WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's hockey kick off the 2012 portion of their schedule on Friday, hosting UW-Stevens Point in a 7:30 p.m. nonconference game at the SMU Ice Arena.



The Matchup:
Saint Mary's Cardinals (3-8-0 Overall)
vs. UW-Stevens Point (6-7-2 Overall)

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Last Action:
The Cardinals have been off since Dec. 9, when they got two goals from Mike Schaber (Blaine, Minn.) en route to a 4-2 nonconference victory over Marian at the SMU Ice Arena. … UW-Stevens Point, meanwhile, hosted Adrian for a pair of nonconference games last weekend in Stevens Point, Wis., falling to the Bulldogs 3-1 on Friday, then earning a split with a 6-2 win on Saturday.

SMU vs. UW-Stevens Point — Their Last Meeting:
November 7, 2008: After giving up 19 goals combined in back-to-back season-opening losses to St. Scholastica (9-1) and UW-Superior (10-3) last weekend, the Cardinals held UW-Stevens Point to just three goals at K.B. Willett Arena in Stevens Point, Wis. Unfortunately, three goals was more than enough, as Pointer goalie Thomas Speer stopped all 16 shots he faced in propelling UW-Stevens Point to a 3-0 nonconference victory.

Up Next:
The Cardinals close out the nonconference portion of their schedule on Saturday, hosting defending national champion St. Norbert in a 7:30 p.m. game at the SMU Ice Arena. … UW-Stevens Point, meanwhile, heads to Northfield, Minn., on Saturday, squaring off against St. Olaf in a 7:30 p.m. at the Northfield Ice Arena.

Saint Mary's Cardinals News and Notes:
2011-12 Roster | 2011-12 Statistics | 2011-12 Schedule | 2011-12 Media Guide
With their win over Marian on Dec. 9, the Cardinals enter Friday's game against UW-Stevens Point having won two straight and three of their last five games. … The Cardinals equaled their season high with their four-goal effort against Marian on Dec. 9. SMU also scored four goals in a 6-4 loss at Hamline on Nov. 11. … Mike Schaber (Blaine, Minn.) scored his first two goals of the season against Marian, marking the first time this year SMU has boasted a multiple-goal scorer. … Schaber's two-goal effort against Marian was the first multiple-point game of his collegiate career. … Austin Balko (Midland, Mich.) and Brad Fusaro (Soldotna, Alaska) accounted for SMU's other two goals vs. Marian. … Balko's goal was his team-leading fourth of the season. The SMU sophomore also leads the team in points (8) and is second on the team in assists with four. … Brad Denney (Fishers, Ind.) is the team-leader in assists with five. … Andrew Ketterer (Peoria, Ill.) scored SMU's game-winning goal against St. Olaf on Dec. 3 with 0.4 seconds remaining in regulation. It was Ketterer's second collegiate goal — with both coming against St. Olaf. … Kevin Wentland (Columbia Heights, Minn.) picked up assists on both of SMU's goals against St. Olaf on Dec. 3. It was the 11th two-point game of Wentland's collegiate career. … SMU's 26 goals have come from 15 different players. … SMU has gotten at least one point from 19 of the 25 players who have played this season. … Jason Horstman (Faribault, Minn.) recorded his first win of the season, stopping 17 of the 19 shots he faced against Marian on Dec. 9. … Horstman and Andy Scheib (Sun Prairie, Wis.) have shared the goaltending duties this season, with Scheib compiling a 3.03 goals-against-average and a .904 save percentage, while Horstman owns a 4.17 GAA and an .877 save percentage. … All three of SMU's wins this season have come on their home ice. Two of those three wins were by identical 2-1 scores — a 2-1 win over MSOE on Nov. 22 and a 2-1 victory over St. Olaf on Dec. 3. …  The Cardinals have played two overtime games this season — a 4-3 loss to Hamline on Nov. 12 and a 2-1 win over Milwaukee School of Engineering on Nov. 23. … The 2-1, overtime win over MSOE also snapped the Cardinals' season-opening six-game losing streak. … SMU's 2-1 victory over MSOE was the Cardinals' first overtime win since beating UW-River Falls 2-1 on Jan. 17, 2009. … The Cardinals have been shut out just twice in their last 34 games, with both shutouts coming at the hands of Milwaukee School of Engineering. The Raiders blanked SMU 2-0 on Dec. 3, 2010, and 6-0 on Nov. 23, 2011. … Six of SMU's 11 games have been decided by one goal. … SMU's Dec. 3 win over St. Olaf marked the first time this season SMU has won when its opponent scored the game's first goal (1-5-0).

UW-Stevens Point Pointers News and Notes:
2011-12 Roster | 2011-12 Statistics | 2011-12 Schedule
The Pointers' 3-1 loss to Adrian last Friday snapped their season-high three-game winning streak. UW-SP has is now 3-1 in its last four games. … The Pointers have held their opponents to one goal in four of their six wins this season. … UW-Stevens Point has played four overtime games this season, going 1-1-2. The Pointers played three straight OT games in a seven-day span — beating Augsburg (4-3), falling to Gustavus (2-1) and tying UW-Superior (3-3). Their other overtime game was a 2-2 tie vs. UW-River Falls. … The Pointers scored six unanswered goals in beating Adrian 6-2 last Saturday, getting a pair of goals from Scott Henegar and single goals from Jon Bockmann, Kyle Politz, Luke Nesper and Nick Kenney. … Kyle Heck enters Friday's game at Saint Mary's boasting team-highs in goals (11) and points (16). Nesper shares the team's assist lead (6) with Johnny Meo and Jerry Freismuth, while also sitting second in points with 10. …  UW-Stevens Point's 42 goals this season have come from 17 different players, while the Pointers have gotten at least one point from all 22 players who have dressed this season. … Nick Graves and Brandon Jaeger have shared the goaltending duties for the Pointers, with Graves compiling a 2.37 goals-against-average and a .909 save percentage in 10 starts, while Jaeger also owns a 2.37 GAA and a team-leading .915 save percentage in five starts. … The Pointers are 3-2-1 when scoring the game's first goal, while owning a 3-5-1 mark when their opponent scores first. … UW-SP has been outscored 12-8 in the first period, but have outscored its opponents 20-14 in the second period and 13-12 I the third.