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WINONA, Minn. — A year ago, the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team needed every last second — literally — to record a 2-1 victory over St. Olaf.

Andrew Ketterer (Peoria, Ill.) scored with 0.03 seconds remaining in regulation to lift the Cardinals to the victory in the teams' last Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference meeting at the SMU Ice Arena.

On Friday, the Cardinals and Oles were at it again — and this time SMU didn't wait quite as long to ice its win over St. Olaf, as Jed McGlasson (Kenai, Alaska) recorded his second goal of the game into an empty net with 40 seconds remaining in regulation to seal Saint Mary's 7-5 conference victory.

“We can score goals,” said SMU coach Bill Moore with a smile. “We weren't as good in the defensive zone as we'd like, but you certainly can't complain about a seven-goal effort — or the win, for that matter.”

After a defensive first period, in which SMU's Kevin Wentland (Columbia Heights, Minn.) and St. Olaf's Marc Richards exchanged goals, the two teams turned up the heat in the game's middle frame — combining to score seven goals.

The Oles jumped out to a 3-1 lead with back-to-back goals by Ross Trousdale and Dan Cecka in the first seven minutes of the second period. SMU was unfazed by the quick-striking Oles, however, as Gorup scored 28 seconds after Cecka's goal and McGlasson found the back of the net two minutes later to pull the Cardinals even, 3-3.

And the two teams were just getting warmed up.

St. Olaf added its third goal of the period as Mark Rath pushed the puck past SMU goalie Andy Scheib (Sun Prairie, Wis.) at 10:54, but again the Cardinals had an answer, as Bobby Thompson (Centerville, Minn.) and Dylan Dock (River Falls, Wis.) scored in the period's last five minutes to give SMU a 5-4 advantage heading into the final period.

St. Olaf knotted things up on Jeff Harris' fifth goal of the season six minutes into the third period, but again the Cardinals were unfazed, as Thompson tallied his second of the game — and team-leading sixth of the season — at 13:16 to put SMU out front, and McGlasson iced the win with his empty netter at 19:20.

“I think we proved tonight how resilient we can be,” said Moore, whose team improved to 3-0-0 in the MIAC for the first time since the 1998-99 season. “When (St. Olaf) scored those three straight goals to take a 3-1 lead, we didn't hang our heads, we just battled to get back in it. And then when they went up 4-3, we responded with two goals two minutes apart.”

Scheib finished with 21 saves in recording his fourth win in six starts, while St. Olaf goalie Steve Papciak kicked out 24 SMU shots.

The Cardinals (3-0-0 MIAC, 5-3-0 overall) are back in action on Saturday, traveling to Northfield, Minn., and the Northfield Ice Arena for a 7:30 p.m. conference rematch with the Oles.