WINONA, Minn. — It was a good news, bad news kind of evening for the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team against Augsburg Saturday at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.
 
The good news: After surrendering six goals to the Auggies in Friday's 6-0 loss, the Cardinals held the high-octane Augsburg offense to four tallies in the rematch.
 
The bad news: The Cardinals' offense remained in its mid-November slumber, managing just one goal in falling to Augsburg for a second straight night, this time by a 4-1 count.
 
The Auggies, who netted three of their six goals in Friday's 6-0 win in the third period, picked up right where they left off on Saturday, recording the game's first seven shots on goal, with the seventh — off the stick of Erik Palmqvist — eluding SMU goalie A.J. Ruskowski (Traverse City, Mich.) to give Augsburg a 1-0 lead 4:39 into the opening frame.
 
Augsburg would pepper Ruskowski with 10 more first-period shots, but the junior was up to the task, kicking out all 10 to keep the Cardinals within one at the break.
 
The intermission did nothing to slow down the Auggies, who would extend their lead to 3-0 with back-to-back power-play goals in the first 2:44 of the second period. Kyler Yeo netted the first goal just 47 seconds into the frame, when Kyler Yeo banged a rebound past Ruskowski, and Palmqvist whistled a wrister past the Cardinal junior less than two minutes later.
 
Saint Mary's had a golden opportunity to get right back in the game, as Augsburg was called for a pair of penalties — a slashing minor and a five-minute high sticking major — 
 
Despite peppering the Augsburg net with five shots, the Cardinals were unable to get one past Augsburg goalie Samuel Vyletelka during the two-minute 5-on-3, and Vyletelka stymied SMU on its lone shot during the ensuing three-minute 5-on-4 advantage — leaving the Cardinals staring at a 3-0 deficit with 20 minutes to play.
 
Saint Mary's finally broke through against Vyletelka — who stopped all 41 SMU shots in Friday's Auggie win and the first 21 Cardinal shots on Saturday — as Noah Kiemel (Colorado Springs, Colo.) found the back of the net for the first time this season 4:27 into the third period.
 
That, however, would be as close as SMU would get, as Augsburg tacked on an insurance tally by Yeo with 3:03 to play, and Vyletelka refused to yield another goal in closing out the weekend with 67 saves on 68 Saint Mary's shots.
 
The Cardinals (1-3-0 MIAC, 1-7-0 overall) step out of conference play on Tuesday, when they welcome Lawrence to the Saint Mary's Ice Arena for a 7:05 p.m. nonconference showdown.
  Read Full Article