By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — All it took was a little wake-up call — and giving up the game's first goal just 1:46 into the opening period seemed to do just that.
 
The Saint Mary's University men's hockey erupted for three unanswered first-period goals to erase Lake Forest's early 1-0 advantage in the teams' season-opener Friday evening at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.
 
Unfortunately, that three goal outburst — including the first two collegiate tallies by Thomas Magnavite (Chicago, Ill.) — was all the offense the Cardinal would muster, as Lake Forest tallied single goals in both the second and third periods in earning a 3-3 nonconference tie.
 
Lake Forest grabbed the early momentum when Kyler Magus beat Cardinal goalie Nick Nast (Oxnard, Calif.) before the game was even two minutes old, giving the Foresters a quick 1-0 advantage.
 
That early tally may have given the Foresters the early lead, but it also seemed to jump-start the Cardinals' offense, as Saint Mary's rattled off three unanswered goals to take a 3-1 lead into the locker room after the opening 20 minutes.
 
Kyle Meeh (Fenton, Mo.) netted Saint Mary's first goal of the season on the power play at 7:18 of the first period — with Tommy Stang (Mendota Heights, Mihn.) and Trevor Wilhelm (St. Louis, Mo.) picking up the assists.
 
Three minute later, it was Magnavite's turn to light the lamp, scoring his first goal as a Cardinal from Ryan Stoynich (Calgary, Alberta) and Tommy Stang.
 
And Magnavite wasn't finished, recording his second goal of the game at 11:41 to give the Cardinals a two-goal cushion heading into the second frame.
 
Lake Forest took advantage of an early 5-on-3 power play in the second period, as Austin Aksoy tapped a back-door rebound past Nast to cut the Cardinal lead to one, 3-2.
 
The Cardinals clung to that one-goal lead through the final 8:19 of the second period and the first 11:45 of the third, before the Foresters struck again, when Aaron O'Neill beat Nast from the slot to knot the game at 3-3.
 
And Nast made sure the game would remain deadlocked, as the Cardinal junior kicked out eight third-period shots and another in the overtime as part of a 38-save effort. Boyd DiClemente finished with 21 saves in goal for the Foresters.
 
The Cardinals (0-0-1 overall) and Foresters (0-0-1 overall) return to the Saint Mary's Ice Arena Saturday afternoon for the second game of their two-game nonconference series. Puck drop is slated for 3 p.m.