BLAINE, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's hockey team, coming off a pair of Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference losses to St. Olaf last weekend, hit the road against Friday evening, opening its two-game conference series against Bethel with a 7 p.m. contest against the Royals at the Schwan's Super Rink.

The Records:
Saint Mary's Cardinals (1-5-0 MIAC / 1-13-1 Overall)
Bethel Royals (4-4-0 MIAC / 6-11-0 Overall)

Last Meeting — January 30-31, 2009: SMU and Bethel split their conference series a year ago, with each team winning on their home ice. The Cardinals rallied from a 2-0 deficit to beat the Royals 6-3 at the SMU Ice Arena, while the Royals turned the tables a day later, scoring three times in the third period to beat the Cardinals 4-3 at the Schwan's Super Rink.

Saint Mary's Cardinal Notes: Trevor Tolibas (Colorado Springs, Colo.) scored for the second time in the last three games to account for SMU's lone goal in last Saturday's 4-1 loss to St. Olaf. … Ben Kitzmiller (Lambertville, Mich.) and Will Such (Broomfield, Colo.) netted SMU's two goals in last Friday's 5-2 loss to the Oles. … Jason Horstman (Faribault, Minn.) kicked out 65 shots in the two games vs. St. Olaf last weekend — including 41 in Friday's 5-2 loss. Horstman's 41-save effort was one save shy of the career-high 42 saves he recorded vs. Concordia on Nov. 14. … Horstman enters tonight's game vs. Bethel with a team-leading 3.98 goals-against-average and an .890 save percentage. … Kevin Wentland (Mount Prospect, Ill.) picked up his fifth assist vs. the Oles last Friday and has now recorded three goals and four assists in SMU's last six games. … Blake Zemaitis (Mount Prospect, Ill.) scored his first collegiate goal vs. UW-River Falls on Jan. 9. … Anthony Bohn (Spring Hill, Fla.) enters tonight's matchup with Bethel leading the team in all three offensive categories with four goals, eight assists and 12 points. … SMU's 29 goals have come from 15 different players, while 19 Cardinals have notched at least one point.  … The Cardinals have surrendered 13 goals in the opening two minutes of a period through 15 games. … The Cardinals have been outscored 26-10 in the game's middle period and 21-10 in the third period. … SMU surrendered a pair of shorthanded goals vs. St. Olaf last Friday and have now allowed six shorthanded goals this season. … SMU's Jan. 9 game vs. UW-River Falls was the second overtime game of the season for the Cardinals, who also tied Nichols 4-4 in overtime on Jan. 2. The Cardinals were 2-0-1 in OT games a year ago.

Bethel Royal Notes: The Royals enter today's game vs. SMU on the heels of a four-game losing streak. … It's been a season of streak for the Royals, who opened with four straight losses, won three in a row, lost three straight, won three straight, and have currently lost four straight. … Bethel has played three overtime games this season and have won all three — beating Gustavus (6-5), Concordia (2-1) and Northland (5-4). … The Royals have scored five or more goals in four of their six wins. On the flip side, Bethel has been held to two goals or less in nine of its 11 losses. … Bethel has been outscored 17-4 during its current four-game slide. … Three of Bethel's four wins have come on the road. … The Royals boast five players with 10 or more points, led by Jack Paul with 14. … Chris Fiala leads the team in goals (7), while Jon Crouse is the team-leader in assists with 10. … Aaron Damjanovich has started 13 of the team's 17 games in goal, boasting a team-leading 3.42 goals-against-average and an .895 save percentage. … Bethel is 5-1-0 when scoring first, but just 1-10-0 when its opponent nets the game's first goal.