By
DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
WINONA, Minn. — Heading into Saturday's nonconference game against Lake Forest, the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's hockey team had found little success when surrendering the game's first goal.
In fact, in the six games the Cardinals had allowed the opening goal, Saint Mary's was winless (0-5-1).
That all changed Saturday afternoon—in dramatic fashion.
Jack Stang (Mendota Heights, Minn.) scored the go-ahead goal with 1:43 remaining in regulation and
Michael Cimba (Willmette, Ill.) added an empty net goal a minute later as the Cardinals collected a 4-2 victory over the visiting Foresters at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.
"The effort today was so much better than (Friday)," said Saint Mary's coach
Bill Moore, whose teams dropped a 6-3 decision to Lake Forest in the first game of the teams' two-game series. "I was very pleased with the way we played—several people stepped up huge, which was great to see."
For the second straight game, it was Lake Forest who struck first, scoring the only goal of the first period on an Aaron O'Neil tally at 5:51.
Saint Mary's had its best scoring opportunity of the period with five minutes remaining, but
Ryan Charko's (Warren, N.J.) point-blank shot clanked off the post, leading the Cardinals staring at a 1-0 deficit after 20 minutes of play.
The Cardinals took the early-and-late approach to the second period—scoring in the first minute of the period and in the final four minutes—to pull even with the Foresters heading into the game's final 20 minutes.
Ben Owen (Allen, Texas) got the Cardinals on the board just 36 seconds into the middle frame, only to have Lake Forest regain the lead, 2-1, on a power play goal by Ryan Kruss at 9:49.
Jared Johnson (Hartland, Wis.)—who along with
Austin Arnold (Anchorage, Alaska), assisted on the Cardinals' first goal—continued to feast on Lake Forest goaltending, scoring his third goal of the weekend with 3:46 remaining to knot the game at 2-2.
The game would remain deadlocked through most of the third period—thanks in large part to the play of
Al Rogers (North Haven, Conn.). Rogers, making his first collegiate start, made his biggest save midway through the final period, stoning Lake Forest's Drew Cleereman on a shorthanded breakaway with 12 minutes remaining in regulation.
Saint Mary's finally broke the stalemate at 18:17, when Stang corralled a picture-perfect pass from
Dylan Robertson (Alpharetta, Ga.) and beat Forester goalie Boyd DiClemente.
Cimba iced Saint Mary's win with his empty net tally with 12 seconds remaining in regulation, as the Cardinals put an end to their season-high five-game losing streak.
Rogers finished with 37 saves in goal for the Cardinals, while DiClemente—also making his first start of the season—also recorded 37 saves for Lake Forest.
The Cardinals (3-6-1 overall) return to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play with a pair of home games at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena against Saint John's next weekend. Saint Mary's hosts SJU in a 7 p.m. contest on Friday, before entertaining the Johnnies in the rematch a 2 p.m. the following day.
