SAINT MARY'S CARDINALS 

(5-7-0 MIAC, 8-13-1 OVERALL)

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SAINT JOHN'S JOHNNIES

(9-4-1 MIAC, 16-7-2 OVERALL)

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First Round | Wednesday, Feb. 23
No. 9 Gustavus 4, No. 8 Hamline, 3 | Box

Quarterfinals | Saturday, Feb. 26
No. 7 St. Olaf 3, No. 2 Concordia 1 | Box
No. 1 Augsburg 4, No. 9 Gustavus 3 (ot) | Box
No. 5 Bethel 4, No. 4 St. Scholastica 3 (ot) | Box

Quarterfinals | Sunday, Feb. 27
No. 6 Saint Mary's at No. 3 Saint John's, 6 p.m.

Semifinals | Wednesday, Mar. 2
No. 7 St. Olaf at No. 3/6 winner, 7 p.m.
No. 5 Bethel at No. 1 Augsburg, 7 p.m.

Championship | Saturday, Mar. 5
High-seed Host, 7 p.m.

EARLIER THIS YEAR:

Nov. 18-20, 2022

W, 2-1 * L, 3-2 (ot) * Series History

SAINT MARY'S LAST ACTION:

Fri-Sat., Feb. 18-19, 2022

v. Bethel * L, 3-2 * W, 4-0

SAINT JOHN'S LAST ACTION:

Fri.-Sat., Feb. 18-19, 2022

v. Augsburg * L, 5-1 * W, 3-2

• FOR THE RECORD: Saint Mary’s enters post-season play sitting at 8-13-1 overall, including a 5-7-0 in conference play. Saint Mary’s 5-7-0 MIAC mark earned the Cardinals the No. 6 seed in the nine-team conference playoffs, and Saturday’s matchup at Saint John’s.

• MIAC HISTORY: The Cardinals are making their fifth appearance in the MIAC Playoffs since 2002, and their first since 2019. Saint Mary’s — which has also appeared in the conference tournament in 2017, 2015, and 2004 — reached the MIAC championship game in 2015, falling to Hamline 4-2.

• LAST ACTION: The Cardinals rallied for a split in their regular season-ending conference series against Bethel last weekend. SMU put a season-high 57 shots on the Bethel net, but could only manage a pair of second-period goals in falling to Bethel 3-2 at the Saint Mary’s Ice Arena. SMU rebounded in the rematch, getting a 31-save effort from Matt Sankner (Pennington, N.J.) and a pair of goals from Matt Hutton (Carmel, Ind.) en route to a 4-0 victory in Blaine, Minn.

• SPREADING THE WEALTH: it took 22 games, but the Cardinals finally had their first multiple-goal performance last Saturday, when Hutton scored two of SMU’s four goals in their 4-0 win over Bethel. Saint Mary’s did not have a player score two goals in a game in any of its first 21 contests.

• SPREADING THE WEALTH, PART II: Saint Mary’s 10 points against Augsburg on Feb. 11— four goals and six assists — came to from 10 different players.

• LIGHTING THE LAMP: Gabe Potyk (Lake Orion, Mich.) enters post-season play leading the team with six goals, one more than Hutton, Brady Lindauer (Cary, Ill.), and Bud Winter (St. Louis, Mo.), while Ryan Stoynich (Calgary, Alberta) and Laudon Poellinger (La Crescent, Minn.) both own four goals.  

• FIRST AS A CARDINAL: The Cardinals boast nine players who have scored their first collegiate goals this season — Kasyn Kruse (Luverne, Minn.), Poellinger, Potyk, Hutton, Alex Cannon (South Bend, Ind.), Callahan Nauss (Wayzata, Minn., Warner Young (Newberry, Mich.), Nathan Solis (Saline, Mich.), Trevor Paradise (Colorado Springs, Colo.), and Kellen Tharaldson (Wausau, Wis.).

• LENDING A HAND: The Cardinals had a single-game season-high three players — Hutton, Tyson Liverance (Burford, Ontario), and Cannon pick up two assists in SMU’s 4-1 win over Gustavus on Feb. 8. … Lindauer and Winter both had two assists in SMU’s 4-0 victory against Bethel last Saturday. … Nauss recorded a career-high four assists and Kellen Tharaldson chipped in a pair of helpers in SMU’s 4-1 win over Hamline on Jan. 21.

• LENDING A HAND, TAKE 2: Lindauer and Hutton have both recorded double-digits in assists, with Lindauer leading the way with 11, followed by Hutton with 10. Tharaldson, Schroder, and Nauss all have dished out seven helpers.

• GIVING AN ASSIST x 4: Nauss’ four assists against Hamline on Jan. 21 marked the first time Saint Mary’s has had a player record four helpers in a game since Jack Stang achieved the feat against Augsburg on Jan. 31, 2020. 

• POINT PRODUCERS: The Cardinals boast five players with 10 or more points — Lindauer (16), Hutton (15), Winter (10), Stoynich (10) and Schroder (10) — while Potyk is one point away from joining the bunch.

• COMING IN HOT: Lindauer and Hutton enter post-season play as the Cardinals’ hottest offensive weapons. Lindauer is riding a six-game points streak — scoring three goals and adding five assists in that span — while Hutton has recorded at least one point in each of the Cardinals’ last five games, scoring three times and adding a pair of assists. … Hutton has collected at least one point in 11 of the 18 games he’s played this season — including eight of the last 10 contests.

• NETTING THE GAME-WINNER: Saint Mary’s eight game-winning goals this season have come from seven different players — Tharaldson owns two, with Poellinger, Schroder, Stoynich, Kruse, Potyk, and Tyson Liverance (Burford, Ontario) accounting for the other six.

• BETWEEN THE PIPES: Matt Sankner (Pennington, N.J.) owns a 2.73 goals-against-average and a .914 save percentage in 14 appearances. Sankner, who recorded his first collegiate win with a career-high 35-save effort against Saint John’s on Nov. 18, equaled that career-high with 35 saves against MSOE on Dec. 7. Sankner has stopped 30 or more shots five times this season.… Connor Close (Des Moines, Iowa) recorded a season-high 32-save showing in the Cardinals’ 2-1 loss to Hamline on Jan. 22. Close — who collected his first collegiate win against UW-River Falls on Jan. 15 — enters the weekend with a 2.78 goals-against-average and an .897 save percentage. … A.J. Ruskowski (Traverse City, Mich.) notched his first collegiate win on Nov. 5, making 28 saves in SMU’s 4-3 win over UW-Superior. Ruskowski followed up that effort by stopping a career-best 43 shots in the Cardinals’ 4-1 loss to UW-Eau Claire the following evening. … Ruskowski owns a 4.57 GAA and an .860 save percentage.

• PITCHING A SHUTOUT: Sankner kicked out all 31 shots he faced in the Cardinals’ 4-0 win over Bethel last Friday en route to his first collegiate shutout. The 4-0 win was also Saint Mary’s first shutout victory of the season.

• AS A TEAM: The Cardinals have scored 56 goals through their first 22 games, including 13 on the power-play. Saint Mary’s has scored a season-high four goals six times this season — beating Gustavus 4-1 on Feb. 8, Hamline 4-2 on Jan. 21, UW-Superior 4-3 on Nov. 5, St. Olaf 4-1 on Dec. 3, and Bethel 4-0 last Saturday; and falling to Augsburg 5-4 on Feb. 11.

• PEPPERING THE NET: The Cardinals’ season-high 57 shots on goal against Bethel last Friday were the most since the Cardinals peppered Northland with 61 shots on goal on Nov. 21, 2006.

• FIRST-GOAL SUCCESS: In 18 of Saint Mary’s 22 games this season, the team that has scored first has gone on to win. The Cardinals are 6-1-0 when scoring first, while going 2-12-1 when their opponent nets the game’s first goal.

• WORKING OVERTIME: The Cardinals’ 3-3 tie against Lawrence on Nov. 23 was their third OT contest this season. SMU dropped a 3-2 overtime decision to Saint John’s on Nov. 20, while falling 4-3 in OT to Lake Forest in its season-opener on Nov. Oct. 29.

• FOR THE RECORD: The Johnnies head into post-season play boasting a sporting a 16-7-2 overall record — including a 9-4-1 showing in conference play. SJU’s 9-4-1 MIAC record was good for third place in the final standings, earning SJU the No. 3 seed and its home date against Saint Mary’s in the MIAC Playoff quarterfinals.

• MIAC HISTORY: The Johnnies are making their fourth consecutive MIAC Playoff appearance (not counting the COVID-shortened 2020-21 campaign), fifth in the last six (full) seasons and 23rd overall. SJU is 20-21-3 in MIAC Playoff games, including an 12-8-2 record in St. Cloud. SJU is 5-0 all-time against SMU in the MIAC Playoffs, including a 3-0 record at the HBNHC (the other two wins occurred in 1996’s first-round series held at the Bloomington Ice Gardens). Sunday’s meeting is the first between the two teams in the conference tournament since March 1-2, 1997, when the four-team tournament consisted of two-game series in each round.

• LAST ACTION: The Johnnies closed out the regular season in dramatic fashion, earning a split in its two-game series against fourth-ranked Augsburg. SJU dropped the opening game 5-1, but bounced back with a 3-2 win in the rematch on an Auggie Moore game-winner with 0:00.1 remaining in regulation.

• COMING IN HOT: Saint John’s enters post-season play having won five of its last six — the lone loss a 5-1 decision to No. 4 Augsburg on Feb. 18. SJU is 14-3-1 since dropping a 2-1 decision to Saint Mary’s on Nov. 18. … After opening the season 1-3-1, SJU has gone 15-4-1 in its last 20 games.

• LIGHTING THE LAMP: Augsburg enters post-season playing boasting three players with 10 or more goals. Lewis Crosby leads the way with 16 goals, followed by Auggie Moore with 13 and Nick Michel with 10. The trio have accounted for 39 of SJU’s 85 goals — with 19 other Johnnies accounting for the remainder of the team’s scoring.

• TOSSING THE HAT: Crosby has recorded three hat tricks this season — scoring three goals in a game against MSOE on Nov. 7; vs. Lawrence on Dec. 11, and vs. St. Scholastica on Jan. 21.

• HANDING OUT ASSISTS: Spencer Rudrud has amassed a team-high 16 assists, followed by Peter Tabor with 13, Moore with 12, and Jack Olsen with 11. … Tabor posted a season-high four-assist game against Hamline on Feb. 7.

• POINT PRODUCERS: Moore is the Johnnies’ leader in points with 25 and is one of eight SJU players with 10 or more points through 25 games — Crosby (22), Rudrud (20), Michel (19), Tabor (16), Josh Maucieri (12), Olsen (11), and Max Osborne (10) are the others. … Moore has put up four points in a game twice this season — vs. Lawrence on Dec. 11 and Hamline on Feb. 7 — while Tabor also noticed four helpers against the Pipers on Feb. 7.

• SCORING IN THE CLUTCH: Moore has scored a team-leading four game-winning goals — including last Saturday’s winner with 0:00.1 remaining in SJU’s 3-2 win over No. 4 Augsburg. Michel is second on the team with three game-winners, while Rudrud has netted the game-winner twice.

• BETWEEN THE PIPES: Max Berglove has been the workhorse between the pipes for the Johnnies, starting 19 of the team’s 25 games — compiling a 1.92 goals-against-average and .932 save percentage. Michael Magnuson owns a 2.52 GAA and .910 save percentage in six starts. … Berglove has stopped 504 of the 541 shots he’s faced — including a season-high 47-save effort against UW-Superior on Dec. 11. … Berglove has stopped 30 or more shots in a game eight times and owns a pair of shutouts.

• AS A TEAM: Saint John’s has scored 85 goals and added 142 assists for 227 points in 25 games. The Johnnies have scored 14 power-play goals and own a pair of short-handed tallies. … SJU has scored four or more goals in a game 13 times this season — including a season-high eight-goal performance in beating Hamline 8-3 on Feb. 7. … Saint John’s has outscored its opponents 67-22 — and have held its opponents to two goals or less in 15 of its 16 wins.

• WORKING OVERTIME: The Johnnies have played six overtime games this season, going 2-2-2. SJU beat Saint Mary’s (3=2) and UW-Stout (3-2); lost to UW-Superior (3-2) and Bethel (1-0); and tied MSOE (4-4) and St. Scholastica (5-5).