WINONA, Minn. —The Saint Mary's University women's hockey team headed into its regular-season finale against Concordia certain of one thing — the Cardinals would be among those still playing when the MIAC Playoffs began next week.
When and where the Cardinals would be playing, however, was a picture that was more than a little fuzzy.
Thanks to a 3-3 overtime tie — and a thrilling shootout victory — over the Cobbers Saturday afternoon, that picture became crystal clear.
Saint Mary's sealed the No. 3 seed in the upcoming MIAC Playoffs with Saturday's two-point effort against the Cobbers, meaning the Cardinals will open play next Saturday on the road against Augsburg. Opening face-off is set for 2 p.m.
Concordia wasn't going to make things easy on the Cardinals in the teams' rematch, immediately putting SMU behind the eight ball by scoring just 13 seconds into the first period, as the Cobbers' first shot of the game – off the stick of Josie Hell — eluded SMU goalie
Celeste Rimstad (Richfield, Minn.) to give CC the very early 1-0 lead.
The Cardinals dominated play over the remainder of the opening stanza — outshooting the Cobbers 16-7 in the first 20 minutes — and finally got the equalizer on
Sidney Polzin's (Chippewa Falls, Wis.) second goal in as many games, a power-play tally with 3:07 to play to make it a 1-1 draw heading into the first intermission.
The second period started in much the same fashion as the first, with a goal in the opening seconds, and while the Cardinals couldn't match CC's 13-second effort of the first period, it only took them 44 seconds to grab their first lead of the game on
Reese Heitzman's 16th goal of the season.
And Heitzman didn't waste any time finding the back of the net for a second time, taking a feed from Polzin and rifling a shot by CC goalie Becca Macklin just 1:22 after her first goal.
Despite the quick start — and a 12-5 edge in shots on goal — the Cardinals' offense was able to pad their advantage any further through the middle frame, and took their two-goal cushion into the game's final 20-minute period.
And what a third period it was — for the Cobbers.
Concordia cut the deficit to 3-2 just 2:18 into the final stanza, before getting the game-tying goal — a power-play tally by Morgan Sauvageau with 13:15 to play in regulation.
Both teams had chances to end the game in regulation — Paduano coming up empty on a short-handed breakaway, and Rimstad thwarted CC scoring chance with a highlight-reel save, reaching behind to snare the puck just before it crossed the goal line.
The Cardinals had little offensive opportunities in the overtime period – having to kill off a pair of tripping penalties — but with Rimstad between the pipes, the Cardinals weathered the storm and sent the game to a shootout.
Paduano scored on SMU's first attempt, and Rimstad stopped all three CC shooters to preserve the shootout win — and the No. 3 playoff seed.
With the tie, Saint Mary's moved to 18-5-2 overall, the most wins in a season since the 2001-02 season, when the Cardinals finished the year 21-6-1. SMU's 13 conference wins, meanwhile, are the most since going 15-3-0 during the 2000-01.
