coach. “We knew what was at stake — we knew we had to come out and put our best game on the ice right from the opening face off.”

SMU's best game, however, got left in the locker room, as CSB dominated the game's opening two periods, outshooting the Cardinals 18-6 in the first period and 23-8 in the second in jumping out to its 3-0 advantage heading into the game's final 20 minutes.

“We just didn't have any jump in our step,” said Mannor, whose team had beaten Saint Benedict by an identical 4-1 score on Friday night to set up Saturday's all-or-nothing rematch. “I thought we played a little tentative (on Friday night) and that carried over a bit today.

“Give (Saint Benedict), they played a great game — they came out fired up and never slowed down.”

Gretchen Leyendecker got the Blazers on the board, scoring midway through the first period, while Ashley Davenport and Stephanie Kendrick beat SMU goalie Madeline Lenz (White Bear Lake, Minn.) a minute apart early in the second period to push CSB's lead to 3-0.

Stevie Fiek (Rochester, Minn.) netted her third goal in two games at 2:10 of the third period to cut the gap to two, 3-1, but CSB's Amie Ernst answered 24 seconds later to ice the victory.

And the Cardinals' hopes of a playoff berth.

“It's disappointing, because every one on this team knows we can play better than we did today,” said Mannor, whose team finished the season 6-10-2 in the MIAC and 7-14-2 overall. “But we took several huge steps in the right direction this season. This is a tough loss to take, but it certainly can't overshadow the great things that we accomplished this year.”