MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's hockey team took the ice for the opening game of its two-game series against Augsburg riding a solid wave of momentum, having won three of its last four — including a 4-1 victory over Gustavus on Tuesday.
The Cardinals' wave, however, paled in comparison to the tsunami that Augsburg rode in on — a 10-game winning streak that has the Auggies sitting atop the conference standings and boasting a No. 4 ranking in the latest USCHO.com Poll.
And Friday evening, the Cardinals did everything they could to put an end to Augsburg's tidal wave of momentum, only to suffer the same fate as its previous 10 opponents — getting submerged by the Auggies' high-powered offense.
Augsburg scored two goals in a 51-second span late in the third period TO rally for a 5-4 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory over the Cardinals Friday evening at Ed Saugestad Rink.
The Auggies scored very early, and very late, to take a 2-1 lead into the locker room after the opening period.
Augsburg did not waste any time showing off its offensive muscle, getting a goal from Grant Reichenbacher just 1:06 into period No. 1 for an early 1-0 Auggie lead.
Nathan Solis (Saline, Mich.) pulled Saint Mary's even 10 minutes later, scoring his second of the season, off an assist from
Matt Hutton (Carmel, Ind.) — his third helper in the last two games — only to have Augsburg regain the league on a power-play goal by Gavin Holland with 1:02 remaining .
Warner Young (Newberry, Mich.) netted Saint Mary's second straight mid-period goal — his first in a Cardinal uniform — at 10:12 of the second stanza, but Augsburg once again had an answer, netting its first goal of the period less than three minutes after Young's tally to regain the upper hand, 3-2.
And then the Cardinals went to work.
Gabe Potyk (Lake Orion, Mich.) scored with 1:29 remaining in the middle frame, and
Callahan Nauss (Wayzata, Minn.) followed suit 51 seconds later to give the Cardinals their first lead of the game, 4-3, heading into the game's final 20 minutes.
The Cardinals maintained that precarious, one-goal lead through the first 15 minutes of the third period — and then Augsburg's wave came crashing down on them.
Nick Woodward scored the game-tying goal at 14:11 of the final frame, and Austin Martinsen tallied the game-winner less than two minutes later to seal the Auggies' 11th straight win.
Matt Sankner (Pennington, N.J.) finished with 27 saves in goal for the Cardinals — including 13 in the second period — while Augsburg goalie Jack Robbel kicked out 20 of Saint Mary's 25 shots on goal.
The Cardinals (4-5-0 MIAC, 7-11-1 overall) will get another crack at the fourth-ranked Auggies on Saturday, when the two teams head to the Saint Mary's Ice Arena for the second game of their two-game conference series. Opening face-off is slated for 7 p.m.
