WINONA, Minn. — When the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's hockey team squared off against UW-Eau Claire a year ago, the Blugolds entered the nonconference showdown unbeaten in its first two games of the season and ranked No. 8 in the USCHO.com poll.
 
And the Cardinals promptly battled the nation's eighth-ranked team to a 3-3 deadlock.
 
Fast-forward 363 days.
 
Saint Mary's and UW-Eau Claire hit the ice for another nonconference matchup Friday evening, and once again the Blugolds were unbeaten in their first two games—and ranked No. 8 in the USCHO.com poll.
 
And the game had an eerily similar feel—and outcome.
 
Unlike a year ago—when Bob Kinne (St. Paul, Minn.) scored with less than three minutes remaining in regulation to earn the Cardinals the 3-3 tie—this time around, the Cardinals needed to dig themselves out of a rather large.
 
Which is exactly what they did, scoring three unanswered goals—including the game-tying tally by Alex DiBacco (Darien, Ill.) five minutes into the third period, lifting Saint Mary's to its second straight 3-3 tie against the Blugolds.
 
"That was a great character-building win," said Saint Mary's coach Bill Moore, whose team has now gone into overtime in all three games this season. "We could have easily thrown in the towel down 3-0, but the guys kept battling—and they were rewarded for those efforts."
 
The Blugolds got on the board first, as Adam Knochemus scored his first of the season, taking a back-door pass from Patrick Moore and putting it past Cardinal goalie Phil Heinle (York, Pa.).
 
The Cardinals almost got out of the period with a one-goal deficit, but Jacob Wolter beat Heinle—and the clock—scoring with 37 seconds remaining to push the Blugold lead to 2-0 after the game's opening 20 minutes.
 
UW-Eau Claire took advantage of an early Saint Mary's penalty to pad its lead to 3-0, as Jake Hopfner found the back of the net two minutes into the second period.
 
The Blugolds' three-goal lead lasted less than two minutes, however, as Taylor Portner (Andover, Minn.) got the Cardinals on the board with his first of the season, rifling a shot over the shoulder of UW-Eau Claire goalie Jay Deo to make it a 3-1 game.
 
And the Cardinals weren't finished, getting a goal by Bob Kinne (St. Paul, Minn.)—his second of the season—off assists from Mike Mezzano (Woodbury, Minn.) and Jared Johnson (Hartland, Wis.) at 14:16 to pull Saint Mary's within one, 3-2, heading into the game's final 20 minutes.
 
Saint Mary's would net its third straight goal at 5:16 of the third period, as DiBacco recorded his first goal as a Cardinal, blasting a shot from the blue line that snuck through Deo's pads and into the net to knot the game at 3-3.
 
Heinle certainly did his part to preserve the tie, stopping a pair of third-period breakaways—including stoning the Blugolds' Jesse Tredinnick with less than six minutes remaining in regulation—and adding another breakaway save midway through the overtime session.
 
Heinle, making his second start of the season—and earning his second 3-3 tie of the season—finished with 23 saves between the pipes for the Cardinals, while Deo stopped 35 of the Cardinals' 38 shots.
 
The Cardinals (0-1-2 overall) are right back in action on Saturday, hosting UW-River Falls in a 7 p.m. nonconference game at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.