By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
MOORHEAD, Minn. — Ryan Egan could not have asked for a more memorable first collegiate coaching win — although the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team could have made it a little less nerve-racking for the first-year head coach.
 
Tommy Stang (Mendota Heights, Minn.) scored the game-winner with one second remaining in overtime, lifting the Cardinals to a 3-2 victory over Concordia in the teams' Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener — and giving Egan his first win as Saint Mary's head coach.
 
Concordia held leads of 1-0 and 2-1, but each time the Cobbers grabbed what appeared to be the advantage, Saint Mary's had an answer.
 
Jake Ellingson got the Cobbers on the board with the game's first goal midway through the first period, but four minutes later, the Cardinals netted the equalizer on Sam Hanson's (Eau Claire, Wis.) first collegiate goal.
 
Neither team could find the back of the net in the second period, leaving the score deadlocked heading into the third period.
 
Alex Stoley gave the Cobbers their second lead of the game, 2-1, with a goal at 5:45 of the third. Six minutes later, the Cardinals' Ryan Stoynich (Calgary, Alberta) netted the equalizer — and setting up Stang's overtime heroics.
 
Nick Nast (Oxnard, Calif.) made 25 saves — sandwiching nine-save efforts in the first and third periods around a six-save second stanza, while also stopping the lone shot he faced in overtime. CC goalie Cam Haugenoe stopped 26 Saint Mary's shots, including 10 saves in both the first and second periods.
 
The Cardinals (1-0-0 MIAC, 1-3-1 overall) and Cobbers (0-1-0 MIAC, 1-4-0 overall) return to the Moorhead Sports Center on Saturday, as the two teams square off in the second game of their two-game MIAC series. Game time is set for 2 p.m.