SAINT MARY’S CARDINALS
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2023-24: 2-8-1 Overall
U. OF DUBUQUE SPARTANS
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2023-24: 0-10-1 Overall
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SMU-DUB * LAST MEETING:
1st meeting in program history
SAINT MARY’S * LAST ACTION:
Dec. 1-2, 2023
Gustavus * L, 4-0; T, 4-4 (SOW)
DUBUQUE * LAST ACTION:
Dec. 1-2, 2023
Aurora * L, 4-1; L, 5-3
SAINT MARY’S * UP NEXT:
Jan. 5, 2023 * Winona, MN
Northland * 7:05 p.m.
Jan. 6, 2023 * Winona, MN
UW-Eau Claire * 7:05 p.m.
DUBUQUE * UP NEXT:
Dec. 29, 2023 * Superior, WI
UW-Superior * 7 p.m.
SAINT MARY’S SCOUTING REPORT:
• FOR THE RECORD: Saint Mary’s steps out of conference play against the University of Dubuque on Friday sitting at 2-8-1 overall, including sporting a 1-4-1 record after its first four MIAC contests.
• LAST ACTION: Saint Mary’s opened its two-game MIAC series against Gustavus with a 4-0 loss in St. Peter, Minn., before rebounding with a 4-4 tie (and shootout win) in the rematch the following evening at the SMU Ice Arena.
• HOME SWEET HOME: After playing just two of their first eight games at home, the Cardinals are in the midst of playing seven of eight contests on their home sheet. … Tuesday’s game against UD is the second of five consecutive home games for the Cardinals, who will kick off the 2024 portion of their schedule with home games against Northland (Jan. 5), UW-Eau Claire (Jan. 6), and St. Olaf (Jan. 6). … SMU is sitting at 2-1-1 at home this season, while going 0-7-0 way from the Saint Mary’s Ice Arena.
• LIGHTING THE LAMP: With his two goals against Gustavus last Saturday, Tushie moved into a tie with Bud Winter (St. Louis, Mo.) for the team lead in goals with five. Kellen Tharaldson (Wausau, Wis.), Noah Kiemel (Colorado Springs, Colo.), Nikita Sheberov (Obninsk, Russia), and Nick Kiemel (Colorado Springs, Colo.) are all sitting with two goals each. … Blake Arneson (Red Wing, Minn.), Clay Allen (Anchorage, Alaska), Cooper Smyl (Fairfield, Calif.), and Callahan Nauss (Maple Grove, Minn.) have accounted for SMU’s other four goals. … Winter netted SMU’s first goal of the season at 3:13 of the first period in SMU’s 6-3 loss to MSOE on Oct. 28.
• FIRST COLLEGIATE GOAL: SMU boasts four players who have scored their first collegiate goals this season — Arneson, Allen, Smyl, and Noah Kiemel. … Saint Mary’s had six players who scored their first goals in a Cardinal uniform a year ago.
• SPREADING THE WEALTH: Saint Mary’s eight goals against Lawrence on Nov. 21 came from seven different players — with Winter the only Cardinal with more than one tally. … SMU’s 12 points (4 G, 8 A) against Gustavus last Saturday came from 11 different players — only Tushie (2 G) had more than one point.
• MULTIPLE GOALS: Tushie and Winter own SMU’s two multiple-goal games this season. Tushie recorded his second collegiate two-goal game against Gustavus last Friday, while Winter picked up the fourth career two-goal game against Lawrence on Nov. 21.
• LENDING A HAND: Jack Campion (Crystal, Minn.) and Connor Abric (Hayward, Wis.) share the team lead in assists with four each, one more than Tushie, Winter, and Nauss, with Tharaldson, Arneson, and Luke Cioli (Colorado Springs, Colo.) all owning two helpers. … Tharaldson racked up a team-leading 12 assists last season.
• POINT PRODUCERS: With his two goals against Gustavus last Saturday, Tushie moved into a tie with Winter for the team lead in points with eight. … Abric, Campion, Nauss, and Tharaldson all own four points through 11 games. … Winter and Tushie both recorded three-point games against Lawrence on Nov. 21. … Tushie has posted five points (3 G, 2 A) in his last two games.
• BETWEEN THE PIPES: Matt Sankner (Pennington, N.J.) has started nine of SMU’s 11 games in goal, compiling a 3.62 goals-against-average and .892 save percentage. … A.J. Ruskowski (Traverse City, Mich.) has made the other two starts between the pipes, boasting a 5.05 GAA and .866 save %. … Sankner locked up his second career shutout in SMU’s 2-0, conference-opening win over Hamline on Nov. 3, stopping all 24 shots he faced. … Sankner has amassed 240 saves in nine starts — including a season-high 37-save effort against UW-Stevens Point on Nov. 10 — while Ruskowski (97 saves) kicked out a season-best 37 shots against Lake Forest on Oct. 27. … Sankner delivered a career-high 45-save performance against Augsburg on Nov. 18, 2022, while Ruskowski stopped a career-best 42 shots against St. Olaf on Jan. 13, 2023.
• SCORING FIRST: Saint Mary’s has scored first in five of its first 11 games, going 3-2-0 when netting the game’s first goal. … SMU is now 17-7-0 when scoring first since the start of the 2021-22 season, while going 2-20-1 when their opponent nets the game’s first goal.
• CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS: Seventeen of Saint Mary’s 22 goals have come at even strength. The Cardinals netted their first two power-play goals in their 4-2 loss to UW-Superior on Nov. 11 — and added three PP tallies vs. Lawrence on Nov. 21. … SMU has gone 5-for-51 with the man advantage through 11 games (9.8 %). SMU’s opponents, meanwhile, have netted 14 of their 48 goals on the power play, going 14-for-46 with the man advantage (30.4 %). … SMU has scored four times in the first period, 13 times in the second — including six against Lawrence on Nov. 21 — and five times in the third. Twenty of the 48 goals allowed by the Cardinals have come in the second period. SMU has also surrendered 12 first-period goals and 16 in the game’s final stanza. … SMU’s eight goals against Lawrence were a season-high, and the most since beating St. Olaf 8-2 on Jan. 13, 2023.
U. OF DUBUQUE SCOUTING REPORT:
• FOR THE RECORD: The Spartans enter their first-ever meeting with Saint Mary’s still searching for the program’s first victory, sitting at 0-10-1 overall, including 0-8-0 in NCHA play.
• LAST TIME OUT: Scoring goals wasn’t the problem for UD in its conference series against Aurora last weekend, keeping pucks out of its own net was. Aurora outscored the Spartans 9-4 in posting 4-1 and 5-3 conference wins in Dubuque, Iowa.
• ROAD WARRIRORS: Friday’s game at Saint Mary’s is the first of five straight road games for the Spartans, who will follow-up their showdown with the Cardinals with two games at the UW-Superior Tournament on Dec. 29-30 and two at Concordia (Wis.) to kick off 2024 on Jan., 12-13. … UD is 0-5-0 in its five home games this season, while earning the program’s first tie in one of its six road games (0-5-1).
• LIGHTING THE LAMP: UD’s 16 goals through 11 games have come from 12 different players. Connor Nelson and James Eng are the other Spartans with more than one goal this season. Nelson leads the team with four goals, while Eng has netted two. Patrick Donnelly, Sky Solig, Tye Evans, Thomas Gazich, Josh King, Ethan Lang, Patrick Toomey, Nate Holm, Charles Levis, and Brandon Rossetti have accounted for UD’s other 10 goals. … Evans owns the first goal in program history, scoring at 17:31 of the first period in a 3-2, season-opening loss to Gustavus on Oct. 27. … Nelson scored UD’s first-ever hat trick with three goals against Aurora last Saturday.
• LENDING A HELPING HAND: Lyncoln Bielenberg-Howarth has amassed a team-leading six assists this season, with Eng, Donnelly, Solg, Max Erstad, Langley Kruggel, Max Messier, and Alex Walsh are all tied for second with two helpers each. … Bielenberg-Howarth and Solig have both posted two-assist games this season — both coming against Aurora last Saturday.
• POINT PRODUCERS: Bielenberg-Howarth sits atop the team’s points race with six, followed by Eng and Nelson with four, and Donnelly and Solig with three.
• BETWEEN THE PIPES: Dakota Meyer has started nine of the team’s 11 games in goal, compiling a 3.65 goals-against-average and an .892 save percentage. Chris Curr has made the other two starts between the pipes and owns a 3.05 GAA and .912 save percentage. … Meyer has stopped 273 of the 306 shots he’s faced, with Curr boasting 62 saves. … Meyer has stopped 30 or more shots in a game four times — including 40- and 41-save efforts against Trine on Nov. 3-4.
• CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS: UD has been outscored 42-16 through 11 games, including 12-6 in the first period, 16-4 in the second, and 14-6 in the third. … In the shots on goal category, the Spartans have been outshot 126-78 in the first, 138-72 in the second, and 111-81 in the third. … The Spartans have scored just four power-play goals on 49 chances (0.82 %), while allowing eight goals on 54 opponent PP chances. … UD has scored more than two goals in a game just twice, netting three in 5-3 losses to Marian on Nov. 9 and vs. Aurora last Saturday. On the flip side, the Spartans’ opponents have netted 3+ goals in 10 of 11 contests — including a season-high five goals in a game four times.
