By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
MENDOTA HEIGHTS, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's hockey team closes out its two-game conference series against St. Thomas on the road on Saturday, as the Cardinals head to St. Thomas Ice Arena for the 7 p.m. rematch with the Tommies.
 
The Matchup:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (3-2-0 MIAC, 5-6-1 Overall) vs. St. Thomas Tommies (5-2-0 MIAC, 7-5-1 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• Live Stats * Live Video
 
Last Night:
• January 10, 2020 * Saint Mary's Ice Arena * Winona, Minn.: St. Thomas scored two third-period goals to break a 3-3 tie, then held off a furious Cardinal rally in dealing Saint Mary's a 5-4 conference setback | 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:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals step out of conference play for the final time next weekend at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena, hosting UW-Stout in a 7 p.m. contest on Friday, before entertaining UW-River Falls at 7:30 p.m. the following evening.
• St. Thomas: The Tommies return home to the St. Thomas Ice Arena in Mendota Heights, Minn., next weekend for a pair of nonconference games. UST will host Northland on Friday at 7 p.m. and UW-Superior at 4 p.m. the following afternoon.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2019-20 Roster | 2019-20 Schedule | 2019-20 Statistics
• Friday's game against St. Thomas was just the third home game in the last 12 contests for the Cardinals, who are 1-3-1 on their home ice, while going 4-3-0 away from the Saint Mary's Ice Arena. … Friday's 5-4 loss to St. Thomas snapped the Cardinals' season-high three-game winning streak. … Kyle Meeh (Fenton, Mo.) scored twice, and Robert Roslund (Vanersborg, Sweden) and Brady Lindauer (Cary, Ill.) netted the Cardinals' other two goals against St. Thomas Friday — both career firsts. … Meeh's two-goal effort marked the second time this season — and third time in his collegiate career — that the senior has netted two goals in a game. … Both of Meeh's goals against St. Thomas came on the power play. … Tommy Stang (Mendota Heights, Minn.) and Ryan Stoynich (Calgary, Alberta) each picked up assists against St. Thomas Friday, extending their point streaks to four straight games. Stang owns three goals and two assists in that span, while Stoynich has a goal and four assists. … With his two goals against St. Thomas Friday, Meeh pushed his team goal-scoring lead to seven, two more than Tommy Stang. … Jack Stang (Mendota Heights, Minn.) — who owns three, two-assist games this season — picked up his team-leading 10th assist of the season against St. Thomas, while Jack Stang (13), Tommy Stang (12), and Meeh (10) have all cracked the 10-point barrier. … With the tallies by Lindauer and Roslund vs. St. Thomas Friday, Saint Mary's now boasts eight players who have recorded their first collegiate goals this season — Roslund, Lindauer, Sam Hanson (Eau Claire, Wis.), 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 four times this season — Meeh vs. Concordia on Nov. 23 and vs. St. Thomas Friday, 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. … Al Rogers (New Haven, Conn.) — who recorded his first collegiate shutout, a 30-save showing against No. 10 Oswego on Jan. 3 — kicked out 30 shots against the Tommies Friday. … Nast has now posted 30 or more saves in each of his last three starts — including a season-high 37 saves against No. 14 Williams on Jan. 4 — and eight times in his collegiate career. … Rogers heads into Saturday's rematch with St. Thomas boasting a 3.31 goals-against-average and a .899 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 12-9 in the first period, but have been outscored 14-9 in the second and 19-9 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 Friday's 5-4 loss to St. Thomas the Cardinals have now played 16 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 seven of its 12 games, going 4-3-0. 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. … Both of Saint Mary's wins at the Pathfinder/Oswego State Hockey Classic on Jan. 3-4 came against nationally ranked foes — No. 10 Oswego and No. 14 Williams. … 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. … 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
• With Saturday's game against Saint Mary's, the Tommies will have played six of their last seven games on their home ice — the lone exception, Friday's conference showdown against Saint Mary's. … The Tommies' 5-4 win over Saint Mary's Friday snapped its two-game losing streak. UST is now 2-3 in its last five contests. … St. Thomas' five goals against Saint Mary's Friday came from five different players — including season firsts from Andrew Kangas, Shayne Monahan, and Jake Peterson. … John Peterson heads into Saturday's rematch against Saint Mary's leading the Tommies with six goals, one more than Luke Radetic, and two in front of Brett Gravelle and Broydon Stufko. … Peterson shares the team lead in assists (7) with Shayne Monahan and also leads the squad with 13 points. … St. Thomas' seven game-winning goals have come from seven different players — Stufko, Jake Peterson, Sam Huff, Johnny Panvica, Gavin Payne, Jack Vincent, and Andrew Willis. … Twelve of UST's 46 goals this season have come via special teams — 10 power-play goals and two 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. Burggrabe — who made 32 saves against Saint Mary's Friday — boasts a 2.90 GAA and .898 save percentage in eight appearances. Will Graves stopped 31 of 36 shots (5.00 GAA, .839 save %) in his lone start. … Burggrabe has stopped 183 of the 204 shots he's faced, with Baribeau close behind with 127 saves on 135 shots. … St. Thomas has scored four or more goals six 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. … 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. … The Tommies are 4-1-1 when scoring first, while going 3-4-0 when their opponent scores the game's first goal. … UST is unbeaten (4-0) 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.