BLAINE, Minn. — Forecasters have been saying all week that the Midwest was headed for a deep-freeze beginning Saturday morning.
Unfortunately for the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team's offense, that deep-freeze arrived a little earlier than predicted.
The Cardinals surrendered goals in the first four minutes of all three periods — and couldn't get their offense on track until midway through the third period — as Bethel dealt Saint Mary's a 4-2 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference setback Friday evening at Bethel Arena.
The Royals owned the first period, outshooting the Cardinals 13-6, including one by Sam Wilhite that eluded Cardinal goaltender A.J. Ruskowski (Traverse City, Mich.) just 2:51 into the opening frame to give BU a one goal advantage — an advantage they would carry into the locker room after 20 minutes of play.
Bethel's quick-strike offense was at it again in the second period, only this time the Royals only needed 56 seconds to get one past Ruskowski, as Luke Posner scored to push the Royals' lead to 2-0.
And once again, that early goal was the only one of the period, leaving the Cardinals staring at a 2-0 deficit heading into the game's final 20 minutes.
Unlike the first two periods, Saint Mary's silenced the BU offense in the opening three minutes of the final stanza — but just barely. BU would need an extra 38 seconds to score its third goal of the game, a Spencer Kring tally at 3:38 that gave the Royals a 3-0 cushion.
The Cardinals finally broke through midway through the period on a goal by
Jack Campion (Crystal, Minn.) — his fourth of the season — only to have Ben Ward push BU's lead back to three, 4-1, seven minutes later.
SMU's Luke Cioli (Colorado Springs, Colo.) answered Ward's goal with one of his own at 18:33, but that was as close as the Cardinals would get.
Ruskowski finished with 25 saves in goal for the Cardinals, who were outshot 29-22 overall.
The Cardinals (4-5-0 MIAC, 8-9-1 overall) and Royals will return to the ice on Saturday, when the two teams head to the SMU Ice Arena for a 7:05 p.m. conference rematch.
