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WINONA, Minn. — Saint Mary's University men's hockey coach Bill Moore must have felt like reciting the old saying — “If it weren't for bad luck, the Cardinals would have no luck at all.”

And the bad luck was pretty bad.

How bad?

The Cardinals gave up a goal when a puck was rung around the boards, hit a seam by where the Zamboni doors and bounced right out in front of the net, where Gustavus' Ryan Johnson scored into the empty net.

And that was just the beginning.

The Cardinals lost two of their six defensemen to season-ending injuries — and to top it off, the came out on the short end of a 4-1 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference decision to Gustavus at the SMU Ice Arena.

“It's tough to lose a game like that — we just couldn't catch a break,” said Moore. “It was like a night of bad luck and bad bounces. I didn't think we played all that poorly, (Gustavus) took advantage of a couple of breaks and that was the difference.”

After a scoreless first period, the Gusties scored two goals in less than a minute, as Brenden Baker beat SMU goalie Jason Horstman (Faribault, Minn.) with a wrist shot at 7:30, and Johnson made it 2-0 with his lucky-bounce goal 50 seconds later.

Jack Walsh pushed GAC's lead to 3-0 midway through the second period, before Bob Marx (Sioux City, Iowa) got the Cardinals on the board with his fifth goal of the season — a power play tally assisted by Bobby Thompson (Centerville, Minn.).

That, however, would be the extent of the Cardinals' offense, as GAC's Corey Leivermann sealed the Gusties' win with his second of the season at 18:36 of the third.

“We've got to put this game behind us and get ready for (Saturday),” said Moore, whose team heads to the Don Roberts Ice Arena in St. Peter, Minn., for Saturday's 7:05 p.m. rematch with the Gusties. “We didn't do ourselves any favors (in the playoff hunt), but we're still right in the thick of things.

“We've just got to go out and get the job done (on Saturday).”