SAINT MARY’S CARDINALS

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2023-24: 4-5-1 MIAC, 6-11-2 Overall

SAINT JOHN’S JOHNNIES

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2023-24: 5-6-1 MIAC, 8-9-4 Overall

LIVE ON THE WEB:

THUR at SMU: Live Stats * Streaming Video

SAT at SJU: Live Stats * Streaming Video

MIAC: MH Home *  Standings * Schedule

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SMU-SJU * LAST MEETING:

Feb. 2/4, 2023

L, 2-0; W, 7-3 * Series History

SAINT MARY’S * LAST ACTION:

Jan. 26-27, 2024

Bethel * W, 2-1 (ot); L, 3-2

SAINT JOHN’S * LAST ACTION:

Jan. 26-27, 2024

Augsburg * W, 4-3; L, 2-1

SAINT MARY’S * UP NEXT:

Feb. 9-10, 2024 * Winona, MN

St. Scholastica * 7:05/2:05

SAINT JOHN’S * UP NEXT: 

Feb. 8, 2024 * St. Cloud, MN

St. Olaf * 7:00

Feb. 9, 2024 * Northfield, MN

St. Olaf * 7:00

SAINT MARY’S SCOUTING REPORT:

• FOR THE RECORD: Saint Mary’s returns to conference play with this weekend’s two-game series against Saint John’s sitting at 6-11-2 overall, including sporting a 4-5-1 record after its first eight MIAC contests.

• LAST ACTION: The Cardinals scored two goals in both of their MIAC games against Bethel last weekend, which was good enough for a split in the teams’ two-game conference series. SMU got the game-winning goal from Callahan Nauss (Maple Plain, Minn.) 50 seconds into overtime in the Cardinals’ 2-1 win last Friday, while BU held off a late SMU rally to earn a split with a 3-2 victory the following day.

• HOME SWEET HOME: Thursday’s home game against Saint John’s is the seventh home game in their last nine contests — and the ninth in the last 12 games — for the Cardinals. … SMU is sitting at 5-2-2 at home this season, while the Cardinals picked up their first win away from the Saint Mary’s Ice Arena (1-9-0) with their 3-2 win over St. Olaf on Jan. 13.

• LIGHTING THE LAMP: With his goal against Bethel last Saturday, Bud Winter (St. Louis, Mo.) moved into a tie with Colin Tushie (Prior Lake, Minn.) for the team lead in goals with eight. Nikita Sheberov (Obninsk, Russia) — who also scored against the Royals last weekend — is sitting third with five goals, followed by Noah Kiemel (Colorado Springs, Colo.) with four and Carter Newpower (Cottage Grove, Minn.) with three. … 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 six players who have scored their first collegiate goals this season — Newpower, Connor Abric (Hayward, Wis.), Blake Arneson (Red Wing, Minn.), Clay Allen (Anchorage, Alaska), Cooper Smyl (Fairfield, Calif.), 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 — while SMU’s four goals in the rematch against the Vikings on Jan. 16 and its four goals against Bethel last weekend were scored by four different players. … 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.

• TOSSING THE HAT: Tushie recorded his first collegiate hat trick in the Cardinals’ 5-3 win over St. Olaf on Jan. 12. It’s the third hat trick in the last two seasons for the Cardinals, who got three-goal games from Sheberov and Brady Lindauer a year ago.

• MULTIPLE GOALS: With his three goals against St. Olaf on Jan. 12, Tushie now owns two multiple-goal games this season, having also scored twice against Gustavus on Dec. 1. … Winter also boasts two multiple-goal games this season, scoring twice against Lawrence on Nov. 21 and twice vs. Northland on Jan. 5. … Newpower and Noah Kiemel have accounted for SMU’s other two multiple-goal games — Newpower found the back of the net twice against Northland on Jan. 5, while Kiemel scored twice against St. Olaf on Jan. 13.

• LENDING A HAND: Winter heads into this weekend’s matchup against Saint John’s owning a team-high seven assists, one more than both Jack Campion (Crystal, Minn.) and Laudon Poellinger (La Crescent, Minn.). Tushie has collected five helpers, with Callahan Nauss, Kellen Tharaldson (Wausau, Wis.), Abric, Arneson, and Warner Young (Newberry, Mich.) each chipping in four.

• POINT PRODUCERS: With his eight goals and seven assists, Winter sits atop the team’s points race with 15, two up on Tushie. Campion and Sheberov have amassed seven points, with Poellinger, Nauss, and Tharaldson each owning six. … SMU has gotten at least one point from 25 different players. … Tushie recorded a single-game season- and career-high four points with his three goals and an assist against St. Olaf on Jan. 12. Winter (2 G, 1 A) and Poellinger (3 A) have recorded season-high three-point games this season.

• NETTING THE GAME-WINNER: Winter leads the team with two game-winning goals, with Tushie, Noah Kiemel, Nick Kiemel, and Callahan Nauss netting the Cardinals’ other four game-winners.

• BETWEEN THE PIPES: Matt Sankner (Pennington, N.J.) has started 12 of SMU’s 17 games in goal, compiling a 3.48 goals-against-average and .892 save percentage. … A.J. Ruskowski (Traverse City, Mich.) has made the other seven starts between the pipes, boasting a 3.79 GAA and .896 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 348 saves in 13 starts — including a season-high 37-save effort against UW-Stevens Point on Nov. 10 — while Ruskowski (225 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. … Ruskowski has stopped 30 or more shots in all seven of his starts this season.

• SCORING FIRST: Saint Mary’s has scored first in 10 of its 19 games, going 7-2-1 when netting the game’s first goal. … SMU is now 21-7-1 when scoring first since the start of the 2021-22 season, while going 2-23-1 when their opponent nets the game’s first goal.

• WORKING OVERTIME: Saint Mary’s 2-1 win over Bethel last Friday was its third overtime game of the season, having also battled Gustavus (4-4) and the University of Dubuque (2-2) to draws.

• CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS: Thirty-three of Saint Mary’s 45 goals have come at even strength. … SMU has gone 12-for-79 with the man advantage through 19 games (15.2 %), and scored a season-high three power-play goals against Lawrence on Nov. 21. … SMU’s opponents, meanwhile, have netted 18 of their 73 goals on the power play, going 18-for-69 with the man advantage (26.1 %). … SMU has scored 11 times in the first period, 16 times in the second, and 17 in the third. Thirty-five of the 73 goals allowed by the Cardinals have come in the second period. SMU has also surrendered 15 first-period goals and 23 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.

SAINT JOHN’S SCOUTING REPORT:

• FOR THE RECORD: The Johnnies head into their two-game, Thursday/Saturday conference series against Saint Mary’s sporting an 8-9-4 overall record, including a 5-6-1 mark in conference play

• LAST TIME OUT: Saint John’s settled for a split in its two-game MIAC series against Augsburg last weekend, with both games decided by one goal. SJU opened the weekend by scoring two third-period goals in beating the Auggies 4-3 on their home ice in St. Cloud, Minn., only to have Augsburg turn the tables with a 2-1 win the following evening in Minneapolis, Minn.

• ROAD SUCCESS: The Johnnies have picked up five of their eight wins on the road this season. SJU owns a 3-4-2 mark on their home sheet, while going 5-5-2 in 11 games away from the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.

• FIT TO BE TIED: Saint John’s has played four games decided in a tie, including three of the Johnnies’ nine nonconference games. … SJU has played to a draw against Utica (1-1), MSOE (1-1), UW-Stevens Point (1-1), and Hamline (2-2).

• WORKING OT: The johnnies have played six overtime games this season, going 0-2-4. Along with their ties against Utica, MSOE, UW-Stevens Point, and Hamline, the Johnnies have lost to Concordia (4-3) and Bethel (3-2) in OT.

• STREAK SNAPPER: Last Saturday’s 2-1 loss to Augsburg snapped the Johnnies eight-game unbeaten streak (5-0-3). SJU had beaten Gustavus (3-2, 5-1), UW-Stout (5-2), Hamline (4-1), and Augsburg (4-3), while tying MSOE (1-1), UW-Stevens Point (1-1), and Hamline (2-2) during its eight-game run.

• LIGHTING THE LAMP: Matt DeRosa heads into the Johnnies’ two-game series against Saint Mary’s leading the team with eight goals, one more than Jack Wandmacher. The duo are two of 17 different Johnnies to find the back of the net. … SJU has had a player score two goals in a game three times this season — twice by DeRoasa and once by Wandmacher.

• THAT WAS FAST: Mason Campbell’s goal just 22 seconds into the first period of last Saturday’s 2-1 loss to Augsburg was the Johnnies’ fastest goal to open a game since Nov. 7, 2021, when Max Borst scored 16 in against MSOE. … Campbell’s goal also marked the third time this season SJU has scored a goal in the game’s first 40 seconds.

• LENDING A HELPING HAND: Lewis Crosby owns a team-high eight assists, with Wandmacher and Borst each sitting at seven, while Spencer Rudrud, Jackson Bisson, and Cam Boche have all chipped in six helpers. … Wandmacher collected a single-game, season-high three assists against Gustavus on Jan. 6.

• POINT PRODUCERS: SJU boasts five players who have reached the 10-point mark this season, led by Wandmacher with 14 (7 G, 7 A). DeRosa is second on the team with 13 points, with Rudrud, Borst, and Crosby all tied for third with 10. … DeRosa, Wandmacher, and Borst have all recorded a season-high three points in a game this season. 

• BETWEEN THE PIPES: Jon Howe and Bailey Huber have shared the goaltending duties for the Johnnies, with very similar results. Howe owns a 2.28 goals-against-average and .925 save percentage in 13 appearances (632:49 minute), while Huber sports a 2.34 GAA and .928 save % in 11 outings (616:40 minutes). … Huber leads the team with 309 saves, followed closely by Howe with 295 stops, while both goalies have surrendered 24 goals. … Howe has stopped 30 or more shots four times, including a season-high 40-save effort against UW-Eau Claire on Nov. 3. Huber, meanwhile, owns three 40+ save games, topped by a 52-save outing in a 1-1 tie against Utica on Nov. 24.

• CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS: Saint John’s has outscored its opponents by three, 53-50, and holds a 694-662 edge in shots on goal. … SJU has outscored its opponents 20-15 in the first period and 18-17 in the second, but have been outscored 16-15 in the second. … The Johnnies are just 7 of 73 (0.96 %) on the power play, while killing off 68 of their opponent’s 77 power-play opportunities (88.3 %). … Saint John’s has scored a season-high five goals four times, and posted season-highs in assists (10) and points against both Gustavus and Northland. … SJU racked up a season-best 43 shots on goal against St. Scholastica on Nov. 18.