WINONA, Minn. — Chad Cesarz (Jackson, Mich.) has scored 13 goals during his first season as a member of the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's hockey team.
 
And none has been bigger than lucky No. 13, as Cesarz goal with 2:47 left in overtime lifted the Cardinals to a 4-3 victory over Hamline—and into the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Playoffs for the first time since the 2003-04 season.
 
"That was a great team effort," said Saint Mary's coach Bill Moore, whose team collected its—you guessed it, 13th—win of the season with the OT victory. "Up and down the lineup, everyone did their job and (Cesarz) came up big when we needed it most."
 
The Cardinals found themselves playing catch-up in both the first and second periods, as the two teams headed into the game's final 20 minutes deadlocked at 2-2.
 
Hamline opened the scoring at 6:49, as Garrett Schmitz banged a rebound past Cardinal goal Phil Heinle (York, Pa.). It took Saint Mary's eight minutes to net the equalizer, as Taylor Portner (Andover, Minn.) got the Cardinals on the board with his seventh of the season—off assists from Jared Johnson (Hartland, Wis.) and Mike Mezzano (Woodbury, Minn.)—at 14:45.
 
It was more of the same in the second period, as the Pipers regained their one-goal advantage four minutes into the middle frame, only to have the Cardinals answer with less than two minutes remaining, as Jack Strusz (Red Wing, Minn.) rifled a slap shot from the point that beat HU goalie John Selle-Hanson for his first goal in a Saint Mary's uniform.
 
Saint Mary's grabbed its first lead of the game at 15:36 of the third period, as Cole Pierce (Grand Ledge, Mich.) recorded a power-play goal to give the Cardinals the 3-2 advantage.
 
Unfortunately, the lead lasted less than three minutes, as Hamline's Joe Rubbelke netted an unassisted tally with less than two minutes remaining to send the game into overtime—and set up Cesarz OT heroics.
 
"I'm so proud of the way this team has battled all season long," said Moore, who got multiple-point games from Portner (1 G, 1 A) and Bob Kinne (St. Paul, Minn. / 3 A). "Everyone knew what was at stake this weekend, and for them to come out and put forth the type of effort they did, that says a lot about this group."
 
A group that is led by its four graduating seniors—Bob Marx (Sioux City, Iowa), Mike Wolter (Antigo, Wis.), Jed McGlasson (Kenai, Alaska), and Christian Gaffy (Scandia, Minn.)—who played their final collegiate regular-season game Friday evening.
 
"Our seniors are the backbone of this team," praised Moore. "Their leadership and dedication to our program is second-to-none. I could not be prouder of a group of seniors—and I'm so glad their senior years are going to go on past the regular season."
 
Heinle finished with 23 saves in goal for the Cardinals, while Selle-Hanson made 29 saves for the Pipers (7-5-3 MIAC, 11-9-4 overall).
 
The Cardinals will close out their regular season on Saturday, traveling to Oscar Johnson Arena in St. Paul, Minn., for the second game of their two-game MIAC series against the Pipers. A win or tie, and Saint Mary's will earn the No. 2 seed in the five-team conference playoffs—and a home semifinal game next Saturday—while a loss would drop them to the fourth seed and a home opening-round game against the fifth seed on Thursday.