MENDOTA HEIGHTS, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's hockey team completes its two-game Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference series against St. Thomas on Saturday, as the Cardinals head to the St. Thomas Ice Arena for a 7:30 p.m. contest with the Tommies.

The Matchup:
Saint Mary's Cardinals (5-1-1 MIAC | 7-8-1 Overall)
at St. Thomas Tommies (6-2-1 MIAC | 9-7-2 Overall)

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Last Night:
Andy Scheib (Sun Prairie, Wis.) kicked out all 38 St. Thomas shots in leading the Cardinals to a 0-0 overtime tie against the league-leading Tommies at the SMU Ice Arena.

SMU vs. St. Thomas — A Year Ago:
October 29, 2011: For the first 52 minutes, SMU had an answer for everything St. Thomas threw at them. When the Tommies' Travis Baker scored UST's third goal with 7:31 remaining in regulation, however, it went unanswered, as UST held off the Cardinals 3-2 during the MIAC Showcase at Fogerty Arena in Blaine, Minn.
January 20, 2012: For the second straight Friday, the Cardinals grabbed a two-goal lead, grabbing a 2-0 first-period advantage against league-leading and 12th-ranked St. Thomas at the SMU Ice Arena. The Tommies, however, responded with four unanswered goals — two in the second and two more in the third — in handing SMU a 4-2 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference setback.
January 21, 2012: New day, new venue. Unfortunately for SMU, same old result, as No. 12 St. Thomas handed the Cardinals their second straight 4-2 setback at the St. Thomas Ice Arena in Mendota Heights, Minn.

Up Next:
The Cardinals open a two-game MIAC series with Augsburg on Friday, traveling to Minneapolis, Minn., for a 7:05 p.m. contest against the Auggies at Ed Saugestad Rink. The same two teams will then meet at 7:30 p.m. at the SMU Ice Arena a day later. … St. Thomas, meanwhile, kicks off its conference series against St. Olaf on its home ice, hosting the Oles in a 7:30 p.m. game at the St. Thomas Ice Arena in Mendota Heights, Minn. St. Olaf hosts UST in the rematch at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday at the Northfield Arena in Northfield, Minn.

Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2012-13 Roster | 2012-13 Statistics | 2012-13 Schedule
This weekend's games against St. Thomas mark the second straight weekend the Cardinals will square off against an MIAC league leader. UST and Bethel were tied for the conference lead a week ago when SMU swept the Royals. … Andy Scheib stopped all 38 shots he faced vs. the Tommies Friday night en route to his first collegiate shutout. … Scheib's 38 saves were three shy of his career high. … SMU's 0-0 tie vs. the Tommies marked the first time in program history the Cardinals played to a scoreless tie. … Scheib lowered his goals-against-average to 3.14 and pushed his save percentage to .889 with his performance Friday. … In his last three games, Scheib has allowed just two goals — one in each game against Bethel last weekend and Friday's shutout of St. Thomas. … With their sweep of Bethel last weekend, the Cardinals have now swept two of their three conference series this season. The last time SMU recorded two conference sweeps in the same season was late in the 2005-2006 season, when the Cardinals swept Hamline (2-1 and 3-0) and St. Olaf (3-2, 3-2). … With their two wins against Bethel, SMU has now outscored its opponents 43-15 in its seven victories this season. … SMU's four goals against the Royals last Friday came from four different players — Austin Balko (Midland, Mich.), Jed McGlasson (Kenai, Alaska), Bobby Thompson (Centerville, Minn.) and Mike Hill (Fort Worth, Texas), while Hill and Nick Gorup (Omaha, Neb.) each scored twice and Ryan Griffiths (Arvada, Colo.) accounted for the other in SMU's Saturday win over Bethel. … Thompson also added assists on two of the team's four goals vs. the Royals Friday en route to his third three-point game of the season. He has now recorded two or more points six times this year. … With his three goals last weekend, Hill has now netted five goals in the team's last four games. … The Cardinals have now posted 10 multiple-goal games this season. Hill has four, Austin Balko (Midland, Mich.) has two, and Thompson, Gorup, McGlasson and Bob Marx (Sioux City, Iowa) have each recorded one. … Hill enters Friday's showdown with St. Thomas as the team- and conference-leader in all three offensive categories — goals (11), assists (10) and points (21). … SMU boasts six players with 10 or more points through 15 games — Hill (21), Thompson (16), Marx (12), Balko (12), McGlasson (11) and Kevin Wentland (Columbia Heights, Minn. / 11). … SMU's 49 goals have come from 15 different players, while 20 Cardinals have recorded at least one point. … After scoring just one shorthanded goal all of last season, SMU has netted five shorthanded goals this season — including Balko's last Friday against Bethel. … The five shorthanded goals are the most since SMU tallied five shorties during the 2006-07 season. … The Cardinals scored 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 2006-07 season. … The Cardinals have scored first in seven of their 15 games — including five of their wins. … After going 0-6-0 when giving up the game's first goal, the Cardinals have won back-to-back games when their opponent scored first. … With Friday's 0-0 tie, the Cardinals improved to 4-1-1 on their home ice.

Scouting the St. Thomas Tommies:
2012-13 Roster | 2012-13 Statistics | 2012-13 Schedule
Friday's 0-0 tie vs. Saint Mary's marked the second straight Friday in which UST has gone into overtime tied 0-0. St. Thomas dropped a 1-0 overtime decision to Hamline last Friday. … The Tommies are now 0-1-2 in their three OT games this season. … Friday's 0-0 tie at Saint Mary's marked the third time this season the Tommies have been shutout. UST was also blanked by Hamline (1-0 in overtime) and Plattsburgh (4-0). …  UST has scored just seven goals in its seven losses this season. … St. Thomas' 3-0 win over Hamline last Saturday was the second shutout win over the Pipers this season — the Tommies also blanked the Pipers 2-0 in a nonconference game on Dec. 8. Four of UST's nine wins have been by shutout — the Tommies have also blanked Augsburg (3-0), Saint John's (3-0) and Gustavus (6-0). … Alex Altenbernd and Michael Krieg enter Friday's game against Saint Mary's leading the team with five goals each, while Riley Horgan is the team-leader in both assists (9) and points (13). … Altenbernd has also eclipsed the 10-point barrier, owning 11 points through 17 games. … UST's 42 goals have come from 18 different players, while 21 Tommies have recorded at least one point. … UST's nine game-winning goals have come from nine different players. … Drew Fielding stopped all 28 Saint Mary's shots Friday for his fourth shutout of the season. … Fielding is now 6-5-2 with a 1.67 GAA and a .930 save percentage. … Fielding stopped 40 of 41 shots last weekend in UST's 3-0 win and 1-0 overtime loss to Hamline. The lone goal was on a power play. … Fielding's 1.67 GAA ranks first in the MIAC and fourth best in Division III. … UST has allowed the fewest goals of any MIAC team thus far this season (31), an average of just 1.09 per game. … The Tommies have allowed just eight third-period goals in 18 games. … UST has not won, or lost, more than two games in a row all season. In fact, the Tommies had traded wins and losses in their last eight games prior to Friday's tie vs. Saint Mary's, going 4-4-0. … UST has scored first in 10 of its 17 games — going 8-1-1. The Tommies are just 1-6-0 when their opponent scores first. … The Tommies are 32-5-1 in three seasons under Coach Jeff Boeser when they score three or more goals in a game.