NORTHFIELD, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's hockey team is back in Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play on Saturday, as the Cardinals head to the Northfield Ice Arena for a 7:30 p.m. rematch with St. Olaf.
 
The Matchup:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (3-0-0 MIAC, 4-1-2 Overall) at St. Olaf Oles (0-3-0 MIAC, 1-6-0 Overall)
 
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Last Night:
• Chad Cesarz (Jackson, Mich.) scored a pair of goals in leading the Cardinals to their fourth straight win, as Saint Mary's beat the Oles 4-3 at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. St. Olaf—A Year Ago:
• November 20, 2015 * Northfield, Minn.: Saint Mary's was less than two minutes away from its third straight Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory Friday evening. And then the Oles snatched the victory from the Cardinals' grasp. St. Olaf scored the game-tying goal with 1:24 remaining in regulation, as the two teams battled to a 4-4 conference tie—with the Oles grabbing the extra conference point via a 2-0 win in the shootout | Recap
• November 21, 2015 * Winona, Minn.: This time around, Saint Mary's wasn't about to let their first-period lead slip away. Jay and Phil Heinle (York, Pa.) made sure of that. Jay Heinle scored twice and brother Phil stopped 18 of the 19 shots he faced in leading the Cardinals to a 3-1 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory over St. Olaf at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena | Recap
 
Up Next:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals step out of conference play on Tuesday, heading to the Kern Center in Milwaukee, Wis., for a 7:05 p.m. nonconference game against Milwaukee School of Engineering.
• St. Olaf: The Oles return home to the Northfield Ice Arena in Northfield, Minn., next weekend for a pair of nonconference games. St. Olaf entertains Lawrence in a 7:30 p.m. contest on Friday, before hosting Marian at 2:30 p.m. the following day.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2016-17 Roster | 2016-17 Statistics | 2016-17 Schedule
• With Friday's 4-3 win over St. Olaf, the Cardinals have now won four straight and are unbeaten in their last five (4-0-1). … Including Friday's win over St. Olaf, five of Saint Mary's seven games this season have been decided by one goal or less—the exceptions, a pair of two goal victories over UW-River Falls (5-3) and Bethel (4-2). … Chad Cesarz (Jackson, Mich.) scored a pair of goals against St. Olaf on Friday night, while Taylor Portner (Andover, Minn.) and Landon Farrell (Rochester, Minn.) accounted for the other two. … Cesarz has now scored six goals in seven games against St. Olaf—the junior netted his first collegiate hat trick vs. the Oles in 2014-15, and added a goal and an assist last year. … Cesarz—who now owns four multiple-goal games—is the third Saint Mary's player to record a two-goal game this season, joining Jay Heinle (York, Pa.) and Kelvin Walz (Woodbury, Minn.), who each posted two-goal games against UW-River Falls on Nov. 5. … Walz's two-goal game against UW-River Falls was the first multiple-goal game of his career. … Portner has now scored a goal in each of Saint Mary's last two games. … Bob Kinne (St. Paul, Minn.) has scored a goal in four of the team's seven games—and has had at least one point in six of those seven contests. … Along with his team-leading four goals, Kinne also owns a team-high seven points—one more than Martin Gruse (Trenton, Mich.) and Nick Albergo (Elmhurst, Ill.). Albergo has dished out a team-high six assists, with Gruse close behind with five. … Saint Mary's 23 goals have come from 13 different players—including collegiate firsts from Kyle Meeh (Fenton, Mo.), Andrew Cummings (Anchorage, Alaska), Alex DiBacco (Darien, Ill.) and Joey Mavrin (Lockport, Ill.). … Fifteen different players have accounted for Saint Mary's 35 assists. … Albergo and Gruse each picked up assists on three of Saint Mary's five goals vs. UW-River Falls on Nov. 5. It was the fourth time in his collegiate career Gruse has had a three-assist night, while Albergo's was his first. … Phil Heinle (York, Pa.) picked up his third straight win in goal Friday night against St. Olaf, stopping 21 of the 24 shots he faced. … Heinle stopped a season-high 38 shots against Bethel last Saturday. … Heinle is now unbeaten (3-0-2) in his five starts this season. … Aaron Davis (Mound, Minn.) finished with 28 saves against UW-River Falls on Nov. 5 en route to his first win in a Cardinal uniform. … Heinle heads into Saturday's rematch against St. Olaf owning a 2.33 goals-against-average and a .912 save percentage. … Saint Mary's has scored six power-play goals this season. On the flip side, the Cardinals have allowed just four power-play goals in 21 chances. … The Cardinals have now scored first in all four of their wins this season. … Saint Mary's has outscored its opponents 8-5 in the first period, and 7-2 in the third, but have been outscored 9-7 in the second. … Three of the Cardinals' seven games this season have gone into overtime—Saint Mary's opened the year with a 3-3 tie against St. Thomas and a 3-2 OT loss to Concordia, before battling UW-Eau Claire to a 3-3 deadlock last Friday. … With their 3-3 tie against No. 8 UW-Eau Claire, Saint Mary's is now 0-2-4 in their last six overtime games. The Cardinals' last OT win was a 4-3, double-overtime victory over Concordia in the 2015 MIAC Playoffs. … The Cardinals' 3-3 tie against UW-Eau Claire on Nov. 4 marked the second straight meeting between the two teams that has ended in a 3-3 deadlock.
 
Scouting The St. Olaf Oles:
2016-17 Roster | 2016-17 Statistics | 2016-17 Schedule
• The Oles' 6-0 win over UW-Superior on Nov. 11 was their first win of the season—snapping a season-opening four-game losing streak. … Friday's game against Saint Mary's was the fifth road game of the season for the Oles. … The Oles' six goals in their 6-0 win over UW-Superior on Nov. 11 were a season-high. … After scoring a combined four goals in their first three games, St. Olaf has netted 17 goals in its last four contests. … The Oles have now allowed four or more goals in six of their first seven games this season—including a season-high five goals in losses to Saint John's (5-2), Hamline (5-4), and UW-Stout (5-4). … Patrick Sivets scored two of the Oles' three goals in Friday's loss to Saint Mary's, while Will Dittrich netted the other. … Steven Sherman had two goals and an assist, while J.T. Paine added a goal and two assists in the Oles' 6-0 win over UW-Superior on Nov. 11. … Dittrich has now scored a goal in each of St. Olaf's last three games. … Sherman is the team-leader in assists (6) and points (8). … Sivets, J.T. Paine, Drew Otto, and Tobias Gabrielsen are all tied for second in points with six each. … 
 
Nine of the Oles' 21 goals have come on special teams—St. Olaf owns seven power-play goals and two shorthanded tallies. … Jude Hull, who made 37 saves in recording the shutout win vs. UW-Superior on Nov. 11, finished with 27 saves against Saint Mary's on Friday. … Hull and Eric Hancock have shared the goaltending duties this season. Hancock owns a 4.43 goals-against-average and .870 save percentage in four games played, while Hull boasts a 3.03 GAA and .917 save percentage in three games. … St. Olaf has scored nine of its 21 goals in the second period, while netting five goals in the first and six in the third. … The Oles have been outscored 11-6 over the game's final 20 minutes. … St. Olaf is 1-1-0 when scoring first, but winless (0-5-0) when its opponent nets the game's first goal. … St. Olaf's 6-0 win over UW-Superior last Friday was the first victory under head coach Mike Eaves.