WINONA, Minn. — The first time the Saint Mary's University and Bethel men's hockey teams met, it was a nail-biter from start-to-finish — with the Cardinals coming away with a 5-4 win on a Sam Hanson (Eau Claire, Wis.) goal with less than five minutes remaining in regulation.
 
Saturday evening, the two teams squared off again, with everyone expecting yet another nail-biter
 
And the Cardinals and Royals did not disappoint.
 
Tommy Stang (Mendota Heights, Minn.) scored 1:51 into overtime — capping a three-goal Cardinal rally — as Saint Mary's escaped the Saint Mary's Ice Arena with a 6-5 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory over the Royals.
 
In what has become the Cardinals' modus operandi this season, Saint Mary's would get on the board first against the Royals, as Nick Kiemel (Colorado Springs, Colo.) recorded his first collegiate goal at 6:55 of the opening period for a quick, 1-0 lead.
 
And it appeared as if the Cardinals would take that one-goal advantage into the locker room at the intermission, only to have Bethel's Jarrett Cammeratta net the equalizer with just 37.9 seconds remaining in the period.
 
Bud Winter (St. Louis, Mo.) was on the scoring end of a picture-perfect tic-tac-toe passing play with Ryan Stoynich (Calgary, Alberta) and Stang to give Saint Mary's a 2-1 lead at 13:11 of the second period.
 
Thirteen seconds later, the lead was two, as Brady Lindauer (Cary, Ill.) scored his  fourth of the season to make it 3-1 Saint Mary's
 
As quickly as the Cardinal lead had ballooned to two, however, it disappeared just as fast, as Carter Wagner and Ben Ward scored less than three minutes apart to knot the game at 3-3.
 
And then came the final minute of the period — again.
 
For the second period in a row, the Royals would score in the waning seconds, netting their third straight goal of the period — this one with 27.8 ticks on the clock — to give BU the one-goal lead heading into the third period.
 
Bethel would add its fourth straight goal for a 5-3 lead at 7:45 of the third period, only to learn first-hand what Saint Mary's discovered in the second period — no lead is safe.
 
Hanson got the Cardinals within one, 5-4 at 9:29 of the third, and Winter netted his second of the game with 2:25 remaining in regulation to force overtime.
 
 And setting up Stang's heroics.
Al Rogers (North Haven, Conn.) picked up the win in goal, finishing with 34 saves — including 19 in the second period alone. BU's Travis Allen, meanwhile, surrendered six goalson 36 shots.
 
The Cardinals (3-1-0 MIAC, 5-3-0 overall) are back in action on Tuesday, closing out the home portion of its schedule with a 7 p.m. nonconference game against St. Thomas.