WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's hockey team was good—very good—in the second period of their nonconference game against Milwaukee School of Engineering Sunday evening.
 
Unfortunately, that wasn't the case in the first and third periods.
 
MSOE erupted for four third-period goals, erasing a 3-2 Saint Mary's lead, and handing the Cardinals a 6-4 setback at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.
 
"Give (MSOE) credit, they played very well," said Saint Mary's coach Bill Moore. "I thought our slow start hurt us a bit, and weren't able to match our second-period intensity in the third period.
 
"Until our guys get it through their heads that offense may win games, but it's defense that wins championships, we are going to have up-and-down games," Moore added. "It's great to score four or five goals a game, but if you are giving up six … .
 
"Defensively, we have to be better—top-to-bottom."
 
The Red Raiders jumped out to a quick, 2-0 lead, banging a pair of rebounds past Saint Mary's goalie Phil Heinle (York, Pa.) in the game's opening 20 minutes.
 
Kevin LoGiudice opened the scoring at 7:42 of the opening stanza and Gage Christianson pushed the MSOE lead to 2-0 with his second of the season with just over two minutes remaining.
 
The second period belonged to the Cardinals, as Saint Mary's scored three times—including a pair of shorthanded tallies—to take a 3-2 advantage.
 
Jay Heinle (York, Pa.) got the Cardinals' offense going, scoring the first of his two goals just 41 seconds into the second period. Martin Gruse (Trenton, Mich.) and Chad Cesarz (Jackson, Mich.) would follow with back-to-back shorties one minute apart midway through the period to give the Cardinals their first lead of the game, 3-2.
 
Unfortunately, that lead lasted just 37 seconds into the third period, as Matthew Romund beat Phil Heinle from in close to knot the game at 3-3.
 
James Ring gave the Raiders the lead for good with his third goal of the season at 6:52, and, eight minutes later, Michael Romund made it 5-3 Raiders with his third tally of the year.
 
Heinle cut the gap to one with his second of the game—and 12th of the season—at 17:56, but MSOE's Evan Wilson sealed the win with an empty-netter at 18:47.
 
Phil Heinle finished with 45 saves for the Cardinals—including 18 in the first period and 15 in the second—while MSOE goalie Nick Kohn stopped 37 of the 40 Saint Mary's shots he faced.
 
The Cardinals (6-5-2 overall) return to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play next weekend, hosting St. Thomas in a 7 p.m. contest at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena on Friday, before heading to the St. Thomas Arena in Mendota Heights, Minn., for the 7 p.m. rematch with the Tommies on Saturday.