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WINONA, Minn. — There's waiting until the last second — and then there's waiting until the last tenth of a second.

Andrew Ketterer (Peoria, Ill.) and the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team decided to take latter approach to Saturday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against St. Olaf at the SMU Ice Arena.

With the score tied and the clock winding down, Ketterer picked up a loose puck in front of the St. Olaf goal and rifled a shot that whistled past Ole goalie Ben Leis and into the back of the net — with four tenths of a second left in regulation, as the Cardinals beat the Oles 2-1 to earn a split in their two-game conference series.

“I thought we played very well tonight — a definite improvement over (Friday),” said SMU coach Bill Moore, whose team dropped a 5-2 decision against the Oles in Northfield, Minn., Friday evening. “We had a bit of a lapse in the second period, but I thought we really picked it up in the third.

“To pick up a win like that — with four tenths of a second left on the clock … it's pretty unbelievable.”

The Oles got on the board first, getting a power play goal from Derek Grogan midway through the second period as St. Olaf took a 1-0 advantage into the games' final 20 minutes.

Nick Gorup (Omaha, Neb.) pulled the Cardinals even six minutes into the third period, netting his second of the season off assists from Kevin Wentland (Columbia Heights, Minn.) and Austin Balko (Midland, Mich.).

The Cardinals continued to buzz the St. Olaf zone — outshooting the Oles 16-3 in the final 20 minutes — en route to Ketterer's late, late-game heroics.

“We just kept battling,” said Moore. “We had so many chances (in the third period), but we just couldn't seem to get that break we needed. And then the puck hoped out to Andrew and he buried it.”

Andy Scheib (Sun Prairie, Wis.) picked up the win in goal for the Cardinals, stopping 23 of the 24 shots he faced, while Leis finished with 31 saves in goal for St. Olaf.

The Cardinals (1-3-0 MIAC, 2-8-0 overall) step out of conference play next Friday, hosting Marian in a 7:30 p.m. contest at the SMU Ice Arena.