MOORHEAD, Minn. — It's a safe bet that Saint Mary's University men's hockey coach Ryan Egan has never experienced a second period like the one he witnessed Friday evening.
 
It's also a safe bet that the Cardinal head coach never wants to go through another one like it.
 
In 20 minutes of play, Saint Mary's and Concordia combined for eight goals — including six in the final 6:16 of the period.
 
Problem was, it was Concordia doing the majority of the scoring, as CC netted five second-period goals — to go with two in the first period — and Saint Mary's didn't have enough third-period firepower to catch up, as the Cardinals fell to CC 8-3 in the teams' Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener at the Moorhead Sports Center.
 
The Cobbers struck first midway through the first period, as Nicholas Ness beat SMU goalie A.J. Ruskowski (Traverse City, Mich.) at 12:14 to give Concordia the early 1-0 advantage.
 
Four minutes later, the Cobbers' lead climbed to 2-0, as Brady Tatro found the back of the net on the power-play, and Concordia would maintain that two-goal cushion heading into the first-period intermission.
 
The 15-minute break did nothing to cool off the high-flying Cobbers, as CC netted its third of the game — off the stick of Isaac Henkemeyer — just 3:18 into the middle period to make it a 3-0 Concordia lead.
 
Brady Lindauer (Cary, Ill.) got the Cardinals on the board at 9:40 of the second stanza — and then the floodgates opened.
 
Concordia would net back-to-back goals by Tyler Bossert and Tatro less than two minutes apart to make it 5-1 with 4:45 to play. Ryan Stoynich (Calgary, Alberta) answered with his third of the season just 15 seconds after Tatro's second of the game to cut the deficit to 5-2.
 
That, however, was just the tip of the iceberg, as Concordia sandwiched goals by Braden Costello and Tanner Beidenbach around Kasyn Kruse's (Luverne, Minn.) first goal as a Cardinal in the final 3:37 of the period to give the Cobbers a commanding 7-3 cushion heading into the third period.
 
The third period proved to be rather mild after the second-period scoring fest, as Concordia's Brock Montgomery accounted for the period's only goal, scoring just 1:18 into the final frame.
 
The Cardinals (0-1-0 MIAC, 1-5-0 overall) and Cobbers (1-0-0 MIAC, 2-2-1 overall) get right back at it Saturday afternoon, as the two teams conclude their two-game MIAC series with a 2 p.m. matinee at the Moorhead Sports Center in Moorhead, Minn.