By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's hockey team kicks off its final MIAC series of the regular season on Friday, as the Cardinals entertain Saint John's in the first of two conference games at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena. Opening face-off is set for 7 p.m.
 
The Matchup:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (6-7-1 MIAC, 9-12-2 Overall) vs. Saint John's Johnnies (7-3-4 MIAC, 10-8-5 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• Live Stats * Live Video | Senior Salute

Last Action:
• Saint Mary's — February 14-15, 2020 * St. Olaf Ice Arena/Saint Mary's Ice Arena * Northfield, Minn./Winona, Minn.: The Cardinals managed to earn just two of the possible six conference points against St. Olaf last weekend, battling the Oles to a 1-1 draw — with SMU earning the extra point with a goal by Kyle Meeh (Fenton, Mo.) in the 3-on-3 overtime — while the Oles scored four first-period goals in beating Saint Mary's 5-3 in the rematch | STO Recap 1 * STO Recap 2
• Saint John's — February 14-15, 2020 * Don Roberts Ice Arena/National Hockey Center * St. Peter, Minn./St. Cloud, Minn.: The Johnnies locked up an MIAC post-season berth with a sweep of Gustavus last weekend, winning the opener 4-1 on the road, before completing the sweep with a 6-2 win in the rematch | GAC Recap 1 * GAC Recap 2
 
Saint Mary's vs. Saint John's — A Year Ago:
• November 30, 2019 * National Hockey Center * St. Cloud, Minn.: Saint Mary's scored the game-tying goal off the stick of Jack Stang (Mendota Heights, Minn.) with less than two minutes remaining in regulation to earn the Cardinals a 3-3 tie against the Johnnies, while brother Tommy Stang delivered the clinching shootout goal to help the Cardinals to the extra conference point | Recap
• December 1, 2019 * National Hockey Center * St. Cloud, Minn.: Ryan Stoynich (Calgary, Alberta) scored his second goal of the season just 29 seconds into overtime, lifting the Cardinals to a 4-3 win over the Johnnies — and giving Saint Mary's five of a possible six points in the teams' two-game conference series | Recap
 
Up Next:
• The Cardinals and Johnnies return to the Saint Mary's Ice Arena on Saturday for the second game of their two-game, regular season-ending conference series. Opening face-off is set for 7 p.m.
 
MIAC Tournament Outlook:
• The Cardinals' loss and tie against St. Olaf last weekend did not help their post-season push. Saint Mary's is currently tied with Bethel with 20 points each — two back of the fifth and final MIAC Tournament spot with a possible six points remaining. Augsburg (29 points) and Saint John's (27) have already locked up post-season berths, Concordia (26), Gustavus (22), and St. Thomas (22) are all sitting ahead of Saint Mary's in the standings.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2019-20 Roster | 2019-20 Schedule | 2019-20 Statistics
• Friday's game against Saint John's is the second of three straight home games to close out the regular season for the Cardinals, who are 4-6-1 on their home ice, while posting a 5-6-1 mark away from the Saint Mary's Ice Arena. … With last Friday's 1-1 tie against St. Olaf — the Cardinals' first conference tie of the season —  Saint Mary's has now played 19 games decided by one goal or less — including 11 that have gone into overtime — over the past two seasons. … Ian Currie (Franklin, Tenn.) scored the Cardinals' lone goal in last Friday's 1-1 tie against St. Olaf, while Sam Hanson (Eau Claire, Wis.), Seth Kamrass (Peachtree Corners, Ga.), and Tommy Stang (Mendota Heights, Minn.) netted Saint Mary's three goals in last Saturday's 5-3 loss to the Oles. … Tommy Stang (Mendota Heights, Minn.) and Trevor Wilhelm (St. Louis, Mo.) each put together four-point games against in Saint Mary's 7-2 win over Hamline on Feb. 8 — Stang had two goals and two assists, while Wilhelm recorded one goal and three assists. … Stang's four-point game was the second of his career — having also scored two goals and added two helpers against Augsburg on Jan. 31-1 — while Wilhelm's was his first. … With his goal against St. Olaf last Saturday, Tommy Stang moved into a share of the team lead in goals (11) with Kyle Meeh (Fenton, Mo.). … The 11 goals are a single-season career-high for both Stang and Meeh. … Meeh scored two goals in Saint Mary's 5-4 loss to St. Thomas on Jan. 10, then added three assists in the Cardinals' 4-1 win the following evening — both single-game career highs. … Jack Stang (Mendota Heights, Minn.), who recorded his first collegiate four-assist game against Augsburg on Jan. 31 and picked up a pair of helpers against Hamline on Feb. 8, leads the team in assists (22) and is one point back of his brother, Tommy, for the team lead in points with 25. … Jack Stang has recorded two or more assists in a game seven times this season. … Along with the Stang brothers, Meeh (19), Ryan Stoynich (Calgary, Alberta / 18), Trevor Wilhelm (St. Louis, Mo. / 16), and Tyson Liverance (Burford, Ontario / 10) have all cracked the 10-point barrier this season. … With his goal against UW-Stout on Jan. 17, Alex Rickoff (Winona, Minn.) became the ninth Cardinal to net his first collegiate goal this season — joining Brady Lindauer (Cary, Ill.), Currie, Roslund, Hanson, Thomas Magnavite (Chicago, Ill.), Wilhelm, Nikita Sheberov (Obninsk, Russia), and Sam Schultz (Lakeland, Minn.). … The Cardinals have had a multiple-goal scorer six times this season — Tommy Stang vs. Hamline on Feb. 8 and Augsburg on Jan. 31; Meeh vs. Concordia on Nov. 23 and vs. St. Thomas on Jan. 17; Jack Stang against Williams on Jan. 3; and Magnavite against Lake Forest on Nov. 1. … Six of Stoynich's nine goals this season have come on the power play, while Meeh is close behind, netting five power-play goals. … Tommy Stang has scored three of Saint Mary's four shorthanded goals. … Tommy Stang's two shorthanded goals against Augsburg on Jan. 31 marked the first time Saint Mary's has had a player score two shorthanded goals in a game since Martin Gruse netted two on Dec. 6, 2014. … Al Rogers (New Haven, Conn.) — who recorded his first collegiate shutout, a 30-save showing against No. 10 Oswego on Jan. 3 — heads into this weekend's matchup against Saint John's boasting a 2.93 goals-against-average and an .893 save percentage. … Rogers — who made a season-high 38 saves against St. Olaf on Feb. 14 — has posted 30 or more saves four times this season and nine times in his collegiate career. … Nick Nast (Oxnard, Calif.), who has compiled a 3.14 goals-against-average and an .890 save percentage in 10 appearances, has stopped 30 or more shots nine times in the last two seasons. … 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. … Five of Saint Mary's seven goals against Augsburg on Jan. 31 came on special teams — the Cardinals scored three power-play goals and added a pair of shorthanded tallies. … The Cardinals equaled their single-game season-high with seven goals in their 7-2 win over Hamline on Feb. 8. Saint Mary's has now scored seven goals in each of its last two wins — having beaten No. 10 Augsburg 7-1 on Jan. 31. … The Cardinals' 1-1 tie against St. Olaf last Friday was their fifth overtime game of the season. Saint Mary's owns OT wins over Concordia (3-2) and Gustavus (5-4), while falling to Bethel (4-3), and tying St. Olaf (1-1) and Lake Forest (3-3). … 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 has scored first in 14 of its 23 games, going 6-7-1. The Cardinals are 3-5-1 when their opponent scores first. … Saint Mary's is 7-1-1 when leading after two periods, while going 0-6-0 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 Saint John's Johnnies:
2019-20 Roster | 2019-20 Schedule | 2019-20 Statistics
• The Johnnies enter this weekend's two road games against Saint Mary's having already locked up an MIAC Tournament berth — the third straight post-season berth, fourth in the last five seasons, and the 22nd overall since the 1985-86 season. … Ten different Johnnies recorded a point in last Friday's 4-1 win over Gustavus, while 13 of SJU's 19 skaters notched a point in the 6-2 win the following day. … Ryan Kero heads into the weekend with a team-leading 10 goals, one more than David Kirkendall, and two in front of Auggie Moore. … Kyle Wagner owns the team lead in both assists (18) and points (23). … Wagner is one of five Johnnies with 10 or more assists — being joined by Brady Heppner (13), Moore (12), Jake Dittel (12), and Jake Johnson (11) — while Moore (20), Heppner (20), Kero (18), Kirkendall (17), Johnson (16), Dan Wieber (13), Dittel (12), Travis Brown (11), and Adam Orn (11) all join Wagner has players with 10 or more points. … Moore, Kero and Tanner Dufault share the team lead with two game-winning goals each. … Saint John's has scored 19 power-play goals this season, led by Kero with five and Moore with four. … Peter Tabor has scored two of SJU's four shorthanded goals this season. … Andrew Lindgren and Mac Berglove have shared the goaltending duties this season, with Lindgren compiling a 2.68 goals-against-average and .927 save percentage in 15 appearances, while Berglove owns a 2.17 GAA and .932 save % in 10 games played. … Lindgren made a season-high 47 saves against Gustavus last Saturday and leads the team with 482 saves, while Berglove has kicked out 272 shots. … Saint John's has played seven overtime games this season, going 1-1-5 — SJU beat Nichols (5-4), lost to St. Scholastica (3-2), and tied UW-Eau Claire (1-1), Bethel (3-3), Concordia (2-2), and Hamline (3-3 and 1-1). … The Johnnies have scored first in nine of their 23 games, going 7-1-1. SJU is 3-7-4 when its opponent scores first. … Saint John's is 9-0-1 when leading after the second period, but the Johnnies are just 1-5-0 when trailing heading into the third period. … Saint John's has scored three of more goals in nine of its 23 games — including a season-high eight goals in beating Bethel 8-2 on Nov. 8.