| Last Tuesday's game against St. Thomas was the final home game of the season for the Cardinals — and the final time Saint Mary's and UST will square off as members of the MIAC. The Tommies are leaving the conference after this season. … The Cardinals' 4-3 loss to St. Thomas last Tuesday was their second straight overtime game — SMU beat Bethel 6-5 in OT on March 6. … Nash Wood (Buford, Ga.), Sam Hanson (Eau Claire, Wis.), and Tyson Liverance (Burford, Ontario) scored Saint Mary's three goals against St. Thomas last Tuesday. … Bud Winter (St. Louis, Mo.) enters Tuesday's matchup against St. Olaf owning a team-high six goals, two more than Hanson, Tommy Stang (Mendota Heights, Minn.), and Andrew Froese (Traverse City, Mich.). … Brady Lindauer (Cary, Ill.) and Ryan Stoynich (Calgary, Alberta) are the team's assist leaders with eight. Winter, Lindauer, and Stoynich all share the team lead with 11 points. … Stang, Froese, Winter, Hanson, and Jack Hatton (Naperville, Ill.) own Saint Mary's five game-winning goals. … Nash's first-period goal against St. Thomas last Tuesday was his first as a Cardinal. Nash is the sixth SMU player to score his first collegiate goal this season, joining Winter, Froese, Nick Kiemel (Colorado Springs, Colo.), Nolan Dawson (Rocky View County, Alberta), and Trevor Schroder (Des Moines, Iowa). … Saint Mary's has had a player score career goal No. 1 in each of the last three games — with each goal the Cardinals' first of the game. … Hanson, who posted his first collegiate two-goal and three-point game against Bethel on March 6, has now recorded five points in his last two games. … Winter also scored twice against Bethel on March 6 and owns two multiple-goal games and four multiple-point performances. … Lindauer picked up an assist against St. Thomas last Tuesday and has now recorded at least one point in seven of the Cardinals' nine games — including a career-best three-point (2G, 1A) effort against St. Scholastica on March 2. … Winter, Hanson, Lindauer, and Froese own SMU's four multiple-goal games this season. … Froese recorded his first collegiate hat trick against Gustavus on Feb. 23, while Winter notched his first two-goal game as a Cardinal on Feb. 6. … Froese's hat trick was the first by a Cardinal since 2015-16, when Bob Kinne, Jared Johnson, and Jay Heinle all recorded three-goal games. … Ryan Stoynich (Calgary, Alberta) picked up a single-game career-high three assists against Gustavus on Feb. 23. Stoynich's three points were also a single-game career-best. … Al Rogers (North Haven, Conn.) equaled his season-high with 35 saves against St. Thomas last Tuesday. It was the third time this season the senior has recorded 35 saves in a game — all three against St. Thomas. Rogers has now made 30 or more saves in a game nine times in his collegiate career.… Rogers has started seven of the Cardinals' nine games in goal, owning a 3.55 goals-against-average and .897 save percentage. … Connor Close (Des Moines, Iowa) stopped 33 Bethel shots in his first collegiate start in goal for the Cardinals on Feb. 2. … The Cardinals' six goals against Bethel in their 6-5 OT win on March 6 were a season-high and the most in a game since netting seven against Hamline on Feb. 8. … Sixteen of the Cardinals' 34 goals this season have been scored in the second period. SMU has netted just five first-period goals through nine games. … Saint Mary's has scored the game's first goal in seven of its nine contests this season. … Saint Mary's has played 24 games decided by one goal or less — including 14 that have gone into overtime — over the last three seasons. … The Cardinals had their season-opening four-game winning streak snapped on Feb. 27, as St. Thomas scored four unanswered goals in beating Saint Mary's 4-2. … The Cardinals' 4-0-0 start to the season marked the first time since 1972-73 that SMU opened with four straight wins. The 1972-73 team opened the season with 11 straight wins. |
Tuesday's game against Saint Mary's is the first of just two contests for the Oles during this COVID-shortened season. … St. Olaf is coming off a 4-18-3 season a year ago, including a 2-11-3 effort in conference play. … The Oles enter their two-game season without the services of their top six point-getters from a year ago — Roshen Jaswal, Kyle Rimbach, Andrew Willner, Paul Stehr, Will Dittrich, and Tuukka Totro — who all graduated. … Rimbach closed out 2019-20 with a team-leading five goals, one more than Jaswal and Stehr, while Willner's seven assists were a team-high. Jaswal was the Oles' leader in points with nine, one in front of both Rimbach and Willner. … Rimbach, Ashton Altman, Josh Radtke, and Mitch Dolter netted Stw. Olaf's four game-winning goals last season. … Goalie Noah Parker appeared in 15 of the team's 25 games during his senior season a year ago, compiling a 3.01 goals-against-average and .924 save percentage. Cooper Lukenda (12 GP, 3.91 GAA, .882 save %) and Colin Cain (1 GP, 7.00 GAA, .800 save percentage) also saw time between the pipes for the Oles last season. … As a team, St. Olaf was outscored 94-40 a year ago — 25-14 in the first period, 36-13 in the second, and 33-12 in the third. … St. Olaf scored first in just five of its 25 games a year ago, going 1-2-2. STO was 3-16-1 when its opponent scored the game's first goal. … Eleven of St. Olaf's 25 games last season were decided by three or more goals, with the Oles going 0-11-0 in those 11 contests.
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