Box Score  | Photo Gallery | GameDay Preview

WINONA, Minn. — It didn't take long Friday evening to realize that the Saint Mary's University and Bethel men's hockey teams didn't like each other very much.

And, after 60 minutes and 79 minutes in penalties, it was also a pretty safe bet that the Royals like the Cardinals even less.

SMU scored four unanswered goals — including two in the second period — to hand league-leading Bethel a 4-1 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference setback at the SMU Ice Arena.

“That's a great win for us, no doubt about that,” said SMU coach Bill Moore, whose team moved to 4-1-0 in conference play — making the Cardinals the only team in the conference with just one loss. “We harped on the guys all week long the importance of playing well in the d-zone — and we certainly did that tonight.

“If you only give up one goal a game, you are going to win a lot of hockey games.”

The Royals got on the board first, as Mitch Hughes netted his ninth goal in the last six games, a power play tally midway through the opening period.

Bethel's second power play wasn't as fruitful for the Royals — but it certainly was for the Cardinals, as Austin Balko (Midland, Mich.) rifled a slap shot that beat BU goalie Robby Brown to knot the game at 1-1 with 2:45 remaining in the stanza.

The Cardinals had the upper hand early, and late, in the second period, as Jed McGlasson (Kenai, Alaska) banged home a Mike Hill (Fort Worth, Texas) rebound to give SMU a 2-1 edge less than two minutes in, and Bobby Thompson (Centerville, Minn.) beat Brown with a wrist shot with one second left to push SMU's advantage to 3-1 heading into the third period.

Hill gave the Cardinals some breathing room with his team-leading eighth goal of the season, a blistering slap shot that was past Brown and in the net before the Royal netminder could even move his glove.

Scheib finished with 30 saves in goal for the Cardinals — including 20 in the final two periods, while Brown stopped 27 of SMU's 31 shots.

The Cardinals — who hit the pipe three times — failed to score on five power play chances, while Bethel was 1-for-7 with the man advantage. The Royals were whistled for 15 penalties for 38 minutes, while SMU had 15 penalties for 41 minutes.

“We knew that this weekend was going to be an important one, and we knew it was going to be a slugfest,” said Moore. “But we are only half way there. We need to savor this win, but then put it behind us and get ready for (Saturday), because it's going to be another battle.

The Cardinals travel to the Schwan's Super Rink in Blaine, Minn., on Saturday for the second game of the two-game conference series were the Royals. Puck drops at 7 p.m.