By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
MOORHEAD, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's hockey team kicks off post-season play on the road on Thursday, as the Cardinals travel to the Moorhead Sports Center for a 7 p.m. showdown against Concordia in the teams' Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament opener.
 
The Matchup:
• #5 Saint Mary's Cardinals (7-7-2 MIAC (5th), 8-14-3 Overall) at Concordia Cobbers (9-5-2 MIAC (4th), 13-9-3 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• Live Stats * Live Video | MIAC Tournament Homepage
 
Ticket Information:
• Admission to all MIAC Tournament games are $10 for Adults and $2 for students while children 5 & under are free. There is no senior discount. MIAC Passes will be honored. No other passes are to be accepted.
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's—February 15-16, 2019 * Winona, Minn./Northfield, Minn.: The Cardinals closed out the regular season with a pair of wins over St. Olaf last weekend. Saint Mary's got goals from five different players in dealing the Oles a 5-2 setback last Friday at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena — a win that secured Saint Mary's MIAC post-season berth — before adding a 2-1 victory in the rematch the following evening at the St. Olaf Ice Arena | STO Recap 1 * STO Recap 2
• Concordia—February 15-16, 2019 * Minneapolis, Minn.: The Cobbers dropped a pair of road games to Augsburg at Ed Saugestad Rink, falling to the Auggies 4-1 last Friday, before suffering a 5-4, overtime loss the following afternoon | AUG Recap 1 * AUG Recap 2
 
How They Got Here:
• Concordia: Concordia's regular season-ending 5-4 overtime loss to Augsburg — coupled with a win by Saint John's and loss by St. Thomas — dropped the Cobbers into a tie for third place in the final conference standings with St. Thomas. The Tommies held the head-to-head tiebreak over CC, leaving Concordia as the No. 4 seed.
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals head into post-season play as the conference's fifth seed. Saint Mary's locked up their third MIAC Tournament appearance in the last five years with a 5-2 win over St. Olaf last Friday, before completing the regular-season sweep with a 2-1 win the following evening.
 
Saint Mary's vs. Concordia — Earlier This Year:
• October 27, 2018 * Blaine, Minn.: The Cardinals more than doubled their offensive output in their second game of the MIAC Showcase. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, three goals was enough for 60 minutes, but it was not enough for 63, as Concordia scored the game-winning goal three minutes into overtime, handing Saint Mary's a 4-3 setback at the Schwan's Super Rink | Recap
• January 11, 2019 * Winona, Minn.: Concordia scored a pair of third-period goals — including an empty-netter with 50 seconds remaining — as the Cobbers dealt the Cardinals a 5-3 MIAC setback at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena | Recap
• January 12, 2019 * Winona, Minn.: The Cardinals nearly scored as many goals in their rematch against Concordia as there were goals scored in Friday's 5-3 Concordia victory in the first game of the two-game series. Ryan Stoynich (Calgary, Alberta) scored twice, as the Cardinals erupted for a season-high seven goals in routing the Cobbers 7-2 at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena — and dealing Concordia its first Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference loss of the season | Recap
 
Up Next:
• The winner of tonight's Saint Mary's/Concordia matchup earns a spot opposite top-seeded and nationally ranked Augsburg in the MIAC Tournament semifinals. That game will take place on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Ed Saugestad Rink in Minneapolis, Minn.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals: 
2018 Roster | 2018 Schedule | 2018 Statistics
• The Cardinals are making their third MIAC Tournament appearance in the last five years — including a run to the MIAC Tournament title game in 2015. … Saint Mary's enters post-season play having won two straight, three of their last four, and four of their last six. … Seventeen of the Cardinals' 25 games this season have been decided by two goals or less. The Cardinals have played in nine one-goal contests and have had six going into overtime. … Tommy Stang (Mendota Heights, Minn.) and Carter Dahl (Fresno, Calif.) each scored goals in both of the Cardinals' games against St. Olaf last weekend. Stang's goals were his team-leading 11th and 12th of the season, while Dahl's were the first two of his collegiate career. … Owen Sikich (Calgary, Alberta) is second to Tommy Stang in goals with eight, one more than Jack Hatton (Naperville, Ill.). … Jack Stang (Mendota Heights, Minn.) collected his team-leading 13th assist of the season against St. Olaf last Saturday, giving the junior one more helper than  Dylan Robertson (Alpharetta, Ga.). … Along with his team-high 12 goals, Tommy Stang also leads the team in points with 21, followed by Jack Stang (17), Sikich (16), Tyson Liverance (Burford, Ontario / 16), Hatton (14), Kyle Meeh (Fenton, Mo. / 14), Robertson (13), Ryan Stoynich (Calgary, Alberta / 13), and Alex DiBacco (Darien, Ill. / 11). … Jack Stang was held off the scoresheet in Saint Mary's 5-1 loss to Gustavus on Jan. 26, snapping his season- and career-high five-game point streak (3 G, 4 A). … Ryan Charko (Warren, N.J.) had his three-game goal-scoring streak snapped in the Cardinals' regular-season finale against St. Olaf last Saturday. Charko was the fifth Cardinal player to score goals in at least three straight games. Sikich had his team-leading four-game goal-scoring streak snapped against UW-Stout on Jan. 17. Hatton, Liverance, and DiBacco have also had three-game goal-scoring streaks this season. … Along with his third-period goal against St. Olaf last Friday, Hatton also had a pair of assists vs. the Oles en route to his first collegiate three-point contest. … Meeh — who 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 — added a pair of assists to his second-period goal against Hamline on Feb. 9 for his first three-point game of the season, and second of his collegiate career. … Sikich recorded his first collegiate three-point game in the Cardinals' 4-1 win over Bethel on Feb. 1 with a goal and two assists. … 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 eight players who have scored their first collegiate goals this season — Dahl, Liverance, Hatton, Stoynich, Sikich, Lance Herning (St. Charles, Ill.), Holden Biebel (Englewood, Colo.), and Tucker Chapman (Rochester, Minn.). … Saint Mary's has netted 19 power-play goals this season, with Tommy Stang leading the way with six. … Nick Nast (Oxnard, Calif.) — who made 22 saves in his last start last Friday against — recorded his first collegiate shutout against Gustavus on Jan. 25, stopping all 28 shots he faced. … Nast owns six games of 30 of more saves, including a season-high 38-save effort against Bethel on Feb. 2. … Nast — who collected his first collegiate assist against Gustavus on Oct. 26 — heads into Saint Mary's post-season showdown against Concordia with a 2.79 goals-against-average and a .903 save percentage. … Al Rogers (North Haven, Conn.) finished with 37 saves in the Cardinals' 5-3 loss to Concordia on Jan. 11. The 37-save showing against the Cobbers marked the fourth time in six starts that Rogers has stopped 30 or more shots — including a season- and career-high 43 against UW-Eau Claire on Nov. 10. … Rogers, who stopped all 11 shots he faced in two periods of work against St. Olaf last Saturday, boasts a 3.27 GAA and .902 save percentage. … Blair Sanders (Kansas City, Mo.) made his first collegiate appearance between the pipes against St. Olaf last Saturday, stopped all 10 third-period shots he faced. … Saint Mary's 2-0 win over Gustavus on Jan. 25 was the first shutout of the season for the Cardinals — and the first since blanking the Gusties 1-0 on Jan. 26, 2018. … Saint Mary's seven-goal outburst in its 7-2 win over Concordia on Jan. 12 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. … The Cardinals have scored first in 15 of their 25 games, going 8-5-2 in those 15 contests. Saint Mary's is 0-9-1 when its opponent nets the game's first goal. … Saint Mary's is 8-1-0 when leading after two periods, but the Cardinals are still searching for their first win (0-10-3) when trailing heading into the game's final period. … 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.
 
Scouting The Concordia Cobbers:
2018-19 Roster | 2018-19 Statistics | 2018-19 Schedule
• The fourth-seeded Cobbers are making their seventh straight MIAC Tournament appearance and eighth in the last nine seasons. Concordia is 7-15-1 in MIAC post-season games, including 2-7 under head coach Chris Howe. … The Cobbers, who are hosting their first MIAC Tournament game since 2016 — when they dropped a 3-0 decision to Hamline — boast a 9-4-0 record on their home ice this season. … CC heads into Thursday's matchup against Saint Mary's 2-2 in their last four contests — sweeping Gustavus (4-3, 1-0), while falling to sixth-ranked Augsburg (4-1, 5-4) — but just 2-4-1 in their last seven. … Seven of Concordia's last eight games have been decided by two goals or less — including six that were decided by one goal or less. … Aaron Herdt heads into post-season play as the team-leader in goals with 17. He is one of three Cobbers who have netted 10 or more goals this season — being joined by Mario Bianchi (14) and Tyler Bossert (10). … Herdt's 17 goals are the most for a Cobber since Brian Nelson had 23 in 2000. He has at least one point in all but four games he has played in this season and CC is 0-2-2 in those contests. … Bossert is the team-leader in both assists (28) and points (38). … The Cobbers boast five players with 10 or more assists — Bossert (28), Bianchi (17), Tanner Okeson (12), Herdt (11), and Quinn Fuchs (10) — while Bossert (38), Bianchi (31), Herdt (28), Okeson (15), Jace Bracko (15), Fuchs (12), and Joe Burgmeier (10) have all recorded at least 10 points through 25 games. … The Cobbers have scored 20 power-play goals this season, led by Herdt with eight. … Herdt and Bianchi lead Concordia with six and four game-winning goals, respectively. … Jacob Stephan has been the workhorse between the pipes for the Cobbers, compiling a 2.35 goals-against-average and .930 save percentage in 20 appearances. … Cam Haugenoe has started the other five games in goal and owns a 3.52 GAA and .892 save percentage. … Stephan has made a team-leading 668 saves and owns three shutouts. … Concordia has outscored its opponents in all three periods — 24-20 in the first, 29-25 in the second, and 26-23 in the third. … Concordia has scored four or more goals 13 times this season — including a season-high seven-goal outburst in blanking Hamline 7-0 on Dec. 7. On the flip side, CC has surrendered four or more goals eight times — including seven in a 7-2 loss to Saint Mary's on Jan. 12 and a season-high eight in falling to UW-Eau Claire 8-1 on Jan. 5. … Concordia has scored first in 14 of its 25 games this season, going 9-3-2. The Cobbers are 4-6-1 when their opponent scores first. … CC is unbeaten (10-0-0) when leading after two periods, but are winless (0-4-1) when trailing heading into the third period. … Concordia has played six overtime games this season, going 2-3-1. CC's 5-4 loss to Augsburg in its regular season-finale was its lone overtime setback this season. …