Box Score Game Summary / GameDay Preview

BLAINE, Minn. – For Saint Mary's University men's hockey coach, it still wasn't a win, but the Cardinals' performance in Sunday's 2-1 loss to eighth-ranked Gustavus is much more like what he expects out of his team this season.

“I was pretty disappointed with our play on Saturday,” admitted Moore, whose team dug itself a 3-0 first-period hole and never recovered in falling to Augsburg 8-4 in their opening game of the MIAC Hockey Showcase. “I was much happier with our performance today.

“The effort was fantastic – we created a ton of good scoring chances, we just couldn't seem to put the puck in the net,” added Moore. “Penalties killed us, though – we can't afford to spend so much time in the box.”

The Cardinals were whistled for six penalties, and the Gusties made them pay, scoring both of their goals with the man advantage in improving to 2-0-0 on the season.

The two teams traded power-play goals in the first period, with GAC getting on the board first when Ryan Johnson slipped a shot between the legs of SMU goalie Andy Scheib (Sun Prairie, Wis.) at 5:12. The Cardinals answered a minute later on a rebound goal by Jimmy Becker (Wildomar, Calif.) that eluded Gustavus goalie Tyler Venne.

After a scoreless second period, the Gusties would net what turned out to be the eventual game-winner when Johnson tallied his second power-play goal of the afternoon two minutes into the third period.

SMU had a pair of golden opportunities to tie things up, but Joey Nadeau (Winona, Minn.) and Kevin Wentland (Columbia Heights, Minn.) were both denied at the door step.

Scheib, who finished with 33 saves in his first start of the year, came up with his biggest of the afternoon with just over two minutes remaining, stopping GAC's Gustav Bengston on a breakaway to keep it a one-goal game.

“We learned a lot of about our team this weekend,” said Moore, whose team returns to action on Thursday, playing host to UW-Stout in a 7 p.m. contest at the SMU Ice Arena. “We certainly made our share of mistakes, but it's early and we'll correct them.”