| The Cardinals' 3-2 loss to St. Olaf on Tuesday was the Cardinals' fourth straight game decided by one goal — including back-to-back overtime contests against Bethel (W, 6-5) and St. Thomas (L, 4-3) on March 6 and 9. … … Saint Mary's has played 25 games decided by one goal or less — including 14 that have gone into overtime — over the last three seasons. … Sam Hanson (Eau Claire, Wis.) and Tommy Stang (Mendota Heights, Minn.) scored the Cardinals' two goals in Tuesday's 3-2 loss to St. Olaf. … Hanson has now scored at least one goal in each of the team's last three games. … … Bud Winter (St. Louis, Mo.) enters Thursday's season finale against St. Olaf owning a team-high six goals, one more than Hanson and Stang, and two in front of Andrew Froese (Traverse City, Mich.). … Ryan Stoynich (Calgary, Alberta) is the team's assist leader with nine. Winter and Stoynich share the team lead with 12 points. … Stang, Froese, Winter, Hanson, and Jack Hatton (Naperville, Ill.) own Saint Mary's five game-winning goals. … Owen Nash's (Buford, Ga.) first-period goal against St. Thomas on March 9 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). … Hanson, who posted his first collegiate two-goal and three-point game against Bethel on March 6, has now recorded six points (4 G, 2 A) in his last three games. … Winter owns two multiple-goal games — vs. Concordia on Feb. 6 and vs. Bethel on March 6 — and four multiple-point performances. … Brady Lindauer (Cary, Ill.) picked up an assist against St. Thomas on March 9 and has now recorded at least one point in seven of the nine games he's played in — including a career-best three-point (2G, 1A) effort against St. Scholastica on March 2. … Winter, Hanson, Lindauer, and Froese own SMU's five 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. … Stoynich 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 on March 9. It was the third time this season the senior has recorded 35 saves in a game — all three against St. Thomas. Rogers has made 30 or more saves in a game nine times in his collegiate career.… Rogers has started seven of the Cardinals' 10 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, 2020. … Saint Mary's has scored the game's first goal in eight of its 10 contests this season. … The Cardinals 4-3 overtime loss to St. Thomas on March 14 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 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. |
Thursday's game against Saint Mary's is the final home game of the season for the Johnnies, who are 2-1-1 at the National Hockey Center — and 2-1-1 on the road. … With their 3-3 tie against St. Thomas on Tuesday, the Johnnies are now 0-0-2 in their last two games — with both ties coming against St. Thomas. SJU and UST battled to a 2-2 draw on Feb. 26. … Ryan Kero, Jack Johnson, and Cole Souto scored Saint John's three goals against the Tommies on Tuesday night. … Johnson's goal against St. Thomas was his team-leading fifth of the season, one more than Auggie Moore, and two in front of Kero, Travis Brown, Tanner Dufault, and Henry Enebak. … Dan Wieber has amassed a team-best eight assists and Moore holds the team lead in points with 10. … Ten of Saint John's 27 goals this season have come on the power play. On the flip side, SJU has surrendered seven power-play goals — including two against St. Thomas on Tuesday. … Moore has scored two of SJU's four game-winning goals, with Jack Olsen and Jerome Niewhouse netting the other two. … Mac Berglove has started seven of the Johnnies' eight games in goal, compiling a 2.80 goals-against-average and .908 save percentage. Michael Magnuson started SJU's other game between the pipes, posting a 2.00 GAA and .943 save percentage. … The Johnnies are unbeaten (4-0-2) when entering the third period with the lead. … SJU has scored first in five of its eight games, compiling a 4-0-1 record. The Johnnies are 0-2-1 when their opponent scores first.
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