WINONA, Minn. — It had been 11 days since the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team had last played, so it seemed only fitting that the Cardinals would have to put in a little overtime in their first game back.
 
Very little overtime, but overtime nonetheless.
 
After managing only one goal in 60 minutes of regulation time, however, the Cardinals needed just 50 seconds of overtime to net their second goal of the game, Callahan Nauss (Maple Plain, Minn.) banged home a rebound in the first minute of OT, lifting SMU to a 2-1 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory over Bethel Friday night at the SMU Ice Arena.
 
Bethel would strike first on a goal by Ben Doherty, who whistled a shot past Saint Mary's goalie A.J. Ruskowski (Traverse City, Mich.) with 4:31 to play in the opening period.
 
Saint Mary's didn't let the Royals play with the lead for long, however, as the Cardinals netted the equalizer — thanks in part to BU goalie Austin Ryman. Ryman misplayed an SMU dump-in behind the Royal net, allowing Jackson Nauss (Maple Plain, Minn.) to corral the loose puck and feed Clay Allen (Anchorage, Alaska), who promptly deposited it into the wide-open net for his second of the year — and a 1-1 tie.
 
The second period belonged to both goalies, as Ruskowski stopped all 11 Bethel shots he faced, while SMU came up empty on all seven of its shots on Ryman, as the teams remained deadlocked heading into the game's final 20 minutes.
 
Saint Mary's almost capitalized on another Ryman miscue behind the net, but this time the BU defenders bailed out their netminder, clearing the puck out of danger — and keeping the score tied at 1-1. Ryman redeemed himself by stopping all six of SMU's third-period shots to send the game into overtime.
 
And set up Nauss's OT heroics.
 
Ruskowski actually kick-started SMU's game-winning goal, stopping BU's only shot of the extra period, with Blake Arneson (Red Wing, Minn.) scooping up the rebound and feeding Nikita Sheberov (Obninsk, Russia) who drove down the right side and whistled a shot that was stopped by Ryman — but the rebound caromed right to Nauss, who tapped home the game-winner.
 
Ruskowski did his part between the pipes, finishing with 32 saves — 10 in both the first and third periods, and 11 in the second — while Ryman made 24 stops between the pipes for BU.
 
The Cardinals (4-4-1 MIAC, 6-10-2 overall) and Royals are right back on the ice on Saturday, heading to Bethel Arena in Blaine, Minn., for the second game of their two-game MIAC series. Opening face-off is slated for 5 p.m.
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