WINONA, Minn. — After playing 10 of its first 11 games on the road, the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's hockey team finally got the opportunity to play in front of their hiome crowd Friday evening.
And the Cardinals did not disappoint.
Saint Mary's erupted for four third-period goals—including
Martin Gruse's (Trenton, Mich.) second and third goals of the game—as the Cardinals rallied from a 2-1 deficit to beat St. Scholastica 5-2 in a nonconference game at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.
"That was a great team win," said Saint Mary's coach
Bill Moore. "Everyone played outstanding—I was very pleased with the effort all the way around."
But no one stood taller for the Cardinals than Gruse, who netted his team-leading eighth, ninth, and 10th goals in recording his first collegiate hat trick.
After spotting the Saints a 1-0 lead 10 minutes into the opening period, Gruse went to work, taking a feed from
Taylor Portner (Andover, Minn.) and beating CSS goalie Cory Koop on the power play at 12:28 to knot the game 1-1.
St. Scholastica scored the only goal of the second period, as Hunter Bererson rifled a shot past Saint Mary's goalie
Christian Gaffy (Scandia, Minn.) midway through the stanza to give the Saints a 2-1 advantage heading into the game's final 20 minutes.
And what a 20 minutes it was—for the Cardinals.
Gruse tied the at 10:37, and
Bob Marx (Sioux City, Iowa) would add the eventual game-winner on a rocket from the point for the Cardinals' second power-play goal with 3:24 remaining in regulation.
The Cardinals, however, were far from finished, as Gruse would complete his hat trick at 19:34, and
Jed McGlasson (Kenai, Alaska) added an empty netter 14 seconds later to complete the five-goal outburst.
Gaffy finished with 19 saves—including 10 in the opening period—while Koop stopped 28 of the 33 Cardinal shots he faced.
Saint Mary's (4-6-2) close out the nonconference portion of their schedule on Saturday, hosting Northland in a 7 p.m. contest at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.
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