BLAINE, Minn. — It took the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's hockey team 20 minutes to get their offense warmed up, but once they did, Bethel had no chance.
 
The Cardinals erupted for eight unanswered goals—including two in the final nine seconds of the second period and another with one second remaining in the third—as Saint Mary's opened Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play with a 10-2 victory over the Royals at the Schwan's Super Rink.
 
"Any win on the road in this conference is a good win," said Saint Mary's coach Bill Moore, whose team is now 2-0-1 in its last three games. "I didn't think we played exceptionally well in the first period, but we really turned it up a notch in the second and third."
 
The Cardinals and Royals combined for four goals in the game's opening 20 minutes, as Bethel scored early and late—sandwiching goals at 4:22 and 18:46 around Cardinal goals from Kelvin Walz (Woodbury, Minn.) and Bob Kinne (St. Paul, Minn.).
 
Once the teams took the ice for the second period, however, there was no stopping the Cardinals, who scored four times in both the second and third periods en route to their second straight win.
 
Kinne broke the 2-2 deadlock with his second of the game at 12:45 of the second, and over the next 7:15, Kellen Wasell (Edmonds, Wash.), Jay Heinle (York, Pa.) and Chad Cesarz (Jackson, Mich.) would also find the back of the net—Heinle and Cesarz scoring seven seconds apart in the final nine seconds of the period.
 
And Saint Mary's was just getting warmed up.
 
Heinle would score twice more in the game's final 20 minutes, while Cesarz would add his second of the game and Martin Gruse (Trenton, Mich.) would also get into the scoring act for the Cardinals, whose 10-goal outburst was its highest offensive performance since netting 11 against Aurora on Dec. 6, 2014.
 
Phil Heinle (York, Pa.) did his part in goal, stopping 26 of the 28 shots he faced—including 11 in the first period and 10 more in the second—while a pair of Bethel goalies combined for 32 saves.
 
The Cardinals (1-0-0 MIAC, 2-2-1 overall) return home to the Saint Mary's Ice Arena on Saturday, hosting the Royals in the second game of the team's two-game conference series. Puck drops at 7 p.m.