WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University women's hockey team entered Saturday's nonconference game against Marian having not played since a 4-3 victory over Concordia on Dec. 12.
If SMU coach
Terry Mannor was worried about his squad being rusty, the Cardinals' put his fears to rest early — and then they scored.
And scored often.
Nicole Olson (New Brighton, Minn.) erupted for five goals — including three in the second period alone — to lead SMU to a convincing 6-0 victory over the visiting Sabres at the SMU Ice Arena.
“We came out a little sluggish in the first period and made some mental mistakes, but in the second and third periods, I thought we were really sharp,” said Mannor, whose team has now won three straight and is 6-1-1 since opening the season with three straight losses. “I was a little worried about today's game, mainly because I didn't know much about Marian, and the fact that we hadn't played a game in almost a month.
“But we didn't seem show too much rust.”
Sheree Haslemore (Gore, New Zealand) got the Cardinals on the board before the game was even two minutes old, beating Marian goalie Kaytlin Ruzzicka with a wrist shot at 1:01 of the opening period.
The Cardinals then turned the offensive duties over to Olson, who scored once in the first, three times in the second — including a shorthanded wraparound at 9:06 of the middle stanza — and once in the third in recording not only her first collegiate hat trick, but also equaling the school record for goals in a game.
While Olson was busy giving the Marian goalies headaches, SMU goalie
Kaye Collier (Hibbing, Minn.) was unbeatable at the other end, stopping all seven Sabres shots for her third shutout of the season.
“It was good to get back into action,” said Mannor, whose team will host the Sabres again Sunday in a 2 p.m.. nonconference tilt at the SMU Ice Arena. “We did a lot of good things today, hopefully we can stay mentally sharp (Sunday) and keep building the positive momentum.”
