WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's hockey team kicks off its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference season on Friday, as the Cardinals host defending regular-season conference champion St. Thomas in a 7 p.m. game at the SMU Ice Arena.

The Matchup:
Saint Mary's Cardinals (0-0-0 MIAC | 1-1-0 Overall) vs. St. Thomas Tommies (0-0-0 MIAC | 2-0-0 Overall)

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Last Action:
The Cardinals went 1-1 at last weekend's MIAC Hockey Showcase at Fogerty Arena in Blaine, Minn. SMU dropped a 6-2 decision to Augsburg in its first game Friday, then rallied from a 2-1 third-period deficit — getting the game-winning goal from Martin Guse (Trenton, Mich.) with just over two minutes remaining in regulation — to beat St. Olaf 3-2 in its second game on Sunday. … St. Thomas was a perfect 2-0 at the MIAC Showcase, outlasting Bethel 3-2 in overtime in its opener on Saturday, then racing out to a big lead and holding off a late Gustavus charge in a 5-3 Tommie victory on Sunday.

SMU vs. St. Thomas — A Year Ago:
January 18, 2013: Heading into its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference showdown, SMU and St. Thomas boasted two of the hottest goalies in the conference. SMU's Andy Scheib (Sun Prairie, Wis.) had allowed just two goals in back-to-back Cardinal wins over then-league leading Bethel last weekend, while Drew Fielding allowed just one goal in the Tommies' 1-0 overtime loss and 3-0 UST victory against Hamline. And the two did not disappoint. Scheib kicked out 38 St. Thomas shots, while Fielding stopped 29 SMU shots as the two teams skated to a 0-0-conference tie at the SMU Ice Arena.
January 19, 2013: After going 65 minutes without a goal at the SMU Ice Arena a day earlier, SMU and St. Thomas decided to turn up the offensive heat in the rematch. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, the Tommies had a bit more firepower, as UST scored five of the game's first seven goals and cruised to a 7-2 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory at the St. Thomas Ice Arena.

Up Next:
The Cardinals and Tommies square off again on Saturday, as the Cardinals head to the St. Thomas Ice Arena in Mendota Heights, Minn., for the rematch of their two-game conference series against the Tommies.

Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2013-14 Roster | 2013-14 Statistics | 2013-14 Schedule
The Cardinals' 0-0 tie vs. St. Thomas in their first meeting a year ago marked the first time in program history the Cardinals played to a scoreless tie. … With their 6-2 loss to Augsburg and 3-2 win over St. Olaf, the Cardinals have now gone 1-1 in each of the last two MIAC Hockey Showcases. … Bobby Thompson (Centerville, Minn.) — who finished second on the team in all three offensive categories a year ago with 10 goals, 11 assists and 21 points — picked up right where he left off last weekend, scoring two of SMU's five goals and assisting on two others. … Thompson had a goal and an assist in the Cardinals' season-opener against Augsburg, marking the second straight season the SMU forward has recorded a multiple-point game in the team's season-opener. Thompson notched his first collegiate three-point game (1 goal, 2 assists) in SMU's 7-2 win over Bethel to open last year's season. … Bob Marx (Sioux City, Iowa), Brad Denney (Fishers, Ind.) and Martin Gruse (Trenton, Mich.) scored SMU's other three goals during last weekend's MIAC Hockey Showcase. … Gruse's third-period tally against St. Olaf — which broke a 2-2 tie with two minutes remaining in regulation — was his first goal as a Cardinal. … Mitch Fernsler (York, Pa.) and Christian Gaffy (Scandia, Minn.) combined to make 71 saves in the Cardinals' two games at the MIAC Hockey Showcase last weekend. Fernsler, making his first collegiate start, stopped 35 shots in the Cardinals' 6-2 loss to Augsburg last Friday, while Gaffy stopped a career-high 36 of the 38 shots he faced in the Cardinal men's hockey team's 3-2 win over St. Olaf last Sunday. … As a team, the Cardinals converted on three of their 11 power-play opportunities, while holding their opponents to just two PP goals in 17 chances. … Three of SMU's five goals last weekend came in the third period. The Cardinals are still searching for their first, first-period goal of the season. … SMU, which went 5-3-0 when scoring first and 3-13-0 when they opponent scored first a year ago, netted the game's first goal in its 3-2 against St. Olaf, but surrendered the game's first goal in its 6-2 loss to Augsburg.

Scouting The St. Thomas Tommies:
2013-14 Roster | 2013-14 Statistics | 2013-14 Schedule
The Tommies — who opened the season with back-to-back wins at last weekend's MIAC Hockey Showcase — have won or shared the last two MIAC championships and have posted 31 consecutive winning seasons. … UST has qualified the conference playoffs all 28 years the format has been in place. … The Tommies are ranked No. 13 in this week's USCHO.com top-15 poll. … The Tommies, who allowed just 25 goals in 16 MIAC regular-season games a year ago — the fewest by any team in the last nine years in conference play — return five All-MIAC?First-Teamers and an All-American from last year's squad. Drew Fielding, Alex Altenbernd, Tyler Grubb, Michael Krieg and Jeremy Hepler were all on the All-MIAC?First-Team a year ago, while Krieg also garnered Second-Team All-American honors. …?UST must replace Riley Horgan and his team-leading 14 assists and 19 points, but the Tommies do return Altenbernd and Krieg, who combined for 14 goals, 17 assists and 31 points. … The Tommies' eight goals this season have come from seven different players. …
Grubb — who netted one of those eight UST goals this season — has scored eight goals and added seven assists in 14 games with the Tommies. He joined the team last January. … Fielding is 21-8-2 between the pipes in his UST career with a 1.87 GAA and .923 save percentage. … Last season, UST's 1.81 GAA was fourth best in NCAA Division III. … St. Thomas is 28-2 the last three seasons when it scores three or more goals. … UST?boasted a school-record seven shutouts last season — including a 0-0 tie vs. Saint Mary's, the Tommies' first scoreless tie in more than 70 seasons.