Box Score  | GameDay Preview

ST. PETER, Minn. — Saint Mary's University men's hockey coach Bill Moore was certain of one thing — if the Cardinals were going to be successful against league-leading Gustavus Friday, they needed to get off to a good start.

Giving up a goal in the game's opening minute — and three in the first 20 minutes — wasn't exactly what he had in mind.

Gustavus scored the game's first four goals — including those three in the opening period — en route to a 4-1 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory over the Cardinals at the Don Roberts Ice Arena.

"We can't keep digging ourselves into early holes like that," said Moore, whose team fell behind Bethel 3-0, before falling 4-3 last Saturday. "That's the second game in a row we've given up a goal on our opponent's first shot.

"We've got to find a way to get off to a quicker start — trying to play catch-up like that is just so tough in this league."

Corey Leivermann wasted little time getting the Gusties on the board, scoring his team-leading 11th of the season just 1:07 into the opening period. Nate Paulson and Adam Smyth also found the back of the net in the game's opening 20 minutes, as Gustavus took a commanding three-goal cushion into the locker room after the first period.

Gustavus would push that advantage to 4-0 eight minutes into the second period on a goal by Joncarlo Westerlund, before Bob Marx (Sioux City, Iowa) finally got SMU on the board with his team-leading seventh of the season nine minutes into the third period.

The Cardinals (2-5-1 MIAC, 6-9-1 overall) get another shot at the Gusties on Saturday, as the two teams head to the SMU Ice Arena for a 7 p.m. conference contest.