ST. PAUL, Minn. - Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's hockey coach Bill Moore knew the key to Friday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference showdown with Hamline was a simple one-shut down the Pipers' high-scoring Charlie Adams and Brandon Zurn.

Well, maybe not so simple.

Zurn had two goals and Adams a goal and two assists-in the first period-and the duo combined for four goals and six assists in leading the Pipers to a 6-5 overtime win over the Cardinals at Oscar Johnson Arena.

"It's tough to lose a game like that," said Moore. "I thought we played well enough to win-the guys battled and never got down-we just couldn't get that big goal when we needed it."

Goals were in abundance in the game's opening 20 minutes, as the two teams combined to light the lamp seven times-including six in a three-minute span midway through the stanza.

Hamline opened the scoring at 8:33 on a goal by Mitch Hall. Less than two minutes later, Drew DePalma (Armada, Mich.) netted his first collegiate goal to pull Saint Mary's even, 1-1.

The lead lasted all of 12 seconds.

In fact, in a span of 19 seconds both Charlie Adams and Brandon Zurn beat Saint Mary's goalie Jake Hebda (Firestone, Colo.) to give the Pipers a 3-1 advantage.

And things were just heating up.

Nick Albergo (Elmhust, Ill.) cut the deficit to 3-2 less than a minute after Zurn's tally, but the Piper forward would answer right back, scoring his second of the game 39 seconds later, as Hamline regained its two-goal cushion.

Martin Gruse (Trenton, Mich.) closed out the first-period scoring, netting his 11^th of the season to bring the Cardinals back within a goal, 4-3, at the end of the opening period.

After the high-octane first period, the second stanza calmed down a bit, with both teams scoring once.

The Cardinals' Chad Cesarz (Jackson, Mich.) picked up where Gruse left off, pulling Saint Mary's even, 4-4, taking a feed from Jared Johnson (Hartland, Wis.) and beating HU goalie Justin Quale with seven minutes remaining.

But the deadlock would not last, as Adams found the back of the net for the second time, beating Hebda with just 32 seconds remaining to give HU the 5-4 advantage with 20 minutes to play.

Jay Heinle (York, Pa.) scored his team-leading 14^th goal of the season at 12:12 of the final period to make it a 5-5 game, and force a five-minute overtime.

And in the extra session, it was the Pipers who would strike again, as Jesse Kessler beat Hebda with just 1:07 remaining to give Hamline the victory.

Hebda made 36 saves in goal for the Cardinals, while Quale stopped 25 Saint Mary's shots in goal for Hamline.

The Cardinals (4-4-1 MIAC, 7-9-2 overall) get another shot at the Pipers on Saturday, as the two teams head to the Saint Mary's Ice Arena for a 7 p.m. conference rematch.