WINONA, Minn. — It has been a tough start for the University of Dubuque, as the Spartans headed into Friday's nonconference contest against the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team still searching for its first win in program history, sitting at 0-10-1.
 
And the Cardinals weren't about to be victim No. 1.
 
Unfortunately, SMU wasn't able to saddle the Spartans with their 11th loss of the year, either, as the two teams traded first- and second-period goals in skating to a 2-2 tie at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.
 
Both teams had a pair of power-play opportunities in the game's first 11 minutes, with Saint Mary's cashing on one of theirs.
 
After killing off a pair of early penalties, Saint Mary's power-play got its chance, as UD was whistled for back-to-back minors 22 seconds apart — and the Cardinals' Luke Ciolli (Colorado Springs, Colo.) cashed in on the 5-on-3, scoring his first of the season to put SMU up 1-0 with nine minutes to play in the opening frame.
 
The Spartans netted the equalizer at 14:31 on a goal by Lyncoln Bielenberg-Howarth, as the Cardinals — despite holding a commanding 15-7 advantage in shots on goal — were forced to settle for a 1-1 stalemate after the game's opening 20 minutes.
 
Dubuque continued to ride the momentum it generated at the end of the first period, grabbing its first lead of the evening on a goal by Max Messier at 4:43 of the middle period. The lead did not last long, however, as Nikita Sheberov (Obninsk, Russia) found the back of the net for the third time tis season exactly two minutes after Messier's goal to knot the game at 2-2.
 
The Cardinals had a golden opportunity to take a lead into the second intermission, but Callahan Nauss's (Maple Plain, Minn.) shot from the high slot on the power play clanked off the crossbar, leaving the game deadlocked at 2-2 heading to the third.
 
Both teams had chances to net the game-winner late, but UD's Max Erstad was thwarted on a breakaway by SMU goalie Matt Sankner (Pennington, N.J.) with 5:34 remaining, and Spartan goalie Dakota Meyer stopped Jackson Nauss (Maple Plain, Minn.) from point-blank range twice in the final three minutes to keep the game tied at 2-2.
 
Neither team was able to net the game-winner in the five-minute overtime period — thanks in large part to the play of Sankner and Meyer, who both came up big when they teams needed them most.
 
Sankner finished with 25 saves between the pipes for the Cardinals, while Meyer stopped 45 of SMU's season-high 47 shots on goal.
 
The Cardinals (2-8-2 overall) are now off until Jan. 5-6, when they kick off the 2024 portion of their schedule with back-to-back 7:05 home games against Northland (Jan. 5) and UW-Eau Claire (Jan. 6) at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.
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