By
DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
WINONA, Minn. — The last time the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team faced Augsburg, the Auggies erupted for five second-period goals and knocked the Cardinals out of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament with an 8-1 semifinal victory.
Friday night was payback for the Cardinals.
Saint Mary's put together a pair of three-goal periods, as the Cardinals routed the 10th-ranked Auggies 7-1 Friday evening at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.
Kyle Meeh (Fenton, Mo.) has boasted the Midas Touch for the Cardinals all season, and Friday was no different, as the senior defenseman scored his team-leading 10th goal of the season at 16:13 of the first period to give Saint Mary's a 1-0 lead — a lead Saint Mary's would take into the locker room after the game's opening 20 minutes.
The Cardinals turned opportunistic to push their lead to 2-0, taking advantage of an Auggie miscue on the power play, allowing
Tommy Stang (Mendota Heights, Minn.) to break down the left side and rifle shot past Augsburg goalie Daniil Gerasimov for his second shorthanded goal of the season.
Tyson Liverance (Burford, Ontario) — who assisted on Stang's goal — picked up his second point of the period, scoring his first goal of the year at 6:39 of the middle frame to push the Cardinals' lead to 3-0.
And the Cardinals weren't finished, as
Tommy Stang notched his second shorthanded goal of the period — this one with 0.5 seconds remaining in the period to give Saint Mary's a commanding 4-0 advantage.
After scoring twice on Augsburg power plays in the second period, the Cardinals decided to take advantage of their own power-play opportunities in the third period, scoring three goals with the man advantage — the first by
Trevor Wilhelm (St. Louis, Mo.) at 12:49, with
Ryan Stoynich (Calgary, Alberta) and
Brady Lindauer (Cary, Ill.) following with PP tallies over the next two minutes as the Saint Mary's lead ballooned to 7-0.
Gavin Holland foiled goalie
Nick Nast's (Oxnard, Calif.) shutout bid, scoring the Auggies' lone goal with 2:32 remaining to round out the scoring.
Nast, making his first start since Dec. 6, finished with 23 saves for the Cardinals, while Gerasimov and Jon Albers combined to post 21 saves for the Auggies.
The Cardinals (5-4-0 MIAC, 7-8-1 overall) and Auggies (7-3-1 MIAC, 12-6-1 overall) return to action on Saturday night, heading to Augsburg's Ed Saugestad Rink in Minneapolis, Minn., for the 7 p.m. rematch.
