WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's hockey team entered Saturday's nonconference matchup against UW-Eau Claire with all the momentum.
 
After all, the Cardinals were coming off their first win of the season — thanks in part to their highest offensive output of the year — while the seventh-ranked Blugolds were still searching for their first win after back-to-back losses to open the campaign.
 
For the first 34 minutes, however, that momentum rested squarely on the Blugolds' shoulders — and no matter how hard they tried, the Cardinals could not regain it.
 
UW-Eau Claire scored the game's first two goals and never relinquished the lead, withstanding a late Saint Mary's charge in dealing the Cardinals a 4-1 setback at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.
 
The Cardinals had a golden opportunity to take the early lead, but Sam Hanson's (Eau Claire, Wis.) laser from the left hashmark six minutes into the first period clanked off the post.
 
Less than two minutes later, the Blugolds would strike, thanks to a fortunate bounce off the pad of Cardinal goalie A.J. Ruskowski (Traverse City, Mich.). Ruskowski stopped Jordan Randall's initial shot, only to have the rebound carom right onto the stick of Ty Readman, who deposited the puck into the empty net for a 1-0 UW-Eau Claire lead.
 
The Blugolds — who closed out the period with an 18-4 edge in shots on goal — would tack on another first-period tally on a power-play tally by Derek Hammer at 13:43 and entered the first intermission nursing a 2-0 advantage.
 
Saint Mary's cut the deficit to one, 2-1, on Laudon Poellinger's (La Crescent, Minn.) first goal in a Cardinal uniform at 14:02 of the second period — and it appeared as if the momentum had finally shifted.
 
The shift was only temporary, however, as UW-Eau Claire answered Poellinger's tally with one of the own — a rebound goal by Sammy Martel three minutes later — and the Blugolds regained that two-goal cushion heading into the third period.
 
Still trailing by two with less than two minutes remaining, the Cardinals pulled their goalie in exchange for an extra attacker, but the strategy backfired, as Martell scored his second of the night into the empty net to seal the 4-1 victory.
 
After making a then-career-high 28 saves in his first two starts, Ruskowski was phenomenal in goal against the Blugolds, kicking out 43 of UW-Eau Claire's 47 shots. Ryan Ouellette, meanwhile, finished with 19 saves in goal for UW-EC.
 
The Cardinals (1-4-0 overall) are back in action next weekend, when they kick off Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play with a pair of road games at Concordia. The Cardinals and Cobbers will square off at 7 p.m. Friday evening at the Moorhead Sports Center in Moorhead, Minn., and complete the two-game series with a 2 p.m. matinee game the following afternoon.