WINONA, Minn. — For two periods Saturday evening, the rematch between the Saint Mary's University and Augsburg men's hockey teams Saturday evening at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena proved to be a rather defensive battle—with the Auggies clinging to a 2-1 lead heading into the third period.
 
And what a third period it proved to be.
 
The two teams combined for five goals in the first six minutes—and seven goals overall in the game's final 20-minutes.
 
And when the dust finally cleared, the two teams settled for a wild, 5-5 overtime tie—with Saint Mary's gaining the extra conference point, thanks to a pair of goals in the four-round shootout.
 
Saint Mary's­—coming off a heartbreaking 4-3 loss at Augsburg on Friday—opened the scoring in the rematch, as Kellen Wasell (Edmonds, Wash.) netted his first of the season just 2:53 into the opening stanza.
 
The Cardinals would maintain that one-goal advantage until late in the second period, when Nate Flynn and Chris Nuth scored two minutes apart to give the Auggies a 2-1 lead with 20 minutes to play.
 
Michael Amelio (Venetia, Pa.) pulled the Cardinals even with his first of the season at 1:55 of the third, and Taylor Portner (Andover, Minn.) followed less than three minutes later to give Saint Mary's a 3-2 advantage.
 
An advantage that lasted less than a minute.
 
Evan Hesse scored a power-play goal 58 seconds after Portner's goal to make it 3-3—for 21 seconds.
 
The fireworks would continue, as Bob Kinne (St. Paul, Minn.) scored his team-leading 12^th of the season to push Saint Mary's back out in front, 4-3. One minute later, that lead climbed to 5-3 on a goal by Martin Gruse (Trenton, Mich.).
 
And there was still 14 minutes remaining in the period.
 
Trevor Stewart cut the deficit to 5-4 with his seventh of the season at 12:00, and Eric Brenk forced the five-minute overtime with a goal with less than two minutes left in regulation.
 
Neither team could break through in the OT period sending the game to a shootout—which the Cardinals would win, 2-1, thanks to goals by Nick Albergo (Elmhurst, Ill.) and Kinne.
 
Phil Heinle (York, Pa.) did his part in securing the tie—not to mention the extra conference point in the shootout—stopping the 35 shots he faced, while Augsburg goalie Nick Schmit stopped 23 of the Cardinals' 28 shots.
 
The Cardinals (6-5-1 MIAC, 10-8-3 overall) are back in conference action next weekend with a pair of games against Gustavus. Saint Mary's will host the Gusties in a 7 p.m. contest at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena on Friday, before heading to Don Roberts Ice Arena in St. Peter, Minn., for the 7:05 p.m. rematch a day later.