WINONA, Minn. — After having victory snatched away from them in the waning minutes in Friday's 5-4 loss to fourth-ranked Augsburg, Saint Mary's University men's hockey coach Ryan Egan knew the importance of a quick start in Saturday's rematch.
 
And quick start there was — for Augsburg.
 
Augsburg scored two goals in a 47-second span midway through the first period and erupted for six unanswered goals through the first two periods, as the league-leading and nationally ranked Auggies pushed their winning streak to 12 straight with a 7-3 win over the Cardinals at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.
 
Augsburg, which has not lost since dropping a 5-2 decision to Adrian — the nation's No. 1-ranked team — on Dec. 30, made an early statement against the Cardinals, scoring at 7:46 of the opening period on a goal by Nick Woodward and adding a second tally just 47 seconds later when Kyler Yeo beat SMU goalie Connor Close (Des Moines, Iowa).
 
The Auggies got a fortuitous bounce to record their third goal of the evening, as Austin Martinsen's shot caromed off the shin pad of SMU's Callahan Nauss (Wayzata, Minn.) and right onto the stick of Austin Koss, who deposited the puck past Close for a 3-0 Augsburg cushion.
 
And, unfortunately for the Cardinals, the Augsburg offense was just getting cranked up, as the Auggies' goal count would climb to six before the middle period was over.
 
Austin Dollimer took a picture-perfect, cross-ice pass from Patrick O'Connor and rifled a shot over the left shoulder of Close and just under the crossbar at 14:22 of the middle period for the Auggies' second goal of the period, while Grant Reichenbacher added a power-play tally less than two minutes later and Fritz Belisle capped Augsburg's four-goal second period with a tally at 18:09.
 
Saint Mary's finally broke through with 53 seconds remaining in the second, as Gabe Potyk (Lake Orion, Mich.) scored for the second straight night — and fifth time this season — off an assist from Nauss — to make it 6-1 after two.
 

The Cardinals picked up right where they left off to open the third period, as Matt Hutton (Carmel, Ind.) beat Augsburg goalie Samuel Vyletelka through the five-hole to get SMU within four, 6-2, at 1:23. Tyson Liverance (Burford, Ontario) and Brady Lindauer (Cary, Ill.) collected the assists on Hutton's third goal of the season.

Belisle quashed the Cardinals' momentum, netting his second of the evening — and the Auggies' second power-play tally of the contest — at 6:36, before SMU's Alex Cannon (Sound Bend, Ind.) netted his first collegiate goal at 16:42 to round out the scoring.
 
The Cardinals (4-6-0 MIAC, 7-12-1 overall) conclude their regular-season schedule with a pair of games against Bethel next weekend. Saint Mary's will head to the Royals' Bethel Arena in Blaine, Minn., for a 7 p.m. contest on Friday, with the two teams returning to the Saint Mary's Ice Arena the following evening for a 7 p.m. rematch.
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