WINONA, Minn. — There would be no 10-goal offensive onslaught like their first meeting a year ago.
Or a nine-goal offensive barrage like meeting No. 2.
In fact, the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's hockey team—10-2 and 9-1 winners over Bethel in the teams' two-game Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference series a year ago—managed only two goals Friday evening.
And two goals suited the Cardinals just fine.
Bob Kinne (St. Paul, Minn.) and
Kyle Meeh (Fenton, Mo.) scored less than two minutes apart midway through the first period, and the Cardinals held on for a 2-1 victory over the Royals in the teams' conference opener at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.
"I thought we played very well," said Saint Mary's coach
Bill Moore. "We came out and played an exceptional first period, had a bit of a dip in the second, but then picked it up again in the third.
"It's nice to open the conference schedule with a win—now we have to keep the momentum building (in Saturday's rematch)."
Kinne continued his torrid start to the season, scoring his team-leading fourth of the season at 10:13 of the opening period, and Meeh quickly made it 2-0 less than two minutes later with his first goal in a Cardinal uniform.
Despite holding a 25-9 advantage in shots on goal midway through the second period, it was the Royals who would tally the period's only goal, as Justin Bonanno broke down the right side and ripped a shot past Cardinal goalie
Phil Heinle (York, Pa.) to cut the Saint Mary's lead to 2-1 at 12:37.
That, however, would be as close as the Royals would get, as Heinle & Co. shut the door in the third period en route to their second straight win.
Heinle finished with 17 saves in goal for the Cardinals—12 of which came in the second period—while BU goalie Joe Sheppard made 41 saves between the pipes for the Royals.
The Cardinals (1-0-0 MIAC, 2-1-2 overall) will go for a conference-opening sweep of the Royals on Saturday, heading to the Schwan's Super Rink in Blaine, Minn., for the 7 p.m. rematch.
