Box Score Game Summary vs. UST / GameDay Online / Photo Gallery

WINONA, Minn. — It wasn't the start to the Cardinals' six-game playoff run that Saint Mary's University men's hockey coach Bill Moore was hoping for.

The Cardinals headed into their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against St. Thomas with slim hopes of reaching the five-team conference playoffs.

When the final horn sounded Friday, however, those hopes had gotten even slimmer, as St. Thomas held SMU to a single goal in rolling to a 7-1 conference victory at the SMU Ice Arena.

“St. Thomas played a great game — they are a big, physical team and they used that size to their advantage,” said SMU coach Bill Moore. “I thought we played OK — we had our moments where we played very well, and we had our moments when we didn't.

“It's the same old story for us ¬— one step forward and two steps back.”

The Tommies jumped out to a 2-0 first period lead on goals by Rob Phillip and John Jacques, then put the game out of reach with three second period goals. UST pushed that lead to 7-0 with third-period tallies by Alex Arneson and Alex Coles, before Nick Carlson (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) foiled UST's shutout bid with his third of the season at 17:11.

“(St. Thomas) is the biggest team we've faced all year,” said Moore, who got a 40-save effort from Karac Davis (Pittsburgh, Pa.). “Hopefully we can regroup and put together a better all-around performance (Saturday).”

The Cardinals hit the road Saturday, traveling to Mendota Heights, Minn., for the second game of their two-game conference series against the Tommies. Game time is slated for 2 p.m.