SAINT MARY’S CARDINALS

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2023-24: 1-4-1 MIAC, 3-9-2 Overall

ST. OLAF OLES

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2023-24: 3-2-1 MIAC, 7-6-2 Overall

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Fri. v. STO: Live Stats * Streaming Video

Sat. at STO: Live Stats * Streaming Video

MIAC: MH Home *  Standings * Schedule

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SMU-STO * LAST MEETING:

Jan. 13-14, 2023

W, 8-2; L, 5-2 * Series History

SAINT MARY’S * LAST ACTION:

Jan. 5-6, 2024 * Winona, MN

Northland * W, 5-3; UW-EC * L, 5-0

ST. OLAF * LAST ACTION:

Jan. 5-6, 2024 * Northfield, MN

UW-EC * W, 3-2; Northland * W, 10-0

SAINT MARY’S * UP NEXT:

Jan. 16, 2024 * Appleton, WI

Lawrence * 7:30 p.m.

ST. OLAF * UP NEXT: 

Jan. 19, 2024 * Duluth, MN

St. Scholastica * 7 p.m.

Jan. 20, 2024 * Northfield, MN

St. Scholastica * 5 p.m.

SAINT MARY’S SCOUTING REPORT

• FOR THE RECORD: Saint Mary’s returns to conference play sitting at 3-9-2 overall, including sporting a 1-4-1 record after its first four MIAC contests.

• LAST ACTION: The Cardinals got a pair of goals from both Bud Winter (St. Louis, Mo.) and Carter Newpower (Cottage Grove, Minn.) in outlasting Northland 5-3 last Friday, but could not get their offense on track the following evening, dropping a 5-0 nonconference decision to No. 9 UW-Eau Claire.

• HOME SWEET HOME: Friday’s game against St. Olaf is the fifth straight home game — and the seventh in the last eight games — for the Cardinals. … SMU is sitting at 3-2-2 at home this season, while going 0-7-0 way from the Saint Mary’s Ice Arena.

• LIGHTING THE LAMP: Winter heads into the weekend series against St. Olaf leading the team with seven goals, two more than Colin Tushie (Prior Lake, Minn.). Nikita Sheberov (Obninsk, Russia) is third on the team with three goals, while Newpower, Kellen Tharaldson (Wausau, Wis.), Nick Kiemel (Colorado Springs, Colo.), and Noah Kiemel (Colorado Springs, Colo.) have all scored twice. … 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 five players who have scored their first collegiate goals this season — Newpower, Blake Arneson (Red Wing, Minn.), Clay Allen, Cooper 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 on Dec. 2 came from 11 different players — only Tushie (2 G) had more than one point.

• MULTIPLE GOALS: Winter owns two of Saint Mary’s four multiple-goal games this season, scoring twice against Lawrence on Nov. 21 and twice vs. Northland last Friday. … Tushie and Newpower have also scored twice in a game this season — Tushie recording his second career two-goal game against Gustavus on Dec. 1, while Newpower’s first collegiate multiple-goal game came against Northland last Friday. … Winter now owns five career two-goal games.

• LENDING A HAND: Jack Campion (Crystal, Minn.) owns a team-leading five assists through 14 games, Callahan Nauss (Maple Plain, Minn.) with four, and Winter, Tharaldson, Arneson, Ciolli, Connor Abric (Hayward, Wis.), Laudon Poellinger (La Crescent, Minn.), and Warner Young (Newberry, Mich.) with three each. … Poellinger collected his first collegiate three-assist game against Northland last Friday, while Campion and Brendan Westbrook (Pine City, Minn.) have both posted two-assist games this season.

• POINT PRODUCERS: With his seven goals and three assists, Winter sits atop the team’s points race with 10, three more than Tushie. Tharaldson, Callahan Nauss, and Campion are all tied for third with five points, followed by Sheberov, Nick Kiemel, Noah Kiemel, Arneson, and Ciolli with four each. … Winter recorded season-high three-point game against Lawrence on Nov. 21, scoring twice and adding an assist, while Poellinger matched that three-point effort with three assists against Northland last Friday.

• BETWEEN THE PIPES: Matt Sankner (Pennington, N.J.) has started 11 of SMU’s 14 games in goal, compiling a 3.52 goals-against-average and .891 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 320 saves in 11 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 seven of its 14 games, going 4-2-1 when netting the game’s first goal. … SMU is now 18-7-1 when scoring first since the start of the 2021-22 season, while going 2-21-1 when their opponent nets the game’s first goal.

• CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS: Twenty of Saint Mary’s 29 goals have come at even strength. SMU netted a season-high three of its six PP goals against Lawrence on Nov. 21. … SMU has gone 9-for-65 with the man advantage through 14 games (13.8 %). SMU’s opponents, meanwhile, have netted 15 of their 58 goals on the power play, going 15-for-57 with the man advantage (26.3 %). … SMU has scored eight times in both the first and third periods, while scored 13 times in the second — including six against Lawrence on Nov. 21. … Twenty-six of the 58 goals allowed by the Cardinals have come in the second period. SMU has also surrendered 13 first-period goals and 19 in the game’s final stanza. … SMU’s eight goals against Lawrence on Nov. 21 were a season-high, and the most since beating St. Olaf 8-2 on Jan. 13, 2023. … The Cardinals posted a season-high 49 shots on goal against the University of Dubuque on Dec. 8. It was SMU’s highest shot total since peppering the Bethel net with 58 SOG on Feb. 18, 2022.

ST. OLAF SCOUTING REPORT:

• FOR THE RECORD: The Oles head into their weekend series against Saint Mary’s sitting at 7-6-2 overall, including a 3-2-1 mark through the first six games of the conference season.

• LAST TIME OUT: St. Olaf closed out its nonconference schedule in impressive fashion last weekend, posting a pair of home victories. Bjorn Lervick scored the game-winning goal — his first collegiate tally — midway through the second period in knocking off No. 9 UW-Eau Claire last Friday, before erupting for 10 goals in routing Northland 10-0 the following evening. 

• HOME SWEET HOME: St. Olaf has been virtually unbeaten on its home ice this season, sporting a 5-1-1 mark at the St. Olaf Ice Arena, while sitting at 2-5-1 on the road — including a 3-1 loss to Bethel on Dec. 9 in a nonconference outdoor game in St. Louis Park, Minn.

• AGAINST THE NATION’S BEST: St. Olaf has played three games against nationally ranked teams — all decided by one goal. STO dropped a 4-3, overtime decision to then-No. 13 UW-Stevens Point on Nov. 11, while falling to No. 1 Plattsburgh 2-1 on Nov. 24, before last Friday’s 3-2 victory over No. 9 UW-Eau Claire. … St. Olaf’s win over UW-Eau Claire was just the program’s fourth win against a ranked opponent in the last 23 tries (4-19-0).

• IN A ROUT: The Oles’ 10-0 win over Northland last Saturday marked the first time in 7,665 days that they had reached double figures in goals, dating back to an 11-0 win over Bethel on Jan. 11, 2003. … The 10-goal outburst was tied for the fourth-highest scoring performance in men’s college hockey this season.

• LIGHTING THE LAMP: Jonathan Young leads a balanced Ole offensive attack, owning a team-high six goals, one more than Troy Bowditch, and two up on Cody Sherman and Tyler Cooper. Kelijah McElroy, Tony Leahy, and Brendan Darby are all sitting with three goals, with Joey Kennelly, Jonathan Panisa, Parker Casey, and Eric Brown each chipping in two. … Kennelly, Brown, Darby, and Leahy have all put together season-high two-goal games.

• LENDING A HELPING HAND: Connor Kalthoff has delivered a team-leading eight assists, two up on Sherman, Tyler Green, and Noah Heisler. Kennelly, Panisa, and Sean Walsh are all sitting at five helpers, followed by Bowditch, Ben Luscko, and Luke Suter with four each. … St. Olaf has gotten at least one helper from 22 different players. … Kalthoff dished out a single-game season-high four assists in last Saturday’s 10-0 win over Northland.

• POINT PRODUCERS: With four goals and six assists, Sherman is the only Ole to reach double figures in points, owning a team-best 10. Bowditch is second with nine points, followed by Kalthoff and Young with eight, and Green, Heisler, Kennelly, Panisa, and Cooper with seven each.

• BETWEEN THE PIPES: St. Olaf has had three different goalies make starts between the pipes this season, led by Lukas Haugen, who has compiled a 1.48 goals-against-average and .949 save percentage in eight starts. Thomas Lalonde (2.15 GAA, .917 save %) has started five games and Tyler Laureault (3.08 GAA, .887 save %) has started two games. … Haugen has made a team-high 222 saves, followed by Lalonde with 122 and Laureault with 47. …. Haugen posted a single-game season high 34 saves against Bethel on Nov. 3. … Haugen owns both of St. Olaf’s shutouts — stopping all 30 shots in blanking UW-River Falls on Nov. 10, and kicking out all 27 Northland shots in last Saturday’s 10-0 St. Olaf win.

• CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS: St. Olaf has outscored its opponents 46-30 through 15 games. The Oles have been outscored 10-9 in the first period, but hold 25-10 and 11-8 advantages in the second and third periods, respectively. … The Oles have scored 13 power-play goals in 58 chances (22.4 %), while their opponents have gone 10 of 58 (17.2 %). … St. Olaf has scored three or more goals in all seven of its wins — including three goals in five of those seven. All told, St. Olaf has netted three goals in seven of 15 games. … The Oles have played five overtime games, going 1-2-2. St. Olaf beat Hamline 3-2, while losing to Bethel (2-1) and UW-Stevens Point (4-3), and tying Bethel (1-1) and Middlebury (2-2).