WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's hockey team returns home on Friday, as the Cardinals host St. Olaf in a key Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game at the SMU Ice Arena. Puck drops at 7:30 p.m.



The Matchup:
Saint Mary's Cardinals (2-0-0 MIAC | 4-3-0 Overall)
vs. St. Olaf Oles (3-1-0 MIAC | 4-4-1 Overall)

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Last Action:
The Cardinals gave up four unanswered goals — including three in the third period — in falling to third-ranked Adrian 7-3 Saturday in Adrian, Mich. SMU also dropped a 10-4 exhibition decision to the U.S. National Development U18 Team Sunday in Ann Arbor, Mich. … St. Olaf, meanwhile, is coming off a pair of nonconference shutout losses last weekend, as the Oles fell to Williams 4-0 in Williamstown, Mass., on Friday, then dropped a 3-0 decision to Babson in Wellesley on Saturday.

SMU vs. St. Olaf — A Year Ago:
October 30, 2011: Just a day after giving up the game-winning goal in the final period of a 3-2 loss to St. Thomas, the Cardinals surrendered three unanswered goals in the game's final 20 minutes in falling to St. Olaf 3-2 in the MIAC Hockey Showcase at Fogerty Arena.
December 2, 2011: The Cardinals gave up 24 shots — and three goals — in the game's opening 20 minutes and never recovered, as St. Olaf handed SMU a 5-2 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference setback at the Northfield Ice Arena.
December 3, 2011: With the score tied and the clock winding down, Andrew Ketterer (Peoria, Ill.) 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 at the SMU Ice Arena to earn a split in their two-game conference series.

Up Next:
The Cardinals and Oles square off again on Saturday, as SMU heads to the Northfield Ice Arena in Northfield, Minn., for a 7:30 p.m. game against St. Olaf.

Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2012-13 Roster | 2012-13 Statistics | 2012-13 Schedule
Saturday's 7-3 loss to third-ranked Adrian snapped the Cardinals' three game winning streak. It was SMU's first three-game win streak since beating St. Olaf (nonconference) and sweeping Concordia early in the 2010-11 season. … Austin Balko (Midland, Mich.) — who recorded his third collegiate two-goal game in SMU's 9-2 win over Hamline on Nov. 9 and recorded his first collegiate three-assist night a day later — scored his team-leading sixth goal of the season vs. Adrian last Saturday. … Bob Marx (Sioux City, Iowa) and Justin Videen (Meridian, Idaho) accounted for SMU's other two goals vs. the unbeaten Bulldogs Saturday. … Videen's goal was the first of his collegiate career. … Balko, Mike Hill (Fort Worth, Texas), Brad Fusaro (Soldotna, Alaska) and Nick Nagel (Andover, Minn.) accounted for SMU's four exhibition-game goals vs. Team USA's U18 team (stats do not count). … Bobby Thompson (Centerville, Minn.) was stopped on a penalty shot during last Saturday's game against Adrian. Ironically, Fusaro scored on a penalty shot vs. Team USA's U18 Team a day later, but because it was an exhibition game, the goal does not officially count. SMU has officially not scored a penalty shot goal since Nov. 2, 2007, when Jesse Polk converted. … Hill picked up his first collegiate two-goal game in SMU's 9-2 win over Hamline on Nov. 9, then followed that up with his second straight two-goal game the following night in the teams' rematch. … Hill finished the conference-opening weekend series vs. the Pipers with seven points, earning the freshman MIAC Player of the Week honors. … Hill — SMU's first MIAC Player of the Week recipient since Dan Smith won the honor on Nov. 19, 2007 — had his consecutive-game point streak snapped at five when he was held off the scoresheet vs. Adrian last Saturday. … Hill enters this weekend's conference series against St. Olaf with a team-leading 11 points. He also leads the team in assists with six, and is second to Balko in goals with five. … SMU's 32 goals have come from 13 different players, while 17 Cardinals have recorded at least one point. … After scoring just one shorthanded goal all of last season, SMU has netted four shorthanded goals this season. … The four shorthanded goals are the most since SMU tallied five shorties during the 2006-07 season. … Scott Deur (Big Rapids, Mich.) owns two of the team's four shorthanded goals — which ties him for third in NCAA Division III. … SMU scored two of its four shorthanded goals in its 5-2 win over St. Scholastica on Nov. 3. It was the first time since Nick Meeker and Chad Damerow scored shorthanded goals against UW-Superior on Nov. 21, 2003 that the Cardinals scored two shorthanded goals in the same game. … Jason Horstman made 41 saves against Adrian last Saturday. It was the seventh time in his four-year collegiate career that the senior has stopped 40 or more shots, and was the most since recording a collegiate-best 52 saves against Gustavus on Feb. 19, 2011. … Christian Gaffy (Scandia, Minn.) stopped 15 of the 17 shots he faced against St. Scholastica on Nov. 3 en route to his first win in his first collegiate start. … Gaffy becomes the first Cardinal goalie to win in his first collegiate start since Curtis Nosal made 25 saves in a 4-1 win over St. Olaf on Nov. 9, 2002. … The Cardinals have scored 27 goals in their four wins this season — including a season-high nine goals in their 9-2 rout of Hamline on Nov. 9. … SMU's nine goals against the Pipers are the most since SMU erupted for 14 goals in a 14-3 win over Concordia during the 2007-08 season. … The Cardinals have scored first in five of their seven games — including all four of their wins.

Scouting the St. Olaf Oles:
2012-13 Roster | 2012-13 Statistics | 2012-13 Schedule
After putting together a season-high three-game winning streak with a win over Concordia and a sweep of Hamline, the Oles have now lost back-to-back games. … St. Olaf has now been outscored 15-4 in its four losses this season. … The Oles enter Friday's game at Saint Mary's looking for its first goal since Andrew Anderson's third-period goal against Hamline on Nov. 17 — a span of 129:28. … Steve Papciak made 28 saves in St. Olaf's 4-0 loss to Williams last Friday, while Henrik Wood had 20 saves in the Oles' 3-0 loss to Babson a day later. … Ross Trousdale, Jeff Harris and Dan Cecka share the team lead with three goals each, while Geoff Gieni owns a team-best four assists and Trousdale boasts a team-high six points. … Wood and Papciak have shared the goaltending duties all season, with each appearing in five games. Wood has compiled a 1.77 goals-against-average and a .925 save percentage, while Papciak is close behind with a 2.41 GAA and a .925 save percentage. … The Oles have outscored their opponents 15-8 in the first two periods combined, but have been outscored 14-4 after the second period. … St. Olaf is 4-1-0 when scoring first, but the Oles have yet to win a game when their opponent nets the game's first goal (0-4-1).