WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's hockey team had the perfect come-from-behind recipe for success in Friday's thrilling, 4-2 win over St. Scholastica — getting three third-period goals, including the eventual game-winner by Laudon Poellinger (La Crescent, Minn.) with less than five minutes remaining in regulation.
 
Unfortunately, the Cardinals could not scrape up the proper ingredients in the teams' rematch Saturday afternoon.
 
For the second game in a row, the Cardinals once again found themselves staring at a two-goal deficit against the Saints — only this time around, there would be no third-period heroics.
 
St. Scholastica scored the game's first two goals, and added a pair of third-period tallies in dealing the Cardinals a 4-1 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference setback Saturday afternoon at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.
 
Saturday's showdown had an eerily familiar start, as Hunter Hanson netted the game's first goal for the second consecutive day. After scoring at 4:57 of the first period on Friday, the Saints' sharpshooter beat SMU goalie A.J. Ruskowski (Traverse City, Mich.) three seconds earlier on Saturday.
 
Carson Richels would find the back of the net just 1:05 after Hanson's tally to push the St. Scholastica lead to 2-0, and CSS would maintain that two-goal advantage heading into the game's first intermission.
 
Gabe Potyk (Orion, Mich.) got the Cardinals within one, 2-1, midway through the second period, netting his second goal in as many games, but the Saints would regain their two-goal cushion on a goal by Jacob Seitz seven minutes into the third period.
 
The Saints then iced the game the way they started it — getting an empty-net goal from Hanson — to seal the 4-1 victory, and the split in the team's two-game MIAC series.
 
Ruskowski, who stopped a career-high 48 shots in Friday's 4-2 SMU victory, was once again busy between the pipes for the Cardinals, stopping 33 of the 36 shots he faced, while CSS's Jack Bostedt kicked out 25 Saint Mary's shots.
 
Despite the loss, the Cardinals remain in the thick of the MIAC Playoff chase, sitting one point out of the fifth and final playoff spot, and one point in front of Concordia — SMU's opponent for the final two games of the regular season next weekend.
 
The Cardinals (6-7-1 MIAC, 8-13-2 overall) close out their regular-season schedule on the road, heading to the Moorhead Sports Center in Moorhead, Minn., for a pair of MIAC games against Concordia. SMU and CC will play at 7 p.m. on Friday, before completing the two-game series with a 2 p.m. matinee the following day.
  Read Full Article