MOORHEAD, Minn. — After surrendering five goals in the second period of Friday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference-opening loss to Concordia, the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team limited the high-powered Cobbers to just a pair of second-period tallies in Saturday's rematch.
 
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, that was the good news.
 
The Cobbers, who erupted for eight goals in an 8-3 victory over Saint Mary's in Friday's conference opener, picked up right where they left off on Saturday, scoring six times — and holding off a furious third-period Cardinal onslaught — en route to a 6-3 victory over SMU at the Moorhead Sports Center.
 
The Cobbers scored early — and late — to open up a 3-0 lead after the first period, getting a goal from Tanner Breidembach just three minutes into the frame, before Hanson O'Leary and Alex Stoley scored in the final 1:36 to give Concordia its three-goal, first-period cushion.
 
Despite being outshot by the Cardinals 13-5 in the second period, Concordia would tack on a pair of goals in the middle frame and headed into the game's final 20 minutes with a commanding 5-0 advantage.
 
It took the Saint Mary's offense 40 minutes to finally get its offense on track, but once it did, the Cardinals shifted into overdrive in a big hurry.
 
Trevor Paradise (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Andrew Froese (Traverse City, Mich.) scored two minutes apart early in the final period to cut the deficit to three, 5-2, only to have Concordia answer with a shorthanded tally by Brock Montgomery 48 seconds after Froese's goal to make it 6-2.
 
Matt Hutton (Carmel, Ind.) found the back of the net for the second time this season to get SMU back within three, 6-3, but that would be as close as the Cardinals would get.
 
Saint Mary's (0-2-0 MIAC, 1-6-0 overall) is back in action with a pair of games against Saint John's next week. The Cardinals will head to the National Hockey Center in St. Cloud, Minn., for an MIAC matchup with the Johnnies on Thursday, before the two teams head to the Saint Mary's Ice Arena for the second game of their conference series on Saturday. Both games are slated for 7 p.m.