NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College men's hockey team secured its fifth consecutive berth in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Playoffs despite a 6-1 loss to Saint Mary's University on Saturday evening at St. Olaf Ice Arena.

After locking up a playoff spot with results earlier in the day, St. Olaf (11-7-5, 7-5-2 MIAC) trailed just 2-1 after two periods before Saint Mary's (13-8-2, 9-4-1 MIAC) scored four third-period goals to pull away and gain a split of the series. The five consecutive playoff appearances are a program record for the Oles, who will be in the field for the 17th time overall.

Earlier in the day, Bethel University defeated Concordia-Moorhead to get the Royals and Oles into the five-time field with one series remaining. St. Olaf is two points behind Bethel entering the teams' series next weekend, meaning the Oles will need to secure four of the six points to earn a home playoff game.

After St. Olaf rallied in the third period for a 4-3 win on Friday night in Winona, Saint Mary's got out to a 2-0 lead after the first period on a power-play goal by Cooper Smyl and an even-strength goal by Ben Polomsky in the opening 20 minutes. Senior Kelijah McElroy got the Oles within a goal at 12:11 of the second period with his third goal of the season, with first year Evan Smutney and senior Gunnar Johnson picking up assists on the goal.

In the third, Smyl netted his second power-play goal of the game at the 7:24 mark to start a string of three Cardinal goals in the span of 2:15 that put the game out of reach. Saint Mary's was 2-for-4 on the power play in the game, while St. Olaf was 0-for-3.

The Oles outshot the Cardinals by a 38-35 margin in the game, but Adam Prokop stopped 37-of-38 shots for the visitors to earn the win. Sophomore Matthew Malin made 29 saves while suffering just his second loss of the season (6-2-3).

St. Olaf and Bethel will begin their series at St. Olaf Ice Arena at 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 20.