WINONA, Minn. – Three times the Yellowjacket men's hockey team fell behind Friday night, and three times it was able to come back and tie the game. Unfortunately for them, Saint Mary's moved ahead a fourth time and the Yellowjackets weren't able to get the equalizer when they needed it most.
 
The Yellowjackets scored once in each period but it wasn't enough to overcome a slow start and Saint Mary's picked up the 4-3 victory Friday at the SMU Ice Arena in Winona, Minn.
 
For the Yellowjackets (1-1-0, 0-0-0 WIAC), the loss evened their record on the season and snapped the program's five-game winning streak dating back to last season.

Last Saturday in the season opener at St. Scholastica, just about everything that could have gone right for the Yellowjackets did. But that wasn't the case Saturday.

The 'Jackets started slowly and looked a step slower than they were a week ago. There were also more penalties than last week, with the Yellowjackets taking five in the first period alone. They would only take one penalty after the first period Friday, but Saint Mary's took advantage of an early Yellowjacket mistake.
 
Down a man because of a bench minor for too many men on the ice, the Yellowjackets fell behind when Bud Winter tipped a puck past Yellowjacket goaltender Myles Hektor (Lake Bluff, Ill./Lake Forest) to make it 1-0 just 4:54 into the game.

The Yellowjackets didn't trail for long, however, as Sam Sterne (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) scored his first collegiate goal at 8:56 to tie it. Sterne took a pass from David Kaplan (Vernon Hills, Ill./Bishop Eustace Prep) and wristed a long shot past Saint Mary's goaltender A.J. Ruskowski to even the game at 1-1.
 
Before the first period ended Saint Mary's would regain the lead on a goal by Gabe Potyk at 11:26.
 
As the second period unfolded the Yellowjackets began to find their stride, and after a stretch of extended pressure they were able to pull even with the Cardinals. Dylan Johnson (Cloquet, Minn./Cloquet Senior), who leads the Yellowjackets in assists, took a shot from the left side that hit traffic in front, but the carom went right to Chad Lopez (Arlington, Texas/University of Texas) in the slot and he buried his second goal of the season to tie it at 9:41.
 
Saint Mary's again had the answer and regained the lead late in the period. This time it was Trevor Schroder scoring, as he beat Hektor high on the short side from a sharp angle on the left wing.
 
Early in the third period the Yellowjackets came out firing on all cylinders, and for the third time in the game drew even. Reed Stark (Suffern, N.Y./Douglas County West) moved the puck to Artur Terchiyev (Kiev, Ukraine/Everest Academy) at the left point, and he slid it to Charles Martin (Blainville, Quebec/École internationale Lucille-Teasdale), whose shot got through a screen and beat Ruskowski to tie the game 3-3 at 5:48.
 
But as they did all night long, Saint Mary's broke the tie. Ryan Stoynich took a shot from the left circle that Hektor stopped, but he couldn't keep control of the shot and it got across the line to put the Cardinals back in front.

Any chances for a Yellowjacket rally were snuffed out when they were called for a penalty with just 2:16 to go in the third period, and the Cardinals held them off for the win.
 
Each team had four power plays in the game. The Yellowjackets went 0-for-4 while the Cardinals went 1-for-4.
 
Hektor finished the game with 26 saves, and saw his record fall to 1-1-0 on the year.
 
Up next for the Yellowjackets is a contest at St. Olaf College. The opening faceoff Saturday is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in Northfield, Minn.