ST. PETER, Minn. — Seventeen days is long a time between games — especially when that extended hiatus is in the heat of the conference season.
Yet, that was exactly where the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team found itself when the Cardinals took the ice Tuesday evening — having not played in 17 days.
Seventeen long days.
Despite the lengthy layoff, the SMU offense showed no signs of rust, matching its season high with four goals — all in the first two periods — in dealing host Gustavus a 4-1 nonconference setback at Don Roberts Ice Rink.
The teams were scoreless through the first 14 minutes of the opening period, and then, in the blink of an eye — 34 seconds, to be exact — the Cardinals found themselves owning a two-goal lead.
Ryan Stoynich (Calgary, Alberta) put Saint Mary's on the board at 14:51 of the first period, netting his fourth goal of the season off an assist from
Tyson Liverance (Burford, Ontario).
Jack Hatton (Naperville, Ill.) followed suit off the ensuring face-off, beating Gustavus goalie Grant Boldt high to the glove side for Saint Mary's second goal in that 34-second span — giving the Cardinals a two-goal cushion.
A cushion the Cardinals would maintain until the 5:02 mark of the second period, when
Matt Hutton (Carmel, Ind.) — who collected the assist on Hatton's first-period tally — set up
Brady Lindauer (Cary, Ill.), who beat Boldt for his fourth goal of the season, extending the Saint Mary's lead to 3-0.
The three-goal advantage did not last long, however, as
Nick Kiemel (Colorado Springs Colo.) would push that lead to 4-0 just three minutes after Lindauer's goal. Liverance and
Alex Cannon (South Bend, Ind.) collected the assists on Kiemel's goal, as the duo joined Hutton with two assists on the night.
Gustavus thwarted SMU goalie
Matt Sankner's (Pennington, N.J.) shutout bid with 33 seconds to play in the middle period, but that would the only puck the Gusties would get behind the SMU freshman, who finished with 26 saves.
The Cardinals (7-10-1 overall) are back in conference play this weekend, squaring off against league-leading and nationally ranked Augsburg in a pair of MIAC contests. Saint Mary's heads to Ed Saugestad Arena in Minneapolis, Minn., for a 7 p.m. matchup on Friday, before the two teams return to the Saint Mary's Ice Arena for the 7 p.m. rematch the following evening.
