SUPERIOR, Wis. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's hockey team certainly didn't show any first-game jitters Friday evening.
 
The Cardinals opened their 2015-16 season in impressive fashion, getting a pair of goals from Jane Hannula (Coon Rapids, Minn.) and cruising to a 5-2 nonconference win over the Yellowjackets at Wessman Arena.
 
"That's the best we've looked offensively in a long, long time," said Saint Mary's coach Terry Mannor. "We moved our feet, worked the system and, quite simply, played unselfish hockey.
 
"To score five goals in our first game of the season, that's definitely a positive start," Mannor added. "Hopefully we can keep that momentum rolling (in the teams' rematch) Saturday."
 
The Cardinals drew first blood, getting a goal from Jamie Henderson (Madison, Wis.) midway through the opening period, as the Cardinal sophomore took a feed from McKenna Parent (Anoka, Minn.) and beat UW-Superior goalie Kim Kobar.
 
Saint Mary's took that one-goal advantage into the locker room after 20 minutes, but just 1:20 into the middle stanza, UW-Superior tied things up on a goal by Hailey Adair.
 
And the Yellowjackets were just getting warmed up, as UW-Superior scored its second goal in the first five minutes of the second period to grab its first lead of the game, 2-1.
 
That lead was short-lived, however, as Kassie Lien (Grantsburg, Wis.) pulled the Cardinals even with her first of the year, with Henderson collecting the assist.
 
From there, it was the Hannula Show, as the junior sandwiched a pair of goals around a third-period tally from Molly Abraham (Madison, Wis.) to seal the win for the Cardinals.
 
Tori Herrmann (Elk River, Minn.) finished with 36 saves in goal for the Cardinals—including 18 of those in the game's opening 20 minutes—while a pair of UW-Superior goalies stopped 35 of the 40 shots they faced.
 
The Cardinals (1-0-0 overall) and Yellowjackets return to Wessman Arena on Saturday, squaring off in a 2 p.m. nonconference matchup.