BLAINE, Minn. — For the second game in a row, the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team left the ice having scored two goals against Bethel.
 
Unlike Friday evening, however — when SMU's second goal of the night was an OT game-winner — Saturday's two goals left the Cardinals one goal short, as Bethel earned a split in the teams' two-game Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference series, beating Saint Mary's 3-2 at the Bethel Ice Arena.
 
After a scoreless first period, the Royals grabbed the upper hand with back-to-back goals — the first off the stick of Jack Brown, and the second on a converted penalty shot by Ben Doherty.
 
Saint Mary's cut the deficit in half, when Bud Winter (St. Louis, Mo.;) found the back of the net — off an assist from Carter Newpower (Cottage Grove — with 35 seconds remaining in the middle period.
 
BU regained its two-goal advantage on a goal by Jack Brown midway through the third period, but again Saint Mary's answered on a goal by Nikita Sheberov (Obninsk, Russia) six minutes later.
 
Unfortunately, Sheberov's goal came with just 1:34 to play in regulation, which proved to be too little time for Saint Mary's to complete the third-period comeback.
 
A.J. Ruskowski (Traverse City, Mich.) finished with 30 saves in goal for the Cardinals, while Travis Allen kicked out 26 of SMU's 28 shots on goal.
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