WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's hockey team returns home to the Saint Mary's Ice Arena on Saturday, as the Cardinals entertain Saint John's in the second game of their two-game Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference series. Puck drop is set for 2 p.m.
 
The Matchup:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (6-8-1 MIAC | 9-13-2 Overall) vs. Saint John's Johnnies (7-4-2 MIAC | 9-9-4 Overall)
 
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Last Night:
• Saint John's scored four third-period goals, erasing a 3-1 Saint Mary's lead and handing the Cardinals a 5-4 conference setback at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena | Recap
 
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:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals' game against Saint John's Saturday is their final regular-season contest of the season.
• Saint John's: The Johnnies close out their 2015-16 schedule next weekend with a pair of games against Augsburg. SJU and the Auggies will square off Friday at 7:05 p.m. at the Ed Saugestad Rink in Minneapolis, Minn., before heading to the National Sports Center in St. Cloud, Minn., for the 7 p.m. rematch.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2015-16 Roster | 2015-16 Statistics | 2015-16 Schedule
• Saturday's game against Saint John's is the third straight home game for the Cardinals, who own a 6-6-0 record on their home ice this season. … After scoring a pair of goals in last Friday's 4-1 win over Gustavus—a win that snapped the Cardinals' two-game losing streak—Nick Albergo (Elmhurst, Ill.) recorded his third collegiate three-point game against Saint John's Friday evening. The junior scored once and assisted on two others. … Kellen Wasell (Edmonds, Wash.), Martin Gruse (Trenton, Mich.), and Jonathon Elliott (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) netted the Cardinals' other three goals against the Johnnies Friday. … Gruse, who collected assists in both games vs. the Gusties last weekend, has recorded at least one point in 17 of the team's 24 games. … Gruse 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, Jay Heinle (York, Pa.) leads the team with 16 goals, two more than Gruse. … Heinle accounted for both Cardinal goals in last Saturday's 5-2 loss. … Heinle's two-goal game was his third of the season—and his career. … 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 (31). … Gruse is one of eight Cardinals with at least 10 points this season—Bob Kinne (St. Paul, Minn. / 27), Heinle (24),  Albergo (19), Jared Johnson (Hartland, Wis. / 18), Chad Cesarz (Jackson, Mich. / 17), Wasell (15), 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 Wasell 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) 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 goals against Saint John's Friday night, the Cardinals have now scored four goals or more in 14 of their 24 games. … The Cardinals have scored 93 goals in their first 24 games. … Saint Mary's is 8-3-2 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 have been held to less that two goals just three times this season. … 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
• Saturday's game at Saint Mary's will be the third of four straight road contests for the Johnnies, who are 6-4-3 away from the National Hockey Center this season. … With their 5-4 win over Saint Mary's—and their back-to-back ties against St. Thomas last weekend—the Johnnies pushed their unbeaten streak to six straight (4-0-2). … After starting the season 0-4-2, SJU is 9-5-2 in its last 16 games—outscoring its opponents 55-37 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. … Daniel Tripicchio, Kevin Becker, Robb Stautz, Matt Colford, and Mitch Fritz accounted for the Johnnies' five goals vs. Saint Mary's Friday. … Saint John's last nine goals have been scored by seven different players—Fritz and Becker are the only Johnnies to score in back-to-back weekend series. … Neal Smith leads the Johnnies with nine goals, while Huba Sekesi—who had a pair of assists vs. the Cardinals—is the team-leader in both assists (12) and points (18). … SJU boasts nine players with 10 or more points—Sekesi (18), Becker (16), Andrew Commers (13), Tyler Dunagan (12), Colford (12), Smith (11), Fritz (11), Sam Valerius (11), and Sean Lang (10). … Saint John's nine game-winning goals have come from eight different players. … Sexton Soley has started 20 of the team's 22 games in goal, compiling a 2.51 goals-against-average and .919 save percentage. … Soley has made 536 saves—including 28 vs. Saint Mary's Friday—owns a 7-9-4 record and boasts one shutout. … The Johnnies—who have netted 65 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 65-56—including 29-17 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 4-7-0 when their opponent scores first.