SUPERIOR, Wis. — For the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team, good things most definitely did not come in threes this weekend.
Just 24 hours after surrendering back-to-back-to-back goals in a 5-2 loss to 13th-ranked UW-Stevens Point, the Cardinals fell victim to another three-peat against UW-Superior.
The Yellowjackets erased a 2-1 SMU lead with three consecutive goals — including two in the third period — in dealing Saint Mary's a 4-2 nonconference setback Saturday at Wessman Arena.
UW-Superior struck first, getting a goal from Terry Ryder with five minutes remaining in the opening period, but the Cardinals would beat the first-period buzzer — literally — as
Bud Winter (St. Louis, Mo.) delivered a power-play goal with three seconds left in the period to knot the game at 1-1 heading into the intermission.
Saint Mary's didn't wait nearly as long to net goal No. 2 on the evening, getting another power-play tally, this one from
Kellen Tharaldson (Wausau, Wis.) — who assisted on Winter's first-period goal — just 2:30 into the middle frame to give Saint Mary's a 2-1 advantage.
From there, however, all the offense belonged to the Yellowjackets, who scored the game-tying goal midway through the second period, and got third-period goals by Tristan Therrien and Chris Ishmael to seal the 4-2 win.
A.J. Ruskowski (Traverse City, Mich.) finished with 30 saves between the pipes for the Cardinals, while UW-Superior goalie Jack Boschert stopped 27 of SMU's 29 shots on goal.
The Cardinals (1-5-0 overall) return to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play next weekend with a pair of games against nationally-ranked Augsburg. SMU will head to Ed Saugestad Arena in Minneapolis, Minn., for a 7:05 p.m. matchup on Friday, before returning to the SMU Ice Arena for Saturday's 7:05 p.m. rematch.
