• FOR THE RECORD: The Cardinals head into their two-game season-opening series at Lake Forest coming off a 5-6-0 showing in the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season. In their last full season in 2019-20, Saint Mary's compiled a 9-14-2 overall mark — including a 6-9-2 effort in the MIAC.
• QUICK START: The Cardinals opened 2020-21 with four straight wins, marking the first time since 1972-73 that SMU opened with four straight wins. The 1972-73 team opened the season with 11 straight wins.
• CLOSE CALLS: Four of the Cardinals' final six games were decided by one goal — including back-to-back overtime contests against Bethel (W, 6-5) and St. Thomas (L, 4-3) on March 6 and 9. All told, Saint Mary's played seven one goal games in 2020-21 and has now played 25 games decided by one goal or less — including 14 that have gone into overtime — over the last three seasons.
• LEADING THE CHARGE: Bud Winter (St. Louis, Mo.) closed out the 11-game 2020-21 season with a team-leading six goals, one more than Sam Hanson (Eau Claire, Wis.) and Tommy Stang (Mendota Heights, Minn.). Andrew Froese (Traverse City, Mich.) chipped in four goals, with Ryan Stoynich (Calgary, Alberta), Brady Lindauer (Cary, Ill.), Tyson Liverance (Burford, Ontario), and Thomas Magnavite (Chicago, Ill.) all chipping in three.
• LENDING A HAND: Stoynich closed out 2020-21 as the team-leader in assists with nine, followed by Lindauer with eight, and Winter and Trevor Wilhelm (St. Louis, Mo.) with six each.
• POINTED IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION: Saint Mary's closed out the year with five players compiling 10 or more points in 11 games — Winter (12), Stoynich (12), Lindauer (11), Hanson (10), and Stang (10).
• SCORING IN BUNCHES: Winter, Hanson, Lindauer, and Froese owned SMU's five multiple-goal games in 2020-21, with Winter achieving the feat twice.
• CAREER FIRSTS: The Cardinals boasted six players who scored their first collegiate goals in 2020-21 — Winter, Froese, Owen Nash (Buford, Ga.), Nick Kiemel (Colorado Springs, Colo.), Nolan Dawson (Rocky View County, Alberta), and Trevor Schroder (Des Moines, Iowa).
• STREAKING ALONG: Lindauer recorded at least one point in seven of the nine games he played in 2020-21 — including a career-best three-point (2G, 1A) effort against St. Scholastica on March 2.
• TOSSING THE HAT: Froese recorded his first collegiate hat trick against Gustavus on Feb. 23, 2021. Froese's hat trick was the first by a Cardinal since 2015-16, when Bob Kinne, Jared Johnson, and Jay Heinle all recorded three-goal games. …Â
• BETWEEN THE PIPES: Al Rogers (North Haven, Conn.) stopped a season-high 36 shots in his final game in a Cardinal uniform against Saint John's on March 18, 2021. Rogers closed out his senior season starting eight of the team's 11 games, owning a 3.73 goals-against-average and .898 save percentage. … Connor Close (Des Moines, Iowa) stopped 33 Bethel shots in his first collegiate start in goal for the Cardinals on Feb. 2, 2021.
• LIGHTING THE LAMP: The Cardinals' six goals against Bethel in their 6-5 OT win on March 6 were a season-high and the most in a game since netting seven against Hamline on Feb. 8, 2020. |
• FOR THE RECORD: The Foresters kick off 2021-22 on the heels of a six-game season during the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season, a year in which Lake Forest finished with a 1-5-0 record. In their last full season in 2019-20, the Foresters compiled an 18-6-3 overall record — including a 14-4-2 mark in NCHA play.
• ROUGH START: The Foresters lost their first five games a year ago — being outscored 20-5 in the process — before ending the season with a 2-1 road win over Aurora.
• SPREADING THE WEALTH: David Cohen was the only Forester with more than one goal a year ago, scoring twice. Zach Leonard, Ryan Kropp, Kyle Cote, Cullen Kane, and Will Lebel netted LF's other five goals.
• HELPING OUT: Troy Nelson recorded a team-high three assists — he was the only Forester with more than one helper in LF's six games a year ago.
• POWER SURGE: Lake Forest scored five of its seven goals a year ago on the power pla. On the flip side, the Foresters surrendered eight power-play goals and a pair of shorthanded tallies among their 21 goals against.
• BETWEEN THE PIPES: The Foresters used three different goals last season. Nick Wiencek compiled a 4.39 goals-against-average and .877 save percentage in three games, while Carson Poulin (2.03 GAA, .946 save %) and Boyd DiClemente (2.44 GAA, .951 save %) each played in two games. … DiClemente finished with a team-leading 78 saves, followed closely by both Wiencek (71) and Poulin (70).
• AS A TEAM: Lake Forest scored just seven goals in 2020-21 and was held to two goals or less in all six contests. On the flip side, the Foresters surrendered 22 goals — including at least three in five of the six games. … Lake Forest allowed a season-high six goals in falling to MSOE 6-1 on Feb. 27, 2021.
 • NCAA HOPES DASHED: Lake Forest was scheduled to face St. Thomas in the opening round of the 2020 NCAA Tournament on March 14, only to have the event cancelled due to the pandemic. It was the first time since 1990-91 that the Foresters had qualified for the NCAA Tournament and just the third time in program history.
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