WINONA, Minn. — Due to a compressor malfunction, the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's hockey team had to wait an extra day to play its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Playoff semifinal against Concordia.
 
And for the Cardinals, it was worth the wait … 
 
And the wait … 
 
And the wait … 
 
The Cardinals needed 60 minutes of regulation—and 21:05 of overtime—to get past visiting Concordia, getting the game-winning goal from Martin Gruse (Trenton, Mich.) 1:05 into the second OT in handing the Cobbers a 4-3 setback at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.
 
And, more importantly, earning the Cardinals a spot in the MIAC Playoff championship game for the first time since the 1994-95 season.
 
"What a great game," said Saint Mary's coach Bill Moore, whose Cardinals will square off against Hamline for the playoff crown on Saturday at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena. "It's one of those games where you hate to see either team lose—but our guys battled hard, they worked from start to finish and I can't be happier for them.
 
"It's been a great ride to this point—and no one on this team is ready for it to end."
 
After a scoreless first period—thanks in part to Cardinal goalie Phil Heinle's (York, Pa.) 11 saves in the opening 20 minutes—Saint Mary's would strike first, as Bob Kinne (St. Paul, Minn.) netted his fourth goal in the last three games just 3:53 into the middle frame.
 
The Cobbers would answer, as Jeremy Johnson found the back of the net for CC's first of the game, knotting things up at 1-1 at 7:29.
 
Saint Mary's would regain the lead with less than three minutes remaining, as Taylor Portner (Andover, Minn.) scored his eighth of the season to give the Cardinals a 2-1 lead heading into the third period.
 
Concordia needed just 2:01 to make it a 2-2 game on a goal by Jordie Bancroft, but the Cardinals needed just seven seconds to regain the lead, as Joey VanAntwerp (Farmington Hills, Mich.) beat Concordia goalie Jordyn Kaufer with a wrist shot to put Saint Mary's back on top 3-2.
 
The game would remain deadlocked until the 13:11 mark, when Jon Grebosky grabbed a loose puck and rifled a wrist shot past Heinle to once again tie the game, 3-3—and send it into overtime.
 
Kaufer stole the show in the game's first extra session, as the Cobber goalie made 19 of his 39 saves in the 20-minute period to keep the game deadlocked.
 
And it didn't take long in the extra session for Gruse to do what he does best. Gruse found a loose puck in front of the Concordia net and scored his team-leading 19th goal of the season to send the Cardinals onto the title game.
 
"I told the guys after the first overtime that the winning goal didn't have to be a pretty one—just keep shooting and crashing the net," said Moore, whose Cardinals improved to 15-9-3 overall—the most wins since Saint Mary's went 15-11-1 during the 1996-97 campaign. "And that's exactly what they did on the game-winner."