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VADNAIS HEIGHTS, Minn. ¬ — Saint Mary's University men's hockey coach Bill Moore knew that Friday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener against Hamline was going to be a battle from start to finish.

And the Pipers didn't waste any time landing the first punch, scoring the game's first goal just 23 seconds into the opening period.

The Cardinals countered — again, and again, and again, and again — but each time they landed a punch, the Pipers had an answer, and it was Hamline's 1-2 third-period combination that did SMU in, falling to HU 6-4 at the Vadnais Sports Center.

“Hamline's a good team — they won the conference tournament a year ago, and are picked to be one of the top teams in the conference again this year,” Moore said. “I thought we did some good things — but we are still giving up way too many chances in our defensive zone. We've got to do a better job of getting into the shooting lanes and blocking more of those shots.

“It was good to see us score four times, but we can't be giving up six goals, either.”

Still reeling from the Pipers' early jab, HU struck again, as Brian Arrigoni beat SMU goalie Jason Horstman (Faribault, Minn.) to put the Cardinals in a 2-0 hole.

Nick Nagel (Andover, Minn.) cut the gap to 2-1 with his first of the season at 7:28 of the opening period.

But the offense was just heating up, as HU's Joe Rubbelke and SMU's Chase Marshall (Maple Grove, Minn.) would also find the back of the net before the horn sounded, leaving SMU staring at a one-goal, 3-2 deficit after the game's opening 20 minutes.

SMU took a page out of the Pipers' playbook to open the second period, scoring eight seconds in on a power-play goal by Austin Balko (Midland, Mich.) to knot things at 3-3.

Hamline regained the advantage less than two minutes later, then scored two goals in less than two minutes early in the third period to take a commanding 6-3 advantage. SMU's Bob Marx (Sioux City, Iowa) scored for the second straight game to get the Cardinals to within two, but it was too little, too late.

Horstman finished with 29 saves in goal for the Cardinals, while Beau Christian kicked out 19 of SMU's 23 shots for the Pipers.

The Cardinals (0-1-0, 0-5-0) and Pipers (1-0-0, 3-2-0) square off again Saturday, this time at the SMU Ice Arena. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m.