Box Score  | GameDay Preview

WINONA, Minn. — Saint Mary's University men's hockey coach Bill Moore loves to play on his home rink — after all, it's an Olympic-size sheet of ice that promotes fast-paced action and lots of offensive chances.

Unless his Cardinals are playing St. Thomas, that is.

For the second straight meeting at the SMU Ice Arena, the Cardinals and Tommies found themselves embroiled in yet another defensive battle, with SMU clinging to a 1-0 lead through the game's first two periods.

Unfortunately for Moore and his Cardinals, the third period wasn't quite so defensive, as UST erupted for three third-period goals to hand SMU a 3-1 setback in the teams' Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener Friday evening.

"I thought we played very well for two periods," said Moore. "We held (St. Thomas) scoreless for five straight periods and an overtime, but it just wasn't enough — we just came out a bit flat in the third period and St. Thomas took advantage."

After a scoreless first period — making it 85 consecutive minutes without a goal between the two teams at the SMU Ice Arena — the Cardinals' Mike Wolter (Antigo, Wis.) finally broke the ice midway through the second stanza.

Wolter grabbed a Nick Nagel (Andover, Minn.) pass in front of the Tommie net and banged a shot past UST goalie Drew Fielding for his first collegiate goal, giving the Cardinals a 1-0 lead with less than 10 minutes remaining in the middle period.

While the Cardinals finally broke through in the second period, the Tommies would wait until the final 20 minutes to get their offense shifted out of neutral.

And once UST got rolling, there was just no stopping them.

Alex Altenbernd scored just 48 minutes into the third, and Thomas Williams and Michael Krieg would also find the back of the net before the period was 10 minutes old to give the Tommies a commanding 3-1 advantage.

After managing just 13 shots on goal through the first two periods combined, the Tommies peppered SMU goalie Christian Gaffy (Scandia, Minn.) with 17 shots over the game's final 20 minutes.

Gaffy, who made a career-high 36 saves in SMU's 3-2 win over St. Olaf last Sunday, finished with 27 saves Friday, while Fielding stopping 22 of the Cardinals' 23 shots.

The Cardinals (0-1-0 MIAC, 1-2-0 Overall) get another crack at the Tommies on Saturday, when the two teams square off for the second game of their two-game MIAC series at the St. Thomas Ice Arena in Mendota Heights, Minn.