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WINONA, Minn. — It took the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team seven minutes to get warmed up Friday evening — and once the Cardinals got their feet under them, they gave UW-Superior all it could handle at the SMU Ice Arena.
In fact, over the game's final 53 minutes, SMU outscored UW-Superior 1-0.
Unfortunately, in those first seven minutes, while the Cardinals were trying to knock the rust off, UW-Superior was flying high, as the Yellowjackets scored three times and held off Saint Mary's 3-1.
"Take away those first seven minutes and we win 1-0," said SMU coach
Bill Moore. "We just didn't come out ready to go in those opening minutes, and (UW-Superor) took advantage.
"This was a good learning experience for our guys — you have to be ready to go right from the opening face-off. You can't wait until seven minutes into the game to get going."
The Yellowjackets lived up to their nickname early on, as UW-Superior buzzed the Cardinal net, scoring three times — on their first five shots — in the game's opening seven minutes.
Joey Massingham got the Yellowjackets on the board at 1:23, scoring the first of his two first-period goals — both on the powerplay. After Massingham netted his second of the game and third of the season to push the UW-Superior lead to 2-0 at 4:03, Kyle Leahy got into the act, netting his second of the season at 6:15.
SMU settled down after that rough start, holding UW-Superior off the board over the final 13:45 of the period and headed into the locker room staring at a three-goal deficit.
After a scoreless second period, the Cardinals finally got on the board, as
Mike Hill (Fort Worth, Texas) scored his first goal as a Cardinal to cut the gap to 3-1 midway through the third period.
That, however, would be as close as the Cardinals would get, as UW-Superior survived SMU's late surge to post its second win of the season.
Andy Scheib (Sun Prairie, Wis.) made 23 saves in goal for the Cardinals — including all nine Yellowjacket shots in the second period — while Drew Strandberg finished with 20 saves in goal for UW-Superior.
The Cardinals (1-2-0 overall) are right back in action — and right back on their home ice — on Saturday, as SMU hosts St. Scholastica in a 7:30 p.m. nonconference game at the SMU Ice Arena.
