BLAINE, Minn. — They squared off in the championship game of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Playoffs a year ago, so it was fitting that the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota and Hamline men's hockey teams would square off in the season-opening MIAC Hockey Showcase.
 
Unfortunately for Saint Mary's, Sunday's meeting at the Schwan's Super Rink didn't not end favorably for the Cardinals—again.
 
Hamline—which beat Saint Mary's 4-2 to win the conference tournament a year ago—scored seven power-play goals and added a shorthanded tally in handing the Cardinals an 8-5 setback.
 
"Our special teams play was not very good today," said Saint Mary's coach Bill Moore, whose Cardinals made things interesting by scoring four third-period goals to make it a three-goal game. "I was very pleased with our play 5-on-5, but we did not do a very good job on the penalty kill.
 
"I give our guys a lot of credit, they never threw in the towel—which would have been easy to do down 8-1 after two periods," Moore added. "They battled to the final whistle, which says a lot about the never-give-up attitude of this team."
 
The Pipers got on the board first as Charlie Adams beat Saint Mary's goalie Jake Hebda (Firestone, Colo.) off a rebound with 4:47 remaining in the opening period.
 
That lead lasted all of 26 seconds, however, as Taylor Portner (Andover, Minn.) netted his first of the season  off assists from Jay Heinle (York, Pa.) and Jared Johnson (Hartland, Wis.)
 
The Pipers took advantage of a Saint Mary's turnover late in a Cardinal power play, getting a shorthanded goal from Bandon Zurn with 1:57 remaining to give Hamline a 2-1 lead after the game's opening 20 minutes.
 
The second period was all Hamline, as the Pipers scored six power-play goals—including four during a five-minute man advantage.
 
Zurn—who tallied two of the Pipers' four goals in last year's playoff win over the Cardinals—scored three times in the middle stanza, while Mitch McPherson, Jake O'Brien, and Tyler Gonzales also found the back of the net to give HU a commanding 8-1 advantage heading into the final period.
 
Saint Mary's dominated the game's final 20 minutes, outshooting the Pipers 17-6—and getting goals form Kelvin Walz (Woodbury, Minn.), Nick Albergo (Elmhurst, Ill.), Jude Warner (Pickerington, Ohio), and Jay Heinle (York, Pa.)—but it was too little, too late as the Cardinals dropped their second straight contest.
 
Jake Hebda (Firestone, Colo.) and Jake Tugnutt (Douro Dummer, Ontario) both saw action between the pipes for the Cardinals, with Hebda stopping 21 of the 28 shots he faced, while Tugnutt made 10 saves, and allowed just one second-period goal.
 
The Cardinals are back in action next weekend, taking on UW-Eau Claire and UW-River Falls in a pair of nonconference road games. Saint Mary's heads to Eau Claire, Wis., for a 7 p.m. game against the Blugolds on Friday, before squaring off against UW-River Falls in a 7:05 contest in River Falls, Wis., a day later.