WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's men's hockey kept the momentum rolling Friday night, topping Bethel University 5–3 to climb to the top of the MIAC standings with 24 conference points.

The Cardinals (11-7-2, 7-3-1) came out flying and made Bethel pay on special teams, striking twice on the power play in the opening period to set the tone.

Jack Campion delivered a standout performance, scoring two goals including the game-winner. Carter Newpower fueled the offense with three assists and Colin Tushie buried a power-play goal and peppered the net with five shots, while Adam Prokop was rock-solid between the pipes, stopping 29 shots.

Saint Mary's wasted no time taking control. 

Tushie opened the scoring at 14:05 of the first period with a power-play blast off feeds from Tyler Lafferty and Ryan Berglund. Just 36 seconds later, Tommy Wright doubled the lead with another man-advantage marker, set up by Newpower and Cole Mickel, giving the Cardinals a 2–0 edge after one.

The Cardinals kept pouring it on in the second. Connor Abric made it 3–0, for his frist goal of the season, with help from Joona Juntunen, and Campion followed with another goal to stretch the lead to four. 

Bethel answered with a pair of late goals, trimming the margin to 4–2 heading into the final frame.

In the third, Campion struck again at 2:46, this time off assists from Newpower and Juntunen, to put the game out of reach. Despite a Bethel power-play goal, Saint Mary's locked things down defensively, with Prokop and the Cardinal blue line sealing the 5–3 victory.

With the win, Saint Mary's now sits alone atop the conference standings, continuing a strong push through the heart of the season.

The team will travel to Bethel tomorrow for the rematch slated for 5:00 p.m.