EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — After a pair of dramatic, come-from-behind victories in their first two games of 2023, the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team decided to take a different approach in its third game of the week.
 
Rather than having to rally from 2-0 and 3-0 deficits to post wins over Lawrence (6-3) and Northland (5-4), respectively, the Cardinals would score first and experience playing with the lead Saturday evening against UW-Eau Claire.
 
Unfortunately, playing the role of the hunted, rather than the hunter, did not turn out as well for the Cardinals, as UW-Eau Claire scored four unanswered goals — erasing a 1-0 first-period SMU lead — and dealt Saint Mary's a 4-1 nonconference setback.
 
Thomas Magnavite (Chicago, Ill.) put the Cardinals in front three minutes after the opening face-off, scoring his fourth goal of the season — and extending his point streak to four straight games.
 
Thanks in part to the play of goalie A.J. Ruskowski (Traverse City, Mich.), who stopped all 11 Blugold first-period shots, the Cardinals maintained that one-goal advantage through the remainder fo the first period — and for the first 17 minutes of the second.
 
At 17:35 of the middle frame, however, the Blugolds would net the equalizer on a goal by Quinn Green, whose team-leading eighth goal of the year — on the powerplay — would send the game into the third period deadlocked at 1-1.
 
And the UW-Eau Claire offense was just getting warmed up.
 
The Blugolds picked up their second power-play tally of the game five minutes into the third period, this one off the stick of Ryan Green, to take their first lead of the game, 2-1. Seven minutes later, that lead climbed to 3-1, as Jordan Randall beat Ruskowski for his first goal of the season, and Blake Kryska would add his first of the year at 17:21 to ice the UW-EC victory.
 
The Cardinals (7-7-1 overall) — who had their six-game winning streak snapped with the loss — return to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play next weekend with a pair of games against St. Olaf. SMU will head to the St. Olaf Ice Arena in Northfield, Minn., for a 7 p.m. showdown next Friday, before returning to the Saint Mary's Ice Arena for a 7 p.m. rematch the following evening.
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