WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's hockey team entered Saturday's showdown against St. Thomas sitting atop the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference heap as the lone unbeaten and untied team.
And the Cardinals were determined to keep it that way.
St. Thomas, however, had other ideas.
The Tommies scored four unanswered goals, handing Saint Mary's a 4-2 setback in the teams' final meeting in Winona, Minn., before UST leaves the MIAC.
Saint Mary's did not waste any time grabbing the upper hand against the Tommies, scoring on their first shot on goal — just 1:07 into the first period — as
Thomas Magnavite (Chicago, Ill.) took a feed from
Jack Hatton (Naperville, Ill.) and rifled a laser past UST goalie Jake Berger for his third goal of the season.
The Tommies — playing their third game in as many nights — netted the equalizer five minutes later, when Jackson Bond's wrister eluded the glove of Cardinal goalie
Al Rogers (North Haven, Conn.) to knot the game at 1-1.
St. Thomas grabbed its first lead of the game 8:33 into the second period, when Bond struck for a second time, slipping the puck under Rogers pad for a 2-1 UST advantage. And the Tommies weren't finished, as Luke Manning found the back of the net with less than four minutes remaining to give UST a 3-1 lead heading into the third period.
Like Bond in the first and second periods, Manning would score twice in the second and third as the Tommies would tack on their fourth unanswered goal at 11:37 on Manning's second of the night.
Ryan Stoynich (Calgary, Alberta) pumped some life into the Cardinal offense with his second of the season at 13:27 of the third frame, pulling SMU within two, 4-2 — but that was as close as the Cardinals would get.
Rogers finished with 35 saves in goal for Saint Mary's, while Berger kicked out 26 of the Cardinals' 28 shots between the pipes for UST.
The Cardinals (2-1-0 MIAC, 4-1-0 overall) are right back in action on Sunday, as they play host to Augsburg in a 4 p.m. conference matchup at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.
