WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's hockey team returned to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play in impressive fashion Friday evening.
Thanks in large part to the play of
Colin Tushie (Prior Lake, Minn.).
Tushie recorded his first collegiate hat trick — including the eventual game-winner late in the third period — as the Cardinals rallied for a 5-3 conference win over St. Olaf at the SMU Ice Arena.
The Cardinals broke a scoreless deadlock midway through the opening period, converting on the second of the two first-period power plays, as
Carter Newpower (Cottage Grove, Minn.) banged a
Laudon Poellinger (La Crescent, Minn.) rebound past St. Olaf goalie Thomas Lalonde.
SMU's defense needed to come up big in the waning minutes of the opening period to preserve that one-goal advantage, killing off a five-minute major penalty to keep the Cardinals clinging to their 1-0 lead after 20 minutes of play.
The Oles appeared to have stolen all the momentum in the second period, scoring back-to-back goals from Michael Webster and Tyler Cooper in a four-minute span midway through the stanza to grab their first lead of the game, 2-1.
But the Cardinals clawed their way back to even before the period ended, getting a goal from Tushie — his sixth of the season — with 2:54 to play to knot the game at 2-2 with one final 20-minute period to go.
Warner Young (Newberry, Mich.) picked the most opportune time to net his first goal of the season, corralling a loose puck in front of the Ole net and pushing it past Lalonde to give SMU a 3-2 lead with 14 minutes to play in regulation.
And, just like the Oles' one-goal lead in the second period, the Cardinals did not get to play from in front for long. St. Olaf's Joey Kennelly rifled a shot past Saint Mary's goalie
Matt Sankner (Pennington, N.J.) to pull the Oles even, 3-3, less than three minutes after Young had put Saint Mary's back in the lead.
Enter Tushie.
The sophomore put the Cardinals in front for good with his second of the night with 4:33 to play in regulation, and added goal No. 3 two minutes later, feathering a shot between the pads of Lalonde to give seal SMU's two-goal victory.
Young and
Bud Winter (St. Louis, Mo.) each joined Tushie as multiple-point performers, with Young adding an assist to his second-period goal, while Winter collected a pair of assists.
Sankner finished with 28 saves between the pipes for SMU, while Lalonde stopped 2 of SMU's 34 shots on goal.
The Cardinals (2-4-1 MIAC, 4-9-2 overall) and Oles are back in action on Saturday, when the two teams head to the St. Olaf Ice Arena in Northfield, Minn., for the 5 p.m. conference rematch.
