MILWAUKEE, Wis. — The Saint Mary's University men's hockey team steps out of Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play Friday, traveling to Milwaukee School of Engineering for the first of back-to-back nonconference games against the Raiders. Game time is set for 7:05 p.m. at the Kern Ice Center.



The Matchup:
Saint Mary's Cardinals (3-5-0 Overall) vs.
Milwaukee School of Engineering (6-0-0 Overall)

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Last Action:
The Cardinals have been off since Nov. 20, when Hamline completed an MIAC sweep of SMU with a 6-2 victory in St. Paul, Minn. The Pipers defeated Saint Mary's 4-3 at the SMU Ice Arena in the first game of the two-game conference series. MSOE, meanwhile, has also been off the last three weeks. The Raiders swept Marian 4-2 and 2-1 in its last two games Nov. 12-13 at the Kern Ice Center.

Last Meeting:
January 7-8, 2005: The Cardinals and Raiders split their last nonconference series in Milwaukee, Wis. MSOE scored three times in the second period in handing the Cardinals a 4-1 setback in the opener, while SMU rebounded the following afternoon, scoring once in the second period and once in the third to beat the Raiders 2-1.

Up Next:
The same two teams square off Saturday afternoon in the second game of the nonconference series. Puck drops at 2:05 p.m. at the Kern Ice Center.

Saint Mary's Cardinals News and Notes:
Tonight's game marks the second of six straight road games for the Cardinals, who do not play at home again until Jan. 14 against St. Olaf. … All three of SMU's wins have come on the Cardinals' home ice. SMU is 0-3-0 on the road. … Tonight's game is also the third straight against a nationally ranked team. SMU dropped both games against No. 8 Hamline on Nov. 19-20, and will square off against No. 11 MSOE this weekend. … SMU's 4-3 loss to Hamline on Nov. 19 was not only the Cardinals' third one-goal loss of the season, but it also snapped their three-game winning streak. … Kevin Wentland (Columbia Heights, Minn.) scored a goal in both games against the Pipers, giving the SMU sophomore a team-best five goals for the season. SMU's leading scorer a year ago finished the Cardinals' 25-game schedule with five goals. … Beau Braun (Darwin, Minn.) and Austin Balko (Midland, Mich.) scored their first collegiate goals vs. Hamline. … Chase Marshall (Maple Grove, Minn.) had a goal and two assists in his first game back from injury on No. 19. It was the first three-point game of his career. … Wentland not only leads the team in goals, but also boasts a team-best nine points, one ahead of Balko, who leads the team with seven assists. … The Cardinals' 23 goals this season have come from 14 different players, while 17 players have at least one point. … Through eight games, the Cardinals still do not have a player with a two-goal game. … Andy Scheib (Sun Prairie, Wis.) stopped 31 shots vs. the Pipers on Nov. 19, giving him 117 saves in four starts. He boasts a team-leading 2.77 goals-against-average and a .914 save percentage. … SMU has scored 11 of its 23 goals in the second. … SMU netted its first shorthanded goal of the season vs. UW-Stout on Nov. 4. … With their 5-2 and 2-1 wins over Concordia on Nov. 12-13, the Cardinals posted their first conference sweep since beating the Cobbers twice (14-3, 7-2) during the 2007-2008 season. … The Cardinals' 2-0 start to the conference schedule was their first since opening the 2001-2002 MIAC season with back-to-back wins over Hamline (5-2, 5-2) | 2010-2011 Overall Statistics

Milwaukee School of Engineering News and Notes:
The Raiders come into tonight's game vs. Saint Mary's riding a season-opening six-game winning streak. … MSOE's six-game win streak is the longest in head coach Mark Ostapina's tenure. … MSOE has scored 29 goals through six goals, while allowing just eight. The Raiders have not allowed more than two goals in a game through their first six contests. … MSOE scored a season-high seven goals in a season-opening 7-2 win over Concordia-WI, and has scored five or more goals in four of its six games. … Jordan Keizer enters tonight's game boasting a team-best eight goals, while also leading the squad with 11 points. … Michael Soik, who scored his 44th career goal in the Raiders' 2-1 win over Marian on Nov. 13, and Todd Krupa are second on the team in points with nine each, while Bradley Tierney has dished out a team-high seven assists. … MSOE's 29 goals have come from 11 different players, while 17 players have recorded at least one point. … Connor Toomey has started five of the team's six games, compiling a 1.40 goals-against-average and a .936 save percentage. … MSOE has outscored its opponents 10-2 in the first period and 11-4 in the second. … The Raiders have scored the game's first goal in four of their six games | 2010-2011 Overall Statistics