APPLETON, Wis. – When the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team lined up against Lawrence Tuesday evening, the Cardinals must have felt as if they were looking into a mirror — after all, about the only difference between the two teams was the color of their jerseys.
 
Saint Mary's entered Tuesday's nonconference matchup on the heels of a split in its conference matchup against Saint John's — winning by a 2-1 count, while losing by a 3-2 outcome.
 
Lawrence, meanwhile, also entered Tuesday's home contest following a split in its two-game conference series against MSOE — winning by a 2-1 count, while losing by a 3-2 outcome.
 
And Tuesday's outcome did nothing to change those similarities.
 
Lawrence's Dante Terramani scored what proved to be the game-tying goal with 1:46 to play in the second period, as the Cardinals and Vikings skated to a 3-3 nonconference tie with the Cardinals at the Appleton Ice Center.
 
After surrendering a goal to Cory Checco at 10:30 of the opening period, the Cardinals kicked their offense into gear, getting back-to-back goals from Kasyn Kruse (Luverne, Minn.) and Laudon Poellinger (La Crescent, Minn.) just 43 seconds apart to grab a 2-1 lead.
 
Lawrence would knot the game at 2-2 with the fourth goal of the period, and the two teams took that deadlock into the locker room after one period of play.
 
Bud Winter (St. Louis, Mo.) scored four minutes into the second period to give Saint Mary's a 3-2 lead. Terramani would pull Lawrence even with his late second-period tally — and neither team was able to net the game-winning over the next 25 minutes.
 
Matt Sankner (Pennington, N.J.) finished with 34 saves — one shave shy of his career high — while Alex Mosquera kicked out 32 of Saint Mary's 35 shots in goal for Lawrence.
 
The Cardinals (2-7-1 overall) are now off until Dec. 3-4, when the square off against St. Olaf in a home-and-home conference series. SMU will host the Oles on Friday, Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena, before the two teams head to the St. Olaf Ice Arena in Northfield, for the 7 p.m. rematch the following evening.