By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's hockey team steps out of conference play for the final time on Thursday, as the Cardinals host UW-Stout in a 7:30 p.m. nonconference contest at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.
 
The Matchup:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (3-10-3 Overall) vs. UW-Stout Blue Devils (12-5-1 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• Live Stats * Live Video
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's: January 11-12, 2019 * Winona, Minn.: The Cardinals picked up a split in their two-game MIAC series against Concordia at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena. The Cobbers scored a pair of third-period goals — including an empty-netter with 50 seconds remaining — to beat Saint Mary's 5-3 last Friday, while the Cardinals erupted for seven goals in earning a 7-2 victory in the rematch | CC Recap 1 * CC Recap 2
• UW-Stout: January 11-12, 2019 * Menomonie, Wis.: The Blue Devils split their two nonconference games at Dunn County Arena last weekend. UW-Stout slipped past Hamline 2-1 last Friday, before falling to nationally ranked Augsburg 3-2 in overtime the following day | HU Recap * AUG Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. UW-Stout — Their Last Meeting:
• January 19, 2018 * Menomonie, Wis.: Saint Mary's, which held leads of 3-0 and 4-1, broke a 4-4 tie with three goals in the game's final 14 minutes, as the Cardinals closed out the nonconference portion of their schedule with a 7-4 victory over UW-Stout at Dunn County Arena | Recap
 
Up Next:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals return to conference play next weekend, Jan. 25-26, with a home-and-home series against Gustavus. Saint Mary's will host the Gusties in a 7 p.m. contest at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena on Friday, before heading to Don Roberts Ice Rink in St. Peter, Minn., for Saturday's 7 p.m. rematch.
• UW-Stout: The Blue Devils are now off until Jan. 23, when they return to WIAC play with a 7 p.m. matchup against UW-Eau Claire at the Dunn County Arena in Menomonie, Wis.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals: 
2018 Roster | 2018 Schedule | 2018 Statistics
• Thursday's game against UW-Stout is the fifth straight home game for the Cardinals, who opened the season playing 10 of their first 12 games away from the Saint Mary's Ice Arena. … With their split against Concordia last weekend, the Cardinals are now 3-2-2 in their last seven games. … Last Saturday's 7-2 win over the Cobbers marked just the third time this season that the outcome has not been decided by two goals or less. Saint Mary's has played in eight one-goal contests and has had six games go into overtime. … Saint Mary's seven-goal outburst in last Saturday's 7-2 win over Concordia was a season-high — and marked the highest single-game goal total since scoring seven against UW-Stout in a 7-4 win on Jan. 19, 2018. … With their 10 goals against Concordia last weekend, Saint Mary's has now scored 27 goals in its last seven games. … Jack Stang (Mendota Heights, Minn.), Owen Sikich (Wolfeboro, N.H.), and Kyle Meeh (Fenton, Mo.) scored the Cardinals' three goals against Concordia last Friday, while Ryan Stoynich (Calgary, Alberta) scored twice and Sikich, Jack Stang, Tommy Stang (Mendota Heights, Minn.), Jack Hatton (Naperville, Ill.), and Ryan Charko (Warren, N.J.) accounted for the other five. … Sikich has now scored goals in a team-high four straight games — having also netted a goal in both of the Cardinals' games against UW-Superior on Dec. 7-8. … Sikich is the fourth Cardinal to put together a consecutive-game scoring streak of three or more games, joining Hatton, Alex DiBacco (Darien, Ill.), and Tyson Liverance (Burford, Ontario). … With their performances last weekend, Tommy Stang and Hatton moved into the team lead with six goals each, one more than Liverance, DiBacco, and Sikich. … Dylan Robertson (Alpharetta, Ga.) pushed his team-leading assist total to 11 with an assist against Concordia last Friday. Robertson has recorded six assists in his last four games. … Tommy Stang is the team's points leader with 12, followed by Liverance and Robertson with 11, and Jack Stang with 10. … Meeh collected his first collegiate two-goal game with a pair of tallies 25 seconds apart in Saint Mary's 4-4 tie against Lake Forest on Nov. 24. … Liverance had a hand in all three goals — scoring once and assisting on the other two — in Saint Mary's 5-3 loss to St. Thomas on Nov. 3. … All three of the Cardinals' goals in their 3-3 tie against St. Thomas on Nov. 2 were scored by freshmen. Liverance picked up his first two collegiate goals, while Hatton scored the other. … Saint Mary's boasts five players who have scored their first collegiate goals this season — Liverance, Hatton, Stoynich, Sikich, and Tucker Chapman (Rochester, Minn.). … Saint Mary's has netted 13 power-play goals this season, with Hatton and Tommy Stang leading the way with three each, while Liverance and DiBacco have both scored two. … Al Rogers (North Haven, Conn.) made 37 saves in the Cardinals' 5-3 loss to Concordia last Friday, while following that up with a 20-save effort in the rematch the following day. … Rogers' 37-save showing last Friday against Concordia marked the fourth time in six starts that he has stopped 30 or more shots — including a season- and career-high 43 against UW-Eau Claire on Nov. 10. … Nick Nast (Oxnard, Calif.) owns four games of 30 or more saves this season. … Nast — who collected his first collegiate assist against Gustavus on Oct. 26 — heads into Saint Mary's nonconference game against UW-Stout Thursday with a 3.03 goals-against-average and a .895 save percentage. … Rogers boasts a 3.15 GAA and .910 save percentage. … The Cardinals' 5-2 loss to UW-Superior on Dec. 7 snapped their streak of three straight overtime games. … Saint Mary's 4-3 overtime win over Saint John's on Dec. 1 put an end to the Cardinals' season-opening 11-game winless streak (0-8-3). … The Cardinals have scored first in nine of their 16 games, going 3-4-2 in those eight contests. Saint Mary's is 0-6-1 when its opponent nets the game's first goal. … Six of Saint Mary's first 10 opponents were nationally ranked — including a 3-2 loss to No. 1 UW-Stevens Point on Nov. 9. Two of SMU's other four opponents — Concordia and Gustavus — both qualified for the MIAC Playoffs a year ago.
 
Scouting The UW-Stout Blue Devils:
2018-19 Roster | 2018-19 Statistics | 2018-19 Schedule
• UW-Stout is in the midst of playing five of six games on their home ice — the lone exception, Thursday's nonconference matchup at Saint Mary's. … Seven of the Blue Devils' 12 wins have come on the road — UW-Stout is 7-2-1 away from Dunn County Arena this season. … Thursday's game against Saint Mary's is the final nonconference game of the season for the Blue Devils, who are 12-4-0 in non-league play. … The Blue Devils' 3-2 loss to Augsburg last Saturday snapped their season-high six-game winning streak. … Both of UW-Stout's games last weekend were decided by one goal — the Blue Devils beat Hamline 2-1, before falling to Augsburg 3-2 in OT. … Conner Valesano and Dylan Zins netted UW-Stout's two goals in last Friday's win over Hamline, while Raphael Gosselin and Dmytro Kobylyanskyl scored in the Blue Devils' 3-2 loss to Augsburg. … Logan Nelson heads into Thursday's matchup against Saint Mary's leading the team in both goals (9) and points (15). … Nelson has recorded two of UW-Stout's three two-goal games, with Austin Jackson notching the other. … Arturas Laukaitis is second to Nelson with eight goals, followed by Mathias Ahman with seven, and Lucas Carroll with six. … Valesano is the team's assist leader with 11, one more than Hunter Anderson. … Nelson is one of seven Blue Devils with 10 or more points this season — Laukaitis (14), Ahman (14), Valesano (14), Anderson (12), Carroll (12), and Gosselin (10) are the others. … Nelson, Laukaitis, and Ahman share the team lead with three power-play goals each. … UW-Stout's 12 game-winning goals have come from eight different players — led by Ahman, Carroll, Gavin Smith, and Zins with two each. … Tommi Ahlgren has seen the majority of the work between the pipes, compiling a 1.89 goals-against-average and .925 save percentage in 15 starts. … Ahlgren has stopped 347 of the 375 shots he's faced and owns a pair of shutouts. … As a team, UW-Stout has amassed 63 goals this season — including a pair of seven-goal games. The Blue Devils scored seven times in wins over both Finlandia (7-4) and Northland (7-1). On the flip side, UW-Stout has also surrendered seven goals in a game, falling to St. Thomas 7-4. … Eleven of UW-Stout's 17 games this season have been decided by three or more goals — the Blue Devils are 8-3-0 in those 11 contests. UW-Stout is 2-2-0 in one-goal games and 2-0-0 in two-goal affairs. … UW-Stout has scored first 11 times, going 9-1-1. The Blue Devils are 3-4-0 when their opponent scores first. … UW-Stout has played two overtime games this season, tying UW-Superior 1-1 on Nov. 30, while falling to Augsburg 3-2 last Saturday.