WINONA, Minn. — It took a period and a half for the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team to shake off the rust and get their offense shifted out of neutral Saturday evening.
And once they did, the Cardinals skipped first, second, third gears — and went right into overdrive.
Saint Mary's scored two goals in the final 10 minutes of the second period and two more in the first four minutes of the third, as the Cardinals held off a late Gustavus rally to beat the Gusties 4-3 at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.
After battling to a stalemate for the first 30 minutes, the Cardinals finally broke the ice at 10:15 of the second period, as
Andrew Froese (Traverse City, Mich.) took a feed from
Sam Schultz (Lakeland, Minn.) and beat GAC goalie Justin Damon for the first goal of the season — and the first of his Cardinal career.
Gustavus' Tyler Ebner pulled the Gusties even, lifting a backhander over the shoulder of Cardinal goalie
Al Rogers (North Haven, Conn.) just four minutes after Froese's goal to knot the game at 1-1.
The Cardinals did not wait long to regain the lead, however, as
Tommy Stang (Mendota Heights, Minn.) delivered his first goal of the season — after finding the back of the net 11 times last season — at 17:29 to give Saint Mary's a 2-1 lead heading into the game's final 20 minutes.
Thomas Magnavite (Chicago, Ill.) and
Jack Hatton (Naperville, Ill.) gave the Cardinals a little breathing room, as the duo netted back-to-back goals a minute apart early in the third stanza to push the Saint Mary's lead to 4-1.
Gustavus decided to make things a little nerve-wracking for SMU coach
Ryan Egan and the Cardinals, scoring a pair of goals late in the third period — but it was too little, too late.
Rogers finished with 32 saves in goal for the Cardinals — including 10 in the first period and 13 in the second — while Damon made 12 saves, four in each period, for the Gusties.
The Cardinals (1-0 overall) are back in action on Tuesday, heading to the Schwan's Super Rink in Blaine, Minn., for a 7 p.m. nonconference game against Bethel.
