WINONA, Minn. — The Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Playoffs officially begin next Thursday, but for the Saint Mary's University and Concordia men's hockey teams, this weekend's two-game series is the playoff to get into the Playoffs.
 
The Cardinals and Cobbers both entered Friday's series-opener sitting tied for fourth in the conference standings, one point in front of Bethel and two up on St. Olaf.
 
Two of the four teams would leave the weekend on the fast-track to the conference post-season, while the other two would be left on the outside looking in.
 
Unfortunately, after coming out on the short end of a 7-1 decision to the Cobbers on Friday at the SMU Ice Arena, the Cardinals find themselves behind the eight-ball heading into Saturday's 2 p.m. rematch with Concordia — needing a win, and some outside help, to secure their second straight post-season appearance.
 
With the loss, Saint Mary's falls three points behind fourth-place Concordia and one point back of St. Olaf — which blanked Gustavus 2-0 Friday evening to leap-frog Saint Mary's into the No. 5 spot. The Cardinals must now beat the Cobbers and have the Oles lose to Gustavus on Saturday.
 
On paper, the Cardinals had the upper hand in the game's opening period, outshooting the Cobbers 14-10. On the scoreboard, however, it was the Cobbers who headed into the first intermission with a 2-0 advantage.
 
Mason Plante got the Cobbers on the board at 3:38 of the opening frame, rifling a shot through the five-hole of SMU goalie A.J. Ruskowski (Traverse City, Mich.) for a quick 1-0 Concordia lead.
 
Five minutes later, the Cobber lead climbed to 2-0, as Liam Haslam tapped a Ben Luedtke cross-crease pass past Ruskowski on the power play — putting the Cardinals in a two-goal hole entering the second period.
 
As was the case in the opening frame, the Cobbers did not waste any time finding the back of the net in the second stanza, netting their second power-play goal of the evening — a Hanson O'Leary tally just 1:47 in — to extend their lead to 3-0.
 
CC's lead ballooned to 4-0 on a goal by Braden Costello, before Saint Mary's finally broke through, getting a power-play goal of its own off the stick of Warner Young (Newberry, Mich.) to cut the deficit to 4-1.
 
The three-goal deficit did not last long, however, as Concordia would get goals by Joe Harguindeguy and Plante before the second period came to a close — leaving SMU staring at a five-goal hole with 20 minutes to play. A hole that grew to six, when Concordia's Garrett Sandberg rounded out the scoring, netting the Cobbers' seventh goal 11:26 into the third period.
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