By
DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
WINONA, Minn. — After failing to score once in falling to Gustavus in the first game of their two-game Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference series on Friday, the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team erupted for a season-high five goals in the teams' rematch Saturday.
And the Cardinals needed every one of them.
With the score deadlocked at 4-4 in the five-minute overtime period,
Kyle Meeh (Fenton, Mo.) scored with 1:31 remaining, lifting the Cardinals to a 5-4 win over Gustavus Saturday at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena — and a split in their conference series.
After going 60 minutes without a goal on Friday, the Cardinals finally broke through at 14:46 of the opening period on a goal by
Tommy Stang (Mendota Heights, Minn.) — his third of the season — off assists from
Ryan Stoynich (Calgary, Alberta) and
Tyson Liverance (Burford, Ontario).
It didn't take long for the Cardinals to push that advantage to 2-0, as
Alex DiBacco (Darien, Ill.) found the back of the net for the first time this season — taking a feed from
Sam Schultz (Lakeland, Minn.) and beating GAC goalie Robbie Goor just 1:33 into the middle period.
Stoynich picked up his third goal of the season — off assists from
Tommy Stang and
Jack Stang (Mendota Heights, Minn.) — at 10:39 of the second period to push the Cardinals' lead to 3-0.
The second half of the second period, however, belonged to the Gusties, who scored three unanswered goals — including back-to-back tallies by Caleb Anderson — to knot the game at 3-3 heading into the third period.
The Gusties would add their fourth straight goal at 12:40 to take a 4-3 lead — a lead that was short-lived, thanks to
Jack Hatton's (Naperville, Ill.) first of the season just three minutes later that knotted the game at 4-4.
And set up Meeh's overtime heroics.
Al Rogers (North Haven, Conn.) picked up the win in goal, finished with 23 saves — including 13 in the second period — while Robbie Goor, who shut out the Cardinals on Friday, finished with 24 stops.
The Cardinals (3-1-0 MIAC, 3-5-1 overall) are now off until Jan. 3-4, when they head to Oswego, N.Y., to take part in the SUNY Oswego Tournament. Saint Mary's will face host Oswego on Jan. 3 at 7 p.m. (EST) in the opening day of the two-day event. The Cardinals' second-day opponent will be either Williams or the University of New England. Puck drop for that game will be 4 p.m. (EST). The Gusties (2-2-0 MIAC, 5-5-0 overall) step out of conference play on Friday, heading to Duluth, Minn., for a 7 p.m. nonconference matchup against St. Scholastica.
