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WINONA, Minn. — It had been 30 days since the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team had last played.

And, unfortunately for the Cardinals, it showed.

The Cardinals could not shake the rust of that 30-day holiday layoff, surrendering two goals in both the first and third periods in falling to Concordia (Wis.) 5-1 Friday in a nonconference game at the SMU Ice Arena.

"Obviously playing one game in the last five weeks took its toll on us," said SMU coach Bill Moore, who team had not played since a Dec. 10 contest at Lawrence. "We just didn't play up to our ability, and that's disappointing.

"And we gave up some goals tonight that we can't afford to be giving up," Moore added. "We've just got to regroup and keep battling."

The Falcons took control early, scoring two goals in the game's opening 10 minutes — the first a power-play tally by Eli Riddle at 6:54 and the second an even-strength goal by Chris Hughes less than four minutes later.

CUW pushed its lead to 3-0 47 seconds into the second period, as Riddle netted his second power-play goal of the game.

Jonathon Elliott (Bloomfield Hills, Ill.) got the Cardinals on the board midway through the second period, netting his second of the season off an assist from Andrew Ketterer (Peoria, Ill.).

That, however, would be the extent of the Cardinals' offensive attack.

The Falcons, meanwhile, were just heating up, as CUW would score a pair of goals 30 seconds apart in the second minute of the third period to put the game out of reach.

The Cardinals (5-7-0 overall) close out the nonconference portion of their schedule on Saturday, as SMU hosts Milwaukee School of Engineering in a 7 p.m. game at the SMU Ice Arena.