BLAINE, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's hockey team had plenty of scoring changes in its 3-2 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference loss to Bethel on Friday — 57 chances to be exact.
And the Cardinals were not about to let that happen again in the teams' rematch on Saturday.
Saint Mary's, pelting the Bethel goal for 39 more shots — giving the Cardinals 96 shots on goal in the two-game series — scored three times in the second period and never looked back in rolling to a 4-0 victory over the Royals at Bethel Arena in Schwan's Super Rink.
With the win, the Cardinals (5-7-0 MIAC, 8-14-1 overall) locked up the No. 6 spot in the upcoming MIAC Playoff and will travel to either Saint John's or Concordia next Saturday, depending on the outcome of Sunday's Hamline-Concordia contest in Moorhead, Minn.
After a scoreless first period, in which Saint Mary's once again set the offensive tone with 12 shots on goal, the Cardinals were finally rewarded for their offensive dominance in the middle frame — getting goals from
Kellen Tharaldson (Wausau, Wis.),
Matt Hutton (Carmel, Ind.), and
Jack Hatton (Naperville, Ill.) in a seven minute span — to give SMU a 3-0 cushion heading into the final period.
Hutton then added his second goal of the game — becoming SMU's first multiple-goal scorer of the season — recording an empty-net goal with 1:55 remaining to ice the Cardinal victory.
Bud Winter (St. Louis, Mo.) and
Brady Lindauer (Cary, Ill.) each chipped in a pair of assists to join Hutton with two points against the Royals Saturday.
The Royals turned the tables on the Cardinals in the third period, outshooting SMU 21-16, but Cardinal goalie
Matt Sankner (Pennington, N.J.) was up to the challenge, kicking out all 16 shots en route to his first career shutout.
