By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's hockey team closes out its regular season-ending two-game conference series against Saint John's on Saturday, as the Cardinals and Johnnies square off in a 2 p.m. MIAC matchup at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.
 
The Matchup:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (6-8-1 MIAC, 9-13-2 Overall) vs. Saint John's Johnnies (8-3-4 MIAC, 11-8-5 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• Live Stats * Live Video
 
Last Night:
• February 21, 2020 * Saint Mary's Ice Arena * Winona, Minn.: 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 | Recap
 
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:
• Saturday's game is the regular-season finale for the Cardinals. The Johnnies, meanwhile, have already qualified for next week's MIAC Tournament. The Johnnies can clinch the regular-season conference championship and No. 1 seed with a win; OR losses by both Concordia and Augsburg.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2019-20 Roster | 2019-20 Schedule | 2019-20 Statistics
• Saturday's game against Saint John's is the third straight home game to close out the regular season for the Cardinals — and the final collegiate game for the Cardinals' nine graduating seniors. … Saint Mary's is 4-7-1 on their home ice, while posting a 5-6-1 mark away from the Saint Mary's Ice Arena. … Dylan Robertson (Alpharetta, Ga.) scored the Cardinals' lone goal against Saint John's Friday, with Seth Kamrass (Peachtree, Ga.) and Brady Lindauer (Cary, Ill.) picking up the assists. … Saint Mary's has now been held to one goal in each of their last three Friday contest. Along with their 3-1 loss to Saint John's, the Cardinals tied St. Olaf 1-1 and lost to Hamline 3-1 in their previous two Friday games. … 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 Saturday's rematch against Saint John's boasting a 2.94 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. … With their 1-1 tie against St. Olaf on Feb. 14 — 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. … The Cardinals' 1-1 tie against St. Olaf on Feb. 14 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 Saturday's rematch 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. … After having 10 different Johnnies record a point in their 4-1 win over Gustavus on Feb. 14 and 13 of SJU's 19 skaters notching a point in the 6-2 win the following day — the Johnnies' seven points in Friday's 3-1 win over Saint Mary's came from just three players. Auggie Moore scored two goals and added an assist, while Jack Johnson had a goal and an assist, and Ryan Kero chipped in one helper. … Moore and Kero head into Saturday's rematch with Saint Mary's sharing the team lead in goals with 10, one more than Davis Kirkendall. … Kyle Wagner owns the team lead in assists (18) and shares the team lead in points (23) with Moore. … Wagner is one of five Johnnies with 10 or more assists — being joined by Moore (13), Brady Heppner (13), Jake Dittel (12), and Jake Johnson (12) — while Heppner (20), Kero (19), Johnson (18), Kirkendall (17), Dan Wieber (13), Dittel (12), Travis Brown (11), and Adam Orn (11) all join Wagner and Moore as players with 10 or more points. … Moore leads the team with three game-winning goals, one more than both Kero and Tanner Dufault. … Saint John's has scored 20 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 2.57 goals-against-average and .928 save percentage in 16 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 506 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 24 games, going 7-1-1. SJU is 4-7-4 when its opponent scores first. … Saint John's is 9-0-1 when leading after the second period, but the Johnnies are just 2-5-0 when trailing heading into the third period. … Saint John's has scored three or more goals in 10 of its 24 games — including a season-high eight goals in beating Bethel 8-2 on Nov. 8.