By
DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
WINONA, Minn. — When the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team took the ice Saturday evening against Hamline, the Cardinals were in a rather foul mood.
A 2-1 loss to the Pipers the previous evening will do that to a team.
And Saint Mary's unpleasant disposition seemed to work in the Cardinals' favor in their rematch with Hamline — much to the dismay of the Pipers.
Saint Mary's erupted for four goals in the second period — and seven overall — as the Cardinals earned a split in its two-game Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference series with a convincing 7-2 victory at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.
The Cardinal scored as many goals in the first four minutes of Saturday's game as they netted in the entire 60 minutes on Friday, as
Tommy Stang (Mendota Heights, Minn.) got the Cardinals off and running with his ninth of the season at 3:38 of the opening period.
Ryan Stoynich (Calgary, Alberta) scored for the second night in a row five minutes later, as Saint Mary's took a 2-0 lead into the locker room after 20 minutes of play.
Hamline cut the deficit in half with a goal by Taylor Trapp 1:54 into the second period, but all Trapp's goal seemed to do is awaken the Cardinal offense.
Tommy Stang found the back of the net for the second time at 4:36, and over the next nine minutes,
Brady Lindauer (Cary, Ill.),
Andrew Cummings (Anchorage, Alaska), and
Kyle Meeh (Fenton, Mo.) would all find the back of the net to push the Cardinals' lead to 6-1.
Brady Crabtree would score before the second period ended, leaving the Cardinals with a four goal cushion heading into the game's final 20 minutes.
Trevor Wilhelm (St. Louis, Mo.) — who assisted on three of the Cardinals' first six goals — picked up his fourth point of the evening, netting the lone goal of the third period at 16:36 to round out the scoring.
The Cardinals finished with point production from nine different players. Along with Wilhelm's one-goal, three-assist effort,
Tommy Stang chipped in two goals and two assists, while Stoynich and Meeh each had a goal and an assist, and
Jack Stang and
Alex Rickoff (Winon, Minn.) each had two assists.
Al Rogers (New Haven, Conn.) picked up the win goal, stopping 15 of the Pipers' 17 shots — 10 of those saves coming in the second period.
The Cardinals (6-6-0 MIAC, 8-10-1 overall) are back in action next weekend with a pair of conference games against St. Olaf. Saint Mary's travels to St. Olaf Ice Arena for a 7 p.m. contest against the Oles on Friday, before the two teams head to the Saint Mary's Ice Arena for Saturday's 7 p.m. rematch. The Pipers (3-8-3 MIAC, 5-14-4 overall), meanwhile, return to conference action next Friday and Saturday with a pair of games against St. Thomas. HU heads across town to the St. Thomas Ice Arena in Mendota Heights, Minn., on Friday for a 7 p.m. matchup against the Tommies, before returning home to the TRIA Rink in St. Paul, Minn., for the teams' 7 p.m. rematch Saturday evening.
