MILWAUKEE, Wis. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's hockey team headed into Tuesday's nonconference game against Milwaukee School of Engineering riding a five-game winning streak—the longest such run since the 2005-06 season.
 
And after the first 13 minutes of their nonconference game against the Raiders—in which the Cardinals rattled off back-to-back goals—win No. 6 in a row appeared to be just a formality.
 
The Raiders, however, had other ideas.
 
MSOE rattled off five unanswered goals—including two each in both the second and third periods—as the Raiders put an end to the Cardinals' winning ways with a 5-2 victory at the Kern Center.
 
"For the first time in a while, we just did not play well today," said Saint Mary's coach Bill Moore. "Our power play struggled, and we were just out of sync. The bottom line is, we did not play teh way we are capable, and therefore, we did not deserve to win."

The Cardinals came out with a full head of steam, getting the game's first goal on a Jay Heinle (York, Pa.) tally at 7:54 of the opening period, with Jared Johnson (Hartland, Wis.) making it 2-0 on a nifty toe-drag to beat MSOE goalie Austin Campbell on a penalty shot five minutes later.
 
That two-goal advantage did not last long, however, as MSOE's Gage Christianson beat Cardinal goalie Aaron Davis (Mound, Minn.) just 21 seconds after Johnson's penalty shot goal to make it 2-1.
 
Mack Stevens netted the equalizer for the Raiders at 8:26 of the second period, beating Davis for his first collegiate tally, and MSOE had a golden opportunity to take its first lead of the game, but Davis stymied Christianson on a short-handed breakaway 12 minutes into the period.
 
The Raiders did manage to beat Davis again before the second period ended, as James Ring took a feed from Christianson and beat the Saint Mary's junior to give MSOE a 3-2 lead after 40 minutes of play.
 
MSOE padded its advantage eight minutes into the third period, as Christianson struck again, netting his second of the game on the power-play to give the Raiders a little breathing room at 4-2. Adam Arifi would tally an empty-net goal in the game's final minutes to seal the win—MSOE's seventh in their last nine nonconference games.
 
Saint Mary's held a 40-34 advantage in shots on goal, but were 0-for-5 on the power play, while the Raiders converted on two its their six power-play opportunities.
 
Davis finished with 30 saves in goal for the Cardinals, while Campbell kicked out 38 of Saint Mary's 40 shots on goal.
 
The Cardinals (5-2-2 overall) are now off until Dec. 2-3, when they return home to the Saint Mary's Ice Arena for a two-game conference series against Concordia. Saint Mary's—alone atop the MIAC standings at 4-0-0—and CC will square off at 7 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 2, with the Dec. 3 rematch slated for 2 p.m.