By
EMILY LOOF
Saint Mary's Sports Information Intern
WINONA, Minn. — Coming into their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference matchup with Hamline Saturday evening, the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's hockey team had gone unbeaten in its last seven contests—going 5-0-2 during that stretch.
Unfortunately, in a game marred by high emotions and a boatload of penalties, Cardinals' good fortunes ended Saturday, as the Pipers handed the Cardinals a 4-3 setback at Saint Mary's Ice Arena.
The Cardinals—who dropped the Pipers in the first game of their two-game series 4-2 Friday night—entered Saturday's contest well aware of the precious conference points on the line.
And the game's first 20 minutes saw bodies flying all over the ice, as the Cardinals showed a physical edge to their game—and the Pipers answered back with hard hits of their own.
For the second straight game,
Dylan Robertson (Alpharetta, Ga.) scored the first goal of the night, this time a power-play goal at 13:27 off a pass from
Kyle Meeh (Fenton, Mo.).
Andrew Cummings (Anchorage, Alaska) was credited with the second assist.
The Pipers, however had an answer—and reset the score back to even—with a power-play goal off the stick of Peter Barral at 17:58 of the first period, as the two teams skated to a 1-1 deadlock after 20 minutes of play.
It was the Pipers who grabbed the momentum coming out of the locker room to open the second period, taking a 2-1 lead on a goal by Mitch McPherson less than three minutes into the opening frame.
And the Pipers kept their foot on the gas, extending the lead to 3-1 at 6:40 off the stick of Kerry McGlynn.
The Pipers continued creating quality opportunities, but Cardinal goaltender
Nick Nast (Oxnard, Calif.)—who replaced starter
Aaron Davis (Mound, Minn.) following McGlynn's second-period tally—made several solid saves for the Cardinals, including a point-blank stop on a Piper breakaway.
The Cardinals weren't about to go down without a fight, as
Tommy Stang (Mendota Heights, Minn.) scored his second goal in as many nights—yet another power-play tally—at 14:22.
The rest of the period saw some high-octane action, including a spat of penalties and a nail-biting shot off the crossbar by
Chad Cesarz (Jackson, Mich.) in the waning seconds.
But when the dust finally settled, the Cardinals were still facing a one-goal deficit going into the game's final 20 minutes.
For the first 15 minutes of the final period, Nast did his part by keeping the Pipers off the board at one end, and at the other,
Alex DiBacco (Darien, Ill.) would sneak a puck behind Piper goaltender Evan Robert—from behind the goal line—to tie the game, 3-3
Unfortunately, that tie was bitterly short-lived, as the Pipers finally got one past Nast off the stick of Jaycob McCombs at 17:06 to regain the lead—this time for good.
Davis finished with eight saves for the Cardinals, while Nast contributed 13 saves in 32:10 of relief. Robert had 27 saves for the Pipers.
The Cardinals—who remain one point behind Concordia for the fifth and final MIAC Playoff spot with two regular-season games to play—square off against St. Olaf in a two-game conference series next week. Saint Mary's heads to the Northfield Ice Arena in Northfield, Minn., for a 7:30 p.m. match with the Oles on Friday, with the two teams returning to the Saint Mary's Ice Arena for a 7 p.m. rematch.
