WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's hockey team honors its three graduating seniors during Friday's MIAC game against Gustavus at the SMU Ice Arena. Puck drops at 7 p.m.

The Matchup:
Saint Mary's Cardinals (4-8-2 MIAC / 5-16-2 Overall)
vs. Gustavus Gusties (7-5-2 MIAC / 13-8-2 Overall)

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Last Action:
The Cardinals split their two-game MIAC series against Saint John's last weekend. Nick Nagel (Andover, Minn.) scored seven minutes into the third period to break a 3-3 tie and lift the Cardinals to a 4-3 victory over Saint John's at the National Hockey Center in St. Cloud, Minn., Saturday. In the rematch on Sunday, SJU scored three first-period goals and rolled to a 4-2 victory in St. Cloud, Minn. … Gustavus, meanwhile, also split its conference series last weekend, beating Hamline 3-1 in St. Paul, Minn., on Friday, before falling 3-2 to the Pipers at the Don Roberts Ice Arena on Saturday.

Earlier This Year:
October 31, 2010: Gustavus scored a pair of power play goals, as the Gusties slipped past the Cardinals 2-1 during the second day of the MIAC Hockey Showcase in Blaine, Minn.

A Year Ago:
February 19, 2010: Gustavus — behind two goals each from Ross Ring-Jarvi and David Martinson — handed the Cardinals a 5-1 MIAC setback at the Don Roberts Ice Arena in St. Peter, Minn.

February 20, 2010: Gustavus scored twice in the first period, then added three straight powerplay goals in the second period and tallied another goal in the third period, as the Gusties completed the MIAC sweep with a 6-0 victory at the SMU Ice Arena.

Up Next:
The Cardinals close out their season on Saturday, traveling to St. Peter, Minn., for the second game of their two-game conference series against Gustavus. Game time at the Gusties' Don Roberts Ice Arena is set for 7 p.m.

Saint Mary's Cardinals News and Notes:
Today's game is the final home game for SMU seniors Ben Kitzmiller (Lambertville, Mich.), Chase Marshall (Maple Grove, Minn.) and Blake Zemaitis (Mount Prospect, Ill.). The trio will then close out their collegiate careers on Saturday at Gustavus. … The Cardinals' 4-3 win over Saint John's last Friday snapped their three-game losing streak. … SMU's 4-3 win was also the third straight game in which the Cardinals had scored three goals or more — a streak that was snapped when the Johnnies held SMU to two goals in Sunday's 4-2 SJU win. … SMU's six goals vs. SJU came from six different players. Bobby Thompson (Centerville, Minn.), Tom Healy (Rolling Meadows, Ill.), Blake Zemaitis (Prospect Heights, Ill.) and Nick Nagel (Andover, Minn.) scored SMU's four goals in Friday's 4-3 win, while Brad Denney (Fishers, Ind.) and Danny Wood (Wilmington, Ohio) accounted for SMU's two goals in Sunday's 4-2 loss. … Denney also had a pair of assists on the weekend. … Nagel's third-period goal Saturday was the SMU freshman's first collegiate game-winning goal. … Healy was held without a goal on Sunday, snapping the junior's goal-scoring streak at three straight games. … Kevin Wentland (Columbia Heights, Minn.) scored his team-leading 11th goal of the season in SMU's 5-3 loss to Augsburg on Feb. 5. … Wentland — who has now recorded a point in 14 of the team's 23 games — leads the team in goals (11) and points (21), while Austin Balko (Midland, Mich.) boasts a team-best 12 assists. … Balko is also second to Wentland in goals (7) and points (19). … Wentland's 11 goals are the most since Steve Murphy netted 11 during the 2008-2009 season, while his 21 points are the most since Anthony Bohn compiled 31 points during the 2007-2008 season. … With Thompson's two goals against Augsburg on Feb. 5, the Cardinals have four players with multiple-goal games — Ryan Griffiths (Arvada, Colo.), Balko and Wentland are the other three. … Jason Horstman (Faribault, Minn.), who finished with 64 saves in the two games vs. the Johnnies last weekend, enters this weekend's games against Gustavus with a 4.18 goals-against-average and an .882 save percentage. … SMU's 2-0 win over St. Olaf on Jan. 14 — in which Horstman recorded his first collegiate shutout with 27 saves — was the Cardinals' first shutout since Ryne Ess and Curtis Nosal combined on a 19-save shutout in SMU's 5-0 win over Augsburg on Jan. 24, 2004. It was also just the second SMU shutout in the last decade. … The Cardinals' 57 goals this season have come from 19 different players, while 21 players have at least one point. … Last Friday's win over Saint John's was SMU's first road win of the season (1-11-1). … Eight of SMU's 16 losses have come against teams that have been nationally ranked. … All five of SMU's wins have come when the Cardinals scored first. SMU is 0-10-0 when its opponent scores first. … 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. … With their 3-3 tie against St. Thomas on Jan. 28, the Cardinals snapped an 18-game losing streak against the Tommies. SMU's last win vs. UST was a 6-2 victory on Jan. 18, 2002. … 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

Gustavus Gusties News and Notes:
Saturday's 3-2 loss to Hamline snapped the Gusties' two-game winning streak. The Gusties enter this weekend's games against Saint Mary's 4-5-1 in 2011. … Gustavus has scored just one goal in five of its eight losses. … GAC has held its opponents to just one goal in each of its last four wins — 4-1 over Augsburg, 5-1 over Saint John's, 3-1 over Concordia and 3-1 over Hamline. … Shael Hechter scored once in both games vs. Hamline last weekend, while Gustav Bengtson and Zach May scored GAC's other two goals in last Friday's 3-1 win over Hamline, and Mitch Carlson also found the back of the net in Saturday's 3-2 loss to the Pipers. … Ross Ring-Jarvi is the Gusties' goals (8) and points (21) leader, while the junior forward shares the team lead in assists (13) with Brad Wieck. … Gustavus boasts nine players with 10 or more points — Ring-Jarvi (21), Ryan Johnson (17), Brad Wieck (15), Bengtson (14), May (14), Adam Smyth (14), Dane Erickson (13), Hechter (10) and Carlson (10). … Josh Swartout, who stopped 52 Piper shots in the teams' two games last weekend, enters the MIAC series against Saint Mary's with a 2.53 goals-against-average and a .906 save percentage. … The Gusties are 11-3-1 when scoring the game's first goal. … The Gusties, the 2009-2010 defending MIAC regular-season champions, reached the NCAA national tournament quarterfinals for the second year in a row last season — falling to St. Norbert 3-1 in DePere, Wis. … GAC was part of NCAA Division III's longest game ever last season, beating Augsburg 6-5 in four overtimes in the semifinals of the MIAC Tournament. GAC then played another overtime period the following night in falling to St. Thomas 2-1 in the title game | 2010-2011 Overall Statistics