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MOORHEAD, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's hockey team entered Friday's game against Concordia playing the role of spoiler — and the Cardinals played it to perfection.

Concordia, needing at least a win and a tie in its two-game series vs. Saint Mary's to earn a spot in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference playoffs for the second year in a row, proved to be no match for the high-flying Cardinals, as SMU got goals from five different players in cruising to a 5-1 victory at the Moorhead Sports Center.

“It was good to see us put together a complete, 60-minute game,” said SMU coach Bill Moore, whose team snapped a 10-game winless streak with the win. “We got scoring from a number of different players, and everyone played a solid game.

“It's nice to finally see the guys get rewarded for their efforts.”

The Cardinals got on the board first, as A.J. Mueller (New Berlin, Wis.) took a feed from Joey Nadeau (Winona, Minn.) just inside the Concordia blue line and rifled a shot past Concordia goalie Chris Neamonitis eight minutes into the opening period.

The Cobbers got the equalizer with seven seconds remaining in the first period, but that would be the last time Concordia would beat SMU goalie Andy Scheib (Sun Prairie, Wis.), as the Cardinal junior stopped the last 13 shots he faced and finished with 24 saves.

SMU erupted for three second-period goals — power-play tallies by Austin Balko (Midland, Mich.) and Kevin Wentland (Columbia Heights, Minn.) and an even strength goal by Brad Fusaro (Soldotna, Alaska) — and Andrew Ketterer (Peoria, Ill.) would round out the scoring with his second of the year at 16:11 of the third period.

The Cardinals (2-11-2 MIAC, 5-17-2 overall) — who have now beaten Concordia four straight times — will be looking for their second straight series sweep of the Cobbers on Saturday, when the same two teams square off at 2 p.m. at the Moorhead Sports Center.