By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's hockey team returns to conference play on Friday, as the Cardinals return home to the Saint Mary's Ice Arena for a 7 p.m. showdown against St. Thomas.
 
The Matchup:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (3-1-0 MIAC, 5-5-1 Overall) vs. St. Thomas Tommies (4-2-0 MIAC, 6-5-1 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• Live Stats * Live Video
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's — January 3-4, 2020 * Marano Campus Center Arena * Oswego, N.Y.: The Cardinals picked up a pair of wins against nationally ranked opponents en route to winning the Pathfinder/Oswego State Hockey Classic title. Saint Mary's opened with a 1-0 win over No. 10 Oswego State, before adding a 4-2 victory against No. 14 Williams in the title game | Oswego Recap * Williams Recap
• St. Thomas — December 13-14, 2019 * St. Thomas Ice Arena * Mendota Heights, Minn.: The Tommies dropped both of its nonconference games prior to the holiday break, falling to Trine 4-2, while getting shut out by Aurora 2-0 the following afternoon | Trine Recap * Aurora Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. St. Thomas — A Year Ago:
• November 2, 2018 * St. Thomas Ice Arena * Mendota Heights, Minn.: After battling for 60 minutes of regulation — and the five-minute overtime period — deadlocked at 3-3, the Tommies scored early in the 3-on-3 OT period to grab the extra point in the first game of the teams' conference series | Recap
• November 3, 2018 * Saint Mary's Ice Arena * Winona, Minn.: Trailing 2-0, the Cardinals rattled off three straight goals to take a 3-2 lead with less than seven minutes remaining in regulation, only to have the Tommies answer with three goals of their own — including the game-winner with 31 seconds on the clock and an empty-netter 26 seconds later — to lift UST to a 5-3 win | Recap
 
Up Next:
• The Cardinals and Tommies return to action on Saturday, heading to the St. Thomas Ice Arena in Mendota Heights, Minn., for the second game of their two-game conference series. Opening face-off is set for 7 p.m.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2019-20 Roster | 2019-20 Schedule | 2019-20 Statistics
• Friday's game against St. Thomas is just the third home game in the last 12 contests for the Cardinals, who are 1-2-1 on their home ice, while going 4-3-0 away from the Saint Mary's Ice Arena. … With their two-game sweep at the Pathfinder/Oswego State Hockey Classic, the Cardinals head into this weekend's conference series against St. Thomas riding a three-game winning streak. … Both of Saint Mary's wins at the Pathfinder/Oswego State Hockey Classic came against nationally ranked foes — No. 10 Oswego and No. 14 Williams. … Tommy Stang (Mendota Heights, Minn.) scored the game's only goal and Al Rogers (New Haven, Conn.) stopped all 30 shots he faced in last Friday's 1-0 win over No. 10 Oswego State, while Jack Stang (Mendota Heights, Minn.) scored twice, and Tommy Stang and Sam Hanson (Eau Claire, Wis.) netted the other two against No. 14 Williams the following afternoon. … Rogers, Tommy Stang, and Jack Stang were all named to the Pathfinder/Oswego State Hockey Classic all-tournament team, with Rogers being named tournament MVP. … Tommy Stang has now scored a goal in each of the Cardinals' last three games, while Ryan Stoynich (Calgary, Alberta) has picked up assists in each of Saint Mary's last three contests. … With his goals at the Pathfinder/Oswego State Hockey Classic, Tommy Stang moved into a tie for the team lead in goals (5) with Kyle Meeh (Fenton, Mo.), two in front of Jack Stang, Stoynich, and Hanson. … Jack Stang, who owns three, two-assist games this season, leads the Cardinals with nine helpers, three more than brother Tommy. … Jack and Tommy Stang are the team's points leaders with 12 and 11 points, respectively. … Saint Mary's boasts six players who have recorded their first collegiate goals this season — Hanson, Thomas Magnavite (Chicago, Ill.), Trevor Wilhelm (St. Louis, Mo.), Nikita Sheberov (Obninsk, Russia), Ian Currie (Franklin, Wis.), and Sam Schultz (Lakeland, Minn.). … The Cardinals have had a multiple-goal scorer three times this season — Jack Stang against Williams on Jan. 3, Meeh against Concordia on Nov. 23, and Magnavite against Lake Forest on Nov. 1. … Jack Stang posted his first three-point game of the season against Lake Forest on Nov. 2, scoring once and assisting on the Cardinals' other two goals in the 4-3 loss. … Tommy Stang's goal midway through the third period against No. 14 Williams last Saturday was the Cardinals' first short-handed goal of the season. … Rogers' 30-save shutout against No. 10 Oswego last Friday was his first collegiate shutout. Rogers followed that effort up by stopping 37 of the 39 shots he faced in Saint Mary's 4-2 win over No. 14 Williams in the tournament title game the following afternoon. … Rogers' 37 saves against No. 14 Williams last Saturday were a season-high, and marked the seventh time in his collegiate career he has stopped 30 or more shots in a game. … Rogers heads into this weekend's games against St. Thomas boasting a 2.89 goals-against-average and a .910 save percentage. … Nick Nast (Oxnard, Calif.) has stopped a team-high 174 shots in seven starts in goal this season. … With his 30-save effort against MSOE on Nov. 26, Nast has now stopped 30 or more shots nine times in the last two seasons. … Nast boasts a 3.42 goals-against-average and an .888 save percentage this season. … Parker Swanson (Eden Prairie, Minn.), who stopped all seven shots he faced in relief of Rogers against UW-Eau Claire on Nov. 9 — his first collegiate appearance in goal — made eight saves in relief of Nast against Gustavus on Dec. 6. … The Cardinals have outscored their opponents 11-7 in the first period, but have been outscored 13-7 in the second and 17-8 in the third. … The Cardinals' 3-2, 5-0 sweep of Concordia on Nov. 15-16 marked the first time since Nov. 12-13, 2010 that Saint Mary's has swept the Cobbers. … Saint Mary's 5-4 win over Gustavus on Dec. 7 was its third overtime game of the season — the Cardinals opened the season with a 3-3 tie against Lake Forest on Nov. 1 and added a 3-2 win over Concordia on Nov. 15. … With their 1-0 win over No. 10 Oswego State and 4-2 win over No. 14 Williams last weekend, the Cardinals have now played 15 games decided by one goal or less — including nine that have gone into overtime — over the past two seasons. … Saint Mary's has scored first in six of its 11 games, going 4-2-0. The Cardinals are 1-3-1 when their opponent scores first. … Saint Mary's is 3-0-1 when leading after two, while going 0-3-0 when trialing heading into the third period. … The Cardinals' 3-2 overtime win over Concordia on Nov. 15 snapped their four-game, season-opening winless streak (0-3-1) — it was also the first collegiate coaching win for Cardinal head coach Ryan Egan. … The Cardinals — picked to finish sixth in the MIAC Preseason Coaches Poll — made their third MIAC Tournament appearance in the last five years a year ago. The Cardinals kicked off post-season play with a 5-2 win over Concordia, before falling to Augsburg 8-1 in the semifinals.
 
Scouting The St. Thomas Tommies:
2019-20 Roster | 2019-20 Schedule | 2019-20 Statistics
• The Tommies are in the midst of playing six of seven games on their home ice — the lone exception, Friday's conference showdown against Saint Mary's. … The Tommies head into Friday's matchup at Saint Mary's having dropped two straight and three of their last four. … St. Thomas' 2-0 loss to Aurora on Dec. 14 marked the first time St. Thomas was shut out in 88 games, covering parts of four seasons. It was also the first home shutout in 39 straight contests. … John Peterson heads into this weekend's two-game series against Saint Mary's leading the Tommies with six goals, two more than Brett Gravelle, Luke Radetic, and Broydon Stufko. … Peterson shares the team lead in assists (6) with Shayne Monahan and also leads the squad with 12 points. … St. Thomas' six game-winning goals have come from six different players — Stufko, Sam Huff, Johnny Panvica, Gavin Payne, Jack Vincent, and Andrew Willis. … . … Nine of UST's 41 goals this season have come via special teams — eight power-play goals and one shorthanded tally. … The Tommies have used three different goalies this season, with Henry Baribeau and Camden Burggrabe carrying the majority of the workload. Baribeau — who made 35 saves in UST's 2-0 loss to Aurora on Dec. 14 — owns a 2.02 goals-against-average and .941 save percentage in four games, while Burggrabe boasts a 2.41 GAA and .899 save percentage in seven appearances. Will Graves stopped 31 of 36 shots (5.00 GAA, .839 save %) in his lone start. … Burggrabe has stopped 151 of the 168 shots he's faced, with Baribeau close behind with 127 saves on 135 shots. … St. Thomas has scored four or more goals five times this season — including an eight-goal outburst in beating Concordia (Wis.) 8-4 on Nov. 2, while netting a season-high nine goals in routing St. Olaf 9-3 on Nov. 16. … The Tommies are 4-1-1 when scoring first, while going 2-4-0 when their opponent scores the game's first goal. … UST is unbeaten (3-0) in one-goal games, but are 0-4 in games decided by two goals. The Tommies have also won three of four contests decided by three or more goals. … St. Thomas has not lost (5-0-1) when leading after two periods, but are 0-4-0 when trailing heading into the game's final 20 minutes.