By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's hockey team entered Friday's conference showdown against playoff-bound Saint John's with faint hopes of joining the Johnnies in the MIAC Tournament field.
 
But to land that fifth and final MIAC invitation, the Cardinals had to dispatch of the Johnnies — and get a little help from their conference friends.
 
Saint John's, however, decided to follow its own script — one that did not bode well for the Cardinals.
 
The Johnnies scored three unanswered third-period goals — including a penalty shot tally by Auggie Moore — as SJU moved into first place in the conference standings and eliminated the Cardinals from playoff contention with a 3-1 victory Friday at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.
 
After a scoreless first period, it was Saint Mary's which would finally break the ice six minutes into the middle frame — and it was only fitting that it was a Cardinal senior — on Senior Night — behind the game's first goal.
 
Dylan Robertson (Alpharetta, Ga.) picked a perfect time to net his first goal of the season, beating SJU goalie Andrew Lindgren at 6:23 of the second period. Fellow senior Seth Kamrass (Peachtree Corners, Ga.) collected one of the assists, with Brady Lindauer (Cary, Ill.) getting credit for the other.
 
The Cardinals clung to that one-goal lead until the 3:14 mark of the third period, when SJU's Jack Johnson finally solved Cardinal goalie Al Rogers (North Haven, Conn.), rifling a shot past the junior goalie to knot the game at 1-1.
 
Five minutes later, the Johnnies grabbed the lead for good on Moore's penalty shot goal. Moore would add his second goal of the game, and 10^th of the season, with 2:49 remaining in regulation to ice the win for the Johnnies.
 
Rogers was busy between the pipes for the Cardinals, stopping 22 of the Johnnies' 25 shots, while Lindgren finished with 24 saves for SJU.
 
The Cardinals (6-8-1 MIAC, 9-13-2 overall) and Johnnies (8-3-4 MIAC, 11-8-5 overall) 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 2 p.m.