WINONA, Minn. — With nine seniors playing their final home game Friday evening, it was a special night for the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's hockey team.
 
And the Cardinals' special teams made the evening extra special.
 
Saint Mary's scored a pair of first-period power-play goals—while killing off all four Gustavus man advantages—as the Cardinals collected a crucial 3-1 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.
 
"We knew heading into tonight how important this weekend's games were," said Saint Mary's coach Bill Moore, whose team remains in the thick of the MIAC playoff chase with the victory. "I was very happy with the way we played tonight—from start-to-finish, we controlled the play."
 
With the win, the Cardinals remained in fourth place in the conference standings with 23 points—two points back of league leaders St. Thomas and Augsburg, and one point behind Hamline. Concordia is currently fifth with 20 points.
 
The difference, however, is that the Cardinals have just three conference games remaining, while the rest of the league has five—meaning Saturday's rematch with the Gusties, and next weekend's two games at Saint John's (currently sitting sixth with 17 points with four games remaining) are all virtually must-wins.
 
"It's going to be a fight to the finish for playoff positioning," said Moore. "But we really can't concern ourselves with what other teams are doing—we have to go out and take care of our own business.
 
"If we do that, and play the way we did tonight, we'll be just fine."
 
The Cardinals opened the scoring midway through the first period, as Chad Cesarz (Jackson, Mich.) took a feed from Kyle Meeh (Fenton, Mo.) and beat Gustavus goalie Chris Amsden for the first of Saint Mary's two power-play goals.
 
Six minutes later, it was Nick Albergo's (Elmhurst, Ill.) turn to be on the receiving end of a picture-perfect pass from Martin Gruse (Trenton, Mich.) and beat Amsden for his seventh goal of the year.
 
Saint Mary's maintained that two-goal cushion until the 16:27 mark of the second period, when Meeh collected his second goal of the game off assists Cesarz and Taylor Portner (Andover, Minn.) to push the Saint Mary's lead to 3-0 heading into the game's final 20 minutes.
 
Alex Koopmeiners foiled Cardinal goalie Phil Heinle's (York, Pa.) shutout bid, scoring the Gusties' lone goal with just 6:17 remaining in regulation.
 
Heinle finished with 17 saves in goal for the Cardinals, while Amsden kicked out 31 of Saint Mary's 34 shots—including 12 in the first period and 13 more in the third.
 
The Cardinals (7-5-1 MIAC, 11-8-3) head to Don Roberts Ice Arena in St. Peter, Minn., on Saturday, as they square off against the Gusties in the second game of the teams' two-game conference series. Game time is slated for 7 p.m.