WINONA, Minn.  — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's hockey team returns to the Saint Mary's Ice Arena Saturday—with the conference playoff title and an automatic berth into the NCAA Division III National Tournament on the line—as the Cardinals host Hamline in the MIAC Playoff championship game. Opening face-off is set for 7 p.m.
 
The Matchup:
• #2 Saint Mary's Cardinals (15-9-2 Overall) vs. #5 Hamline Pipers (13-10-4 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
Live Stats * Live Video | Video Preview | GameDay Playoff Program | MIAC Playoff Homepage
 
Ticket Information:
Cost: Adults $7 | Students (w/ID) $3
• Because this is an MIAC-sponsored event, only MIAC Passes will be accepted

MIAC Playoff Schedule:
Quarterfinal: Thursday, Feb. 26
No. 5 Hamline 4, No. 4 Augsburg 3 | Box Score | Recap
Semifinal: Saturday, Feb. 28
No. 5 Hamline 6, No. 1 St. Thomas 3 | Box Score | Recap
Semifinal: Sunday, March 1 
No. 2 Saint Mary's 4, No. 3 Concordia 3 (2 OT) | Box Score | Recap
Championship: Saturday, March 7 | 7 p.m.
No. 5 Hamline at No. 2 Saint Mary's | Winona, Minn.
 
How They Got Here:
#2 Saint Mary's: The Cardinals earned the No. 2 seed with back-to-back one-goal wins over Hamline on Feb. 20-21, before outlasting Concordia 4-3 in double overtime last Sunday in a conference tournament semifinal.
#5 Hamline: The Pipers have already collected a pair of MIAC Playoff upsets, scoring three, third-period goals to slip past #4 Augsburg 4-3, before netting three goals in the game's final four minutes in knocking off top-seeded St. Thomas 6-3 last Saturday.
 
Saint Mary's vs. Hamline—Earlier This Year:
• February 20, 2015: Chad Cesarz (Jackson, Mich.) has scored 13 goals during his first season as a member of the Saint Mary's 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. | Recap
• February 21, 2015: The Cardinals erupted for five goals in the first two periods, then held off a furious Hamline third-period comeback to beat the Pipers 5-4 at the Oscar Johnson Ice Arena, earning Saint Mary's a second-place finish in the MIAC standings—and the coveted No. 2 seed in the conference playoffs | Recap
 
What's At Stake:
• The winner of Saturday's MIAC Playoff championship game between the Cardinals and the Pipers earns the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA Division III National Tournament.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2014-15 Roster | 2014-15 Schedule | 2014-15 Statistics
The Cardinals are making their first appearance in the MIAC Playoff championship game since the league went to its current tournament format in 2001-02. … Saint Mary's—which is making its first post-season appearance since the 2003-04 season—has not appeared in the MIAC tournament championship game since the 1994-95 season, when the Cardinals captured their last conference tournament title by beating St. Thomas 5-4 and 8-6. … Saint Mary's second-place finish in the regular-season standings was its highest since placing second during the 1994-95 season, when the Cardinals went 11-4-1 and finished one game behind St. Thomas. … With their win over Concordia last Saturday, Saint Mary's improved to 15-9-2—the Cardinals' most wins since going 15-11-1 during the 1996-97 campaign. … Saint Mary's heads into Saturday's MIAC title game against Hamline having won 12 of its last 15. … Four of the Cardinals' last five games have been decided by one goal—including three overtime victories. … The Cardinals have played seven overtime games this season—not to mention their first double-overtime game in the last two decades. Saint Mary's went to a shootout vs. both St. Thomas and Saint John's, while beating Concordia (twice) and Hamline, and dropping 2-1 and 3-2 OT decisions to Gustavus and nationally ranked UW-Stevens Point, respectively. … Saint Mary's 2-1 overtime loss to Gustavus on Jan. 24 snapped the Cardinals' season-high five-game winning streak. … The five consecutive wins were not only a season high, but also the longest winning streak since late in the 2005-06 season, when they put together a six-game winning streak. … Bob Kinne (St. Paul, Minn.) scored one of Saint Mary's four goals in last Sunday's double-OT win over Concordia, giving the sophomore seven points—four goals and three assists—in his last three games. … Kinne—who notched his first collegiate three-assist game vs. Hamline on Feb. 20, before recording his first collegiate three-goal game vs. the Pipers a day later—has now recorded at least one point in eight straight games—owning 15 points (7 G, 8 A) during that stretch. … Martin Gruse (Trenton, Mich.) had a goal and an assist against Concordia last Sunday, and enters Saturday's conference tournament title game as the team-leader in goals (19), assists (19) and points (38). … Gruse's 19 goals—including four-game winners—are the most by a Cardinal since the 2002-03 season, when Al Schumacher scored 19, while his 38 points are the most since Frank Savino, Nate DeMars, and Randy Gallatin finished with 62, 61, and 40 points, respectively, during the 1996-97 season. … Gruse's 19 goals and 38 points rank No. 1 in the MIAC and are among the top 10 in all of NCAA Division III. … Gruse has recorded 10 multiple-point games through Saint Mary's first 26 contests. … The Cardinals boast 11 players—Gruse (38), Jed McGlasson (20), Taylor Portner (Andover, Minn. / 20), Kinne (20), Mike Mezzano (Woodbury, Minn. / 20), Chad Cesarz (Jackson, Mich. / 19), Bob Marx (Sioux City, Iowa / 18), Kelvin Walz (Woodbury, Minn. / 17), Nick Albergo (Elmhurst, Ill. / 12), Kellen Wasell (Edmonds, Wash. / 12), and Jared Johnson (Hartland, Wis.)—with 10 or more points. … The Cardinals have recorded five hat tricks this season, the most in program history over the past two decades. Kinne's three-goal effort in Saint Mary's regular-season finale vs. Hamline was the latest. Gruse netted three goals against St. Scholastica and four vs. Bethel, while Portner notched his first collegiate three-goal game vs. Northland on Jan. 10 and Cesarz scored three times vs. St. Olaf on Jan. 31. … Gruse's four-goal effort vs. Bethel was the Cardinals' first since Mike Glaesmer netted four against Hamline on Dec. 6, 2008. … The Cardinals boast 14 players who have netted their first collegiate goals this season—Kinne, Cesarz, Wasell, Portner, Walz, Johnson, Cole Pierce (Grand Ledge, Mich.), Johnny Morales (Torrance, Calif.), Connor Langfield (Rosemount, Minn.), Jack Strusz (Red Wing, Minn.), Joey Van Antwerp (Farmington Hills, Ill.), Michael Cimba (Wilmette, Ill.), Kyle Blondin (Kent, Wash.), and Jude Warner (Pickerington, Ohio). … The Cardinals' 11 goals in their 11-2 rout of Aurora on Dec. 6 were a season high—and the most scored in a game since Saint Mary's netted 14 in a 14-3 rout of Concordia during the 2007-08 season. … Saint Mary's 95 goals have come from 19 different players, while 22 Cardinals have notched at least one point. … Phil Heinle (York, Pa.)—who has started 23 of the team's 26 games—enters Saturday's game against Hamline owning a 2.59 goals-against-average and a .920 save percentage, while Christian Gaffy (Scandia, Minn.) boasts a 4.13 GAA and an .841 save percentage in three starts. … Heinle has recorded three shutouts this season—stopping all 34 shots vs. Augsburg on Feb. 6, posting a 31-save performance against St. Olaf on Jan. 30, and tallying a 32-save effort against Gustavus on Jan. 23. … Heinle, who has made 30 or more saves 11 times this season, recorded a career-high 51 saves against Saint John's on Nov. 21. … Heinle's 51 saves are the most by a Cardinal goalie since Jason Horstman stopped 52 shots against Gustavus on Feb. 19, 2011. … The Cardinals' 1-0 win in the shootout vs. St. Thomas on Nov. 8 was their first shootout in the two years since the MIAC added it to the end of tied games prior to the 2013-14 season. … The Cardinals are 12-3-2 when scoring the game's first goal, while going just 2-6-0 when their opponent scores first. … Saint Mary's has outscored its opponents in all three periods—including 39-30 in the game's final 20 minutes. … With their 4-3 overtime win over Hamline on Feb. 20, the Cardinals improved to 6-0-2 in conference play on Friday nights. The Cardinals finished 8-2-2 overall in Friday games this season. … The Cardinals' last two Friday games both ended in 4-3 overtime victories.
 
Scouting The Hamline Pipers:
2014-15 Roster | 2014-15 Schedule | 2014-15 Statistics
The Pipers, who are making their first MIAC Playoff appearance since the 2010-11 season, enter Saturday's championship game having won back-to-back road playoff games. … Hamline is looking to make its second NCAA tournament appearance in program history with a win on Saturday. The Pipers qualified for the national tournament after winning the MIAC Playoff crown in 2010-11, beating UW-Superior, before falling to eventual national champion St. Norbert. … After winning just three games in 2013-14, the Pipers head into Saturday's showdown against Saint Mary's owning a 13-10-4 overall record. … Last Saturday's 6-3 MIAC Playoff semifinal win over St. Thomas snapped a streak of five straight one-goal games for the Pipers, who have had 14 of their 27 games decided by one goal or less. … HU's 4-3 loss to Saint Mary's on Feb. 20 was the Pipers' seventh overtime game of the season—Hamline is 1-2-4 in those seven contests. … Charlie Adams enters Saturday's game at Saint Mary's as the team-leader in goals (18) and points (31). … Adams' 18 goals are second in the MIAC behind the 19 of Saint Mary's Martin Gruse. … Adams, who had a pair of assists in the Pipers' semifinal win over St. Thomas, has recorded at least one point in six straight games—compiling 11 points (6 G, 5 A) during that stretch. … Adams scored a season-high four goals in the Pipers' 6-5 win over Saint Kohn's on Feb. 6. … Brandon Zurn is second to Adams in both goals (13) and opints (30), while Joe Rubbelke owns a team-best 18 assists. … Adams and Zurn are two of nine Hamline players with 10 or more points. … Adams has netted a team-leading four game-winning goals, while he and Kevin Novakovich have accounted for Hamline's two hat tricks. … John Sellie-Hanson has appeared in 26 of the team's 27 games in goal—including 23 starts. He owns a 2.96 goals-against-average and a .913 save percentage. … Sellie-Hanson has made 722 saves and boasts an 11-8-2 overall record. … Hamline has outscored its opponents 24-21 in the first period and 37-30 in the third—but the Pipers have been outscored 32-21 in the game's middle period. … Hamline has scored first in 16 of its 27 games, going 9-4-3 when netting the game's first goal. HU is 4-6-1 when its opponent gets on the board first.