WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's hockey team returns home to the Saint Mary's Ice Arena on Friday, as the Cardinals entertain Saint John's in the first game of their two-game Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference series. Opening faceoff is set for 7 p.m.
 
The Matchup:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (6-7-1 MIAC | 9-12-2 Overall) vs. Saint John's Johnnies (6-4-2 MIAC | 8-9-4 Overall)
 
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Last Action:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals earned a conference split in their two MIAC games against Gustavus last weekend—with both teams winning on the road. Saint Mary's collected a 4-1 win in St. Peter, Minn., last Friday, before the Gusties turned the tables with a 5-2 win at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena a day later | GAC Recap 1 * GAC Recap 2
• Saint John's: The Johnnies battled St. Thomas to a pair of 2-2 conference ties last weekend—with St. Thomas winning the shootout 1-0 last Friday in St. Cloud, Minn., while Saint John's took the extra conference point with a 4-3 shootout win a day later in Mendota Heights, Minn. | UST Recap 1 * UST Recap 2
 
Saint Mary's vs. Saint John's—A Year Ago:
• November 21, 2014 * St. Cloud, Minn.: Just two weeks after beating nationally ranked St. Thomas in a shootout in the first game of their two-game conference series, the Cardinals were at it again—with the same result. After battling the Johnnies—who came into the weekend unbeaten and ranked No. 15 in the latest USCHO.com poll—to a 2-2 deadlock through 60 minutes of regulation and a five-minute overtime period, Nick Albergo (Elmhurst, Ill.) and Martin Gruse (Trenton, Mich.) came through with goals in the shootout, lifting the Cardinals to the victory—and the extra conference point | Recap
• November 22, 2014 * St. Cloud, Minn.: The third period was not kind to Saint Mary's in its rematch with Saint John's, as the Johnnies erupted for three third-period goals in dealing Saint Mary's a 4-2 conference setback at the Municipal Athletic Complex | Recap
 
Up Next:
• The Cardinals and Johnnies complete their two-game conference series on Saturday. Game time is slated for 2 p.m. at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2015-16 Roster | 2015-16 Statistics | 2015-16 Schedule
• Friday's game against Saint John's is the second of three straight home contests for the Cardinals, who own a 6-5-0 record on their home ice this season. … Saint Mary's currently holds down the fifth and final MIAC Playoff spot—one point behind No. 4 Concordia, two points behind No. 3 Saint John's, and four points in front of Hamline and St. Olaf. Saint Mary's and Hamline have just two regular-season games left, while the rest of the league has four games to play. … The Cardinals snapped their two-game losing streak with last Friday's 4-1 win over Gustavus. … The Gusties' one goal on Friday marked the third time this season Saint Mary's has held a team to a season-low one goal. … Nick Albergo (Elmhurst, Ill.) scored a pair of goals against Gustavus in last Friday's 4-1 win, while Jay Heinle (York, Pa.) accounted for both Cardinal goals in last Saturday's 5-2 loss. … Jared Johnson (Hartland, Wis.) and Jude Warner (Pickerington, Ohio) netted last Friday's other two tallies. … Heinle's two-goal game was his third of the season—and his career—while Albergo's two-goal effort was his second of the season and fourth of his career. … Martin Gruse (Trenton, Mich.)—who collected assists in both games vs. the Gusties last weekend and has recorded at least one point in 16 of the team's 23 games—recorded his third multiple-goal game of the season with two goals against Hamline on Jan. 23. … Gruse owns seven multiple-goal games in his career. … After not scoring a goal in his first year as a Cardinal, Heinle leads the team with 16 goals, three more than Gruse. … Gruse—who posted the third four-point game of his collegiate career against Bethel on Nov. 13—leads the team in assists (17) and points (30). … Gruse is one of eight Cardinals with at least 10 points this season—Bob Kinne (St. Paul, Minn. / 25), Heinle (23),  Johnson (18), Chad Cesarz (Jackson, Mich. / 16), Albergo (16), Kellen Wasell (Edmonds, Wash. / 14), and Kelvin Walz (Woodbury, Minn. / 14) are the others. … Drew DePalma (Armada, Mich.) became the third Cardinal to score his first collegiate goal with his first-period tally against Hamline on Jan. 22.  Heinle and Landon Farrell (Rochester, Minn.) have also scored their first goals as a Cardinal this season. … Kinne recorded three assists in the Cardinals' 5-3 win over Hamline on Jan. 23. It was the second time in his collegiate career he has had three assists in a game—the first time was also against Hamline on Feb. 20, 2015. … Saint Mary's has had a player dish out three assists in a game four times this season—Gruse has done it twice, while Kinne and Kellen Wasell (Edmonds, Wash.) each achieved the feat once. … The Cardinals have recorded three hat tricks this season—Kinne scored three times against Aurora on Nov. 29, while Heinle posted his first collegiate hat trick against Bethel on Nov. 13, and Johnson found the back of the net three times against Bethel on Nov. 14. … Jake Tugnutt (Peterborough, Ontario), who stopped 32 shots in last Friday's 4-1 win  against Gustavus, made a season-high 34 saves in the Cardinals' 5-3 win over Hamline on Jan. 23. … Tugnutt stopped 23 shots against Aurora on Nov. 29 to record his first win in a Cardinal uniform. … Jake Hebda (Firestone, Colo.) stopped a career-high 45 shots against St. Thomas on Jan. 8. … Hebda earned his first win in a Cardinal uniform with that 45-save showing in Saint Mary's 4-3 victory over St. Thomas on Jan. 8. … Hebda's 45 saves against St. Thomas marked the second straight game a Cardinal goalie posted 45 saves—Phil Heinle (York, Pa.) made a season-high 45 saves against MSOE on Jan. 3. … With their four-goal outburst against Gustavus last Friday, the Cardinals have now scored four goals or more in 13 of their 23 games. … The Cardinals have scored 89 goals in their first 23 games. … The Cardinals have outscored their opponents 31-24 in the game's final 20 minutes. … Saint Mary's is 8-2-2 when scoring first, while going 1-10--0 in games in which the Cardinals' opponent scores first. … The Cardinals had eight different players record at least two points in the two-game series sweep vs. Aurora on Nov. 28-29. … The Cardinals' 10 goals against Bethel in their Nov. 13 10-2 victory were the most since netting 11 against Aurora on Dec. 6, 2014—and the most in a conference game since scoring 14 against Concordia on Dec. 7, 2007. … The Cardinals' combined 19 goals in their sweep of the Royals were the most since scoring 21 in 14-3 and 7-2 victories over Concordia on Dec. 7-8, 2007. … The Cardinals' season-high eight-game unbeaten streak (6-0-2) earlier this season was the longest since Saint Mary's went 7-0-1 during the 1996-97 season. … The Cardinals' 4-1 and 5-0 losses to Augsburg on Jan. 29-30 marked just the second and third times this season Saint Mary's has been held to less than two goals in a game. … Saint Mary's 4-3 victory over St. Thomas on Jan. 8 snapped a 22-game winless streak (0-19-3) against the Tommies—dating back to a 4-2 win on Dec. 11, 2004. … The Cardinals' 5-3 win over the Pipers on Jan. 23 snapped Saint Mary's season-high four-game losing streak—a streak that saw the Cardinals surrender six goals in all four contests. … The Cardinals 6-2 loss to fourth-ranked UW-Stevens Point on Jan. 15 was their fourth game against a nationally ranked team this season. Saint Mary's also collected a 4-2 win over 10^th-ranked UW-River Falls, battled No. 8 UW-Eau Claire to a 3-3 tie, and fell to No. 15 MSOE 6-4. … Saint Mary's 6-5 loss to Hamline on Jan. 22 was the Cardinals' third overtime game of the season. Saint Mary's is 0-1-2 in those three contests, falling to the Pipers and tying UW-Eau Claire and St. Olaf.
 
Scouting The Saint John's Johnnies:
2015-16 Roster | 2015-16 Statistics | 2015-16 Schedule
• This weekend's games against Saint Mary's are the second and third of four straight road contests for the Johnnies, who are 5-4-3 away from the National Hockey Center this season. … With their back-to-back ties against St. Thomas last weekend, the Johnnies pushed their unbeaten streak to five straight (3-0-2). … After starting the season 0-4-2, SJU is 8-5-2 in its last 15 games—outscoring its opponents 50-33 in that span. … Saint John's scored the game's first goal—and the game's last goal—in both of its 2-2 ties vs. St. Thomas last weekend. … The Johnnies' four goals vs. St. Thomas last weekend came from four different players—Mitch Fritz and Neil Smith on Friday and Andrew Commers and Kevin Becker on Saturday. … Sam Valerius assisted on both SJU goals vs. UST last Friday. … Smith's goal last Friday was his team-leading ninth of the season. … Becker and Huba Sekesi share the team lead in assists with 10 each, while Sekesi's 16 points are also a team-high. … SJU boasts seven players with 10 or more points—Sekesi (16), Becker (15), Commers (13), Tyler Dunagan (12), Smith (11), Valerius (11), and Matt Colford (11). … Saint John's eight game-winning goals have come from seven different players. … Sexton Soley has started 19 of the team's 21 games in goal, compiling a team- and conference-leading 2.43 goals-against-average and .919 save percentage. … Soley has made 508 saves, owns a 6-9-4 record and boasts one shutout. … The Johnnies—who have netted 60 goals this season—scored seven goals or more in three consecutive games in beating St. Olaf and Bethel (7-3, 7-1). It was the first time since the 2001-02 season that SJU has netted seven or more goals in three straight games—ironically that three-game stretch 14 years ago followed the same sequence of opponents: vs. St. Olaf (W, 7-1); vs. Bethel (W, 11-2); and at Bethel (W, 7-1). … The Johnnies have now scored a season-high seven goals four times. … Saint John's has outscored its opponents 60-52—including 25-16 in the third period. … With their two ties vs. St. Thomas last weekend, the Johnnies have now played five overtime games, four of which have resulted in ties. The only blemish was a 2-1 loss to Gustavus on Dec. 5. … Saint John's has scored the game's first goal 11 times, going 5-2-4. The Johnnies are 3-7-0 when their opponent scores first.