MENDOTA HEIGHTS, Minn. — If Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's hockey coach Terry Mannor had his way, a collegiate hockey game would be 55 minutes long, rather than 60.
 
And the five minutes he would eliminate would be between the five- and 10-minute marks of the third period.
 
St. Thomas—ranked No. 4 in the latest USCHO.com national poll—scored a pair of goals in that five-minute span in the third period to break open a 1-1 tie and lift the Tommies to a 3-1 win over Saint Mary's at the St. Thomas Ice Arena.
 
"It was a bit of an up-and-down game for us today," said Saint Mary's coach Terry Mannor. "I thought we played very well in the first period, but then we stopped moving our feet and reaching—and when we do that, we are not a very good team."
 
After a scoreless first period, Jamie Henderson (Madison, Wis.) continued to have the goal-scoring Midas Touch for the Cardinals, as the sophomore scored her team-leading ninth goal of the season—and seventh in the Cardinals' last nine games—to give Saint Mary's a 1-0 lead midway through the second period.
 
The Cardinal lead, however, lasted just 37 seconds, as St. Thomas answered on a power-play goal by Courtney Umland at 11:21.
 
The score remained deadlocked until the 5:32 mark of the third period, when Kathryn Larson beat Saint Mary's goalie Tori Hermann (Elk River, Minn.) for her eighth of the season.
 
Less than five minutes later, Kaylee Druk found the back of the net to give the Tommies all the offense they would need.
 
Herrmann finished with a season-high 38 saves—including 15 in the second period—while UST goalie Mackenzie Torpy collected 16 saves in goal for the Tommies.
 
The Cardinals (3-3-1 MIAC, 4-8-1 overall) will get another shot at the Tommies on Sunday, hosting UST in a 2 p.m. conference contest at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.