Box Score

WINONA, Minn. - There must be something about the Saint Mary's University Ice Arena that gives the Bethel Royals trouble when they play there. It could be that it's a bigger, Olympic-size sheet of ice, or it could be that Winona, Minn., sits nearly 300 feet higher above sea level than Blaine, Minn., thus making the air thinner and the puck travel faster. Either way, for the third time in the last four games at SMU's home rink, the Royals were handed a loss, this time by a 6-3 margin.

At first, there was plenty for Bethel to cheer about as the Royals wasted little time putting a crooked number up on the scoreboard. Eric Adams (Sr., Litchfield, Minn.) got things going by scoring with the help of Christian Fogerty (So., Forest Lake, Minn.) at 2:19 into the game. Just 12 seconds later, Austin Hatch (Fr., Cloquet, Minn.) put Bethel up 2-0 when he scored his second goal of the season, unassisted.

However, Saint Mary's came back to even the score when Tommy Healy scored two goals in a row, both times assisted by Jimmy Becker. The Cardinals went on to take a 3-2 lead at 8:26 in the second period before the Royals came back to tie the game less than eight minutes later. Once again, it was Adams who scored, this time with the help of Mason Swenson (Fr., Eagan, Minn.). It's the second two-goal game for Adams in the last three weeks and his collegiate career. Adams now leads the team in goals with nine - not bad for a guy who hadn't scored a single goal in a Bethel uniform before this season.

Unfortunately, the Cardinals used the drastic differnce in barometric pressure and their home rink advantage to regain the lead just before the end of the second period when Jeff Miller scored, shorthanded, making the score 4-3. Two more goals in the third period only added insurance to the lead and the Cardinals skated off the ice triumphant for only the second time in MIAC play this season.

The two teams played a very even game in terms of shots on goal as Bethel claimed a slight advantage at 34-33. The Royals and Cardinals also played a relatively clean game with Bethel incurring just one penalty all game, while Saint Mary's was penalized just five times.

The loss drops Bethel to 5-6 in the conference and 9-10-1 overall, while Saint Mary's improves to 2-6-1 in the conference and 3-14-1 overall. The two teams are scheduled to face off against each other again tomorrow night at 7 p.m. at Bethel University Arena in Blaine, Minn., to complete the regular season series.