SAINT MARY'S CARDINALS 

(0-2-0 MIAC, 1-6-0 O'ALL)

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SAINT JOHN'S JOHNNIES 

(0-1-0 MIAC, 2-3-1 O'ALL

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A YEAR AGO: March 18, 2021 * L, 5-2

HEAD-2-HEAD: Series History

SAINT MARY'S LAST ACTION:

Nov. 12, 2021 * at Concordia * L, 8-3

Nov. 13, 2021 * at Concordia * L, 6-3

SAINT JOHN'S LAST ACTION: 

Nov. 12, 2021 * Stevens Pt. * L,4-2

Nov.13, 2021 * Stout * W, 3-2 (ot)

SMU UP NEXT:

Nov. 20, 2021 * v. Saint John's * Winona, MN * 7:00

SAINT JOHN'S UP NEXT: 

Nov. 20, 2021 * at Saint Mary's * Winona, MN * 7:00

• FOR THE RECORD: Saint Mary’s enters Thursday’s matchup at Saint John’s sitting at 1-6-0 overall record, while still looking for their first MIAC win of the year after dropping both games at Concordia last weekend. 

• LAST ACTION: The Cardinals surrendered 14 goals in their two losses to Concordia in the teams’ conference-opening series last weekend. SMU dropped the opener to the Cobbers 8-3 last Friday — a game in which the two teams combined for eight second-period goals — before falling 6-3 in the rematch the following afternoon.

• ON THE ROAD AGAIN: Thursday’s game at Saint John’s is the third straight road game for the Cardinals. Following Thursday’s matchup, the Cardinals will close out the 2021 portion of their schedule with a road game at Lawrence on Nov. 23 and a home-and-home series against St. Olaf on Dec. 3-4.

• FIRST AS A CARDINAL: Kasyn Kruse (Luverne, Minn.) and Trevor Paradise (Colorado Springs, Colo.) each scored third-period goals last weekend against Concordia, with both tallies a collegiate first. The duo are the fourth and fifth players to net their first goal in an SMU uniform this season. Laudon Poellinger (La Crescent, Minn.) scored SMU’s lone goal in last Saturday’s 4-1 loss to seventh-ranked UW-Eau Claire, while Gabe Potyk (Lake Orion, Mich.) tallied his first collegiate goal against UW-Superior on Nov. 5 and Matt Hutton (Carmel, Ind.) netted his first goal in a Saint Mary’s jersey to account for Saint Mary’s lone goal in SMU’s 5-1 loss to Lawrence on Nov. 3.

• LIGHTING THE LAMP: With his second-period goal against Concordia last Friday, Ryan Stoynich (Calgary, Alberta) pushed his team-leading goal total to three. Bud Winter (St. Louis, Mo.) and Hutton have both scored twice, while Potyk, Lindauer, Poellinger, Kruse, Paradise, Trevor Schroder (Des Moines, Iowa), Andrew Froese (Traverse City, Mich.), and Tyson Liverance (Burford, Ontario) have netted SMU’s other nine goals.

• LENDING A HAND: Lindauer, Hutton, Poellinger, and Trevor Wilhelm (St. Louis, Mo.) all share the team lead with three assists each, one more than Stoynich and Schroder.

• POINT PRODUCERS: Stoynich (3 G, 2 A) and Hutton (2 G, 3 A) lead the team in points with five, followed by Lindauer (1 G, 3 A) and Poellinger (1 G, 3 A) with four; and Winter (2 G, 1 A), Schroder (1 G, 2 A), and Wilhelm (0 G, 3 A) with three points each.

• POWER SURGE: Six of the Cardinals’ 15 goals this season have been scored on the power play. Saint Mary’s is 5-for-30 with the man advantage.

• MULTIPLE-POINT PERFORMANCES: The Cardinals have had six players post multiple-point games this season — led by Stoynich and Hutton, who have achieved the feat twice. Paradise, Winter, Lindauer and Wilhelm have accounted for the other four.

• BETWEEN THE PIPES: A.J. Ruskowski (Traverse City, Mich.) picked up his first collegiate win on Nov. 5, equaling his then-career high with 28 saves in SMU’s 4-3 win over UW-Superior. Ruskowski followed up that effort by stopped a career-best 43 shots in the Cardinals’ 4-1 loss to UW-Eau Claire the following evening. … Ruskowski enters Thursday’s game against Saint John’s sporting a 4.30 goals-against average and an .869 save percentage. … Matt Sankner (Pennington, N.J.) has compiled a 4.78 GAA and .879 save percentage in three appearances (100:27).

• FIRST CAREER STARTS: Ruskowski and Sankner each made their first collegiate starts in goal for the Cardinals against Lake Forest on Oct. 29-30. Ruskowski finished with 28 saves in SMU’s 4-3 overtime loss on Oct. 29, while Sankner kicked out 33 of the 35 Forester shots he faced the following afternoon.

• WIN NO. 1: The Cardinals picked up their first win of the season last Friday, snapping a season-opening three-game losing streak with a 4-3 win over UW-Superior.

• GOAL NO. 1: Liverance’s goal at 13:52 of the first period was the Cardinals’ first goal of the 2021-22 season.

• FIRST GOAL SUCCESS: In Saint Mary’s seven games this season, the team that has scored first has gone on to win. Lake Forest (twice), Lawrence, UW-Eau Claire, and Concordia (twice) scored first in SMU’s six losses, while the Cardinals netted the game’s opening goal in their 4-3 victory over UW-Superior on Nov. 5.

• FOR THE RECORD: The Johnnies enter Thursday’s opening game of their two-game series against Saint Mary’s sitting at 2-3-1 overall — having split its two nonconference games against UW-Stevens Point (L, 4-2) and UW-Stout (W, 3-2, ot) last weekend. SJU has played just one conference game, falling to Bethel 1-0 in overtime on Nov. 10.

• LAST WEEKEND: The Johnnies surrendered a pair of shorthanded goals in the game’s final 2:14 in falling to No. 11 UW-Stevens Point last Friday, before getting a goal from Nick Michel 39 seconds into overtime en route to a 3-2 win over UW-Stout the following day.

• ROAD WARRIORS: After opening the season with four straight home games, Saint John’s is in the midst of playing four of five games on the road — the lone exception Thursday’s 7 p.m. matchup against Saint Mary’s.

• WORKING OVERTIME: SJU has played three overtime games this season — falling to Bethel (1-0) on Nov. 10, beating UW-Stout (3-2) last Friday, and tying MSOE (4-4) on Nov. 7

• OFFENSIVE LEADERS: Michel’s overtime game-winner against UW-Stout last Saturday was his third goal of the season, moving him into a tie for the team lead with Lewis Crosby. Matt DeRosa has scored two goals this season, while Cole Souto, Max Borst, Brett Meister, and Max Osborne own SJU’s other four goals.

• LENDING A HAND: Souto leads the Johnnies with four assists, one more than Henry Enebak and two in front of Michel, Braden Altena, Auggie Moore, and Spencer Rudrud. … Souto, Rudrud, Michel, and Altena have all posted two-assist games this season.

• POINT PRODUCERS: Michel (3 G, 2 A) and Souto (1 G, 4 A) share the team lead in points with five each, followed by Crosby (3 G, 1 A) with four and Enebak (0 G, 3 A) with three.

• TOSSING THE HAT: Crosby picked up three of his team-leading five goals against Milwaukee School of Engineering on Nov. 7, scoring his first three goals as a Johnnie en route to his first collegiate hat trick.

• BETWEEN THE PIPES: Mac Berglove and Michael Magnuson have shared the goaltending duties for the Johnnies this season. Berglove has compiled a 1.67 goals-against-average and .940 save percentage in four starts, while Magnuson sports a 4.08 GAA and .879 save percentage in two starts. … Berglove has stopped 109 of the 116 shots he’s faced and has been in goal for both of the Johnnies’ wins. … Berglove stopped a season-high 34 shots in shutting out UW-Eau Claire on Oct. 30.

• AS A TEAM: The Johnnies have scored 12 goals in six games, including two power-play tallies and one shorthanded goal. SJU’s opponents, meanwhile, have scored 16 goals — five with the man advantage and two shorties. … Saint John’s has scored six of its 12 goals in the first period, while SJU’s opponents have scored five goals in each of the first three periods.