A Very Good Case Of Neamonitis

MOORHEAD, Minn. (12/03/11)—Concordia was :12 away from a sweep, and their fifth straight win over conference rival St. Thomas. Unfortunately the Cobbers conceded a last-minute goal and had to settle for a 2-2 overtime tie.

With the tie, Concordia takes three out of a possible four points on the weekend and is unbeaten against St. Thomas in five straight games – the longest streak in school history. The Cobbers are now 6-3-2 overall and 2-1-2 in the MIAC. The six wins before Christmas break is the most since the 2002-03 season. The Tommies have now only won once in the past four games and are 6-3-2 in all games and 4-1-1 in league play.

The story of the game was Cobber goalie Chris Neamonitis and the Concordia penalty kill unit. Neamonitis had several show-stopping saves and finished the game by stopping 43 shots. "Chris made all the saves he should have and about 20 he shouldn't have," commented Concordia head coach Chris Howe. "He was outstanding all game long."

Concordia was whistled for 10 penalties and successfully killed off all 10 St. Thomas power play attempts. That also included a stretch of 3:30 in the second period where CC was two men short and killing off a pair of 5-on-3 situations. "The success of our penalty kill unit today had to do with their attitude," said Howe. "Instead of feeling bad, they rally around each other and try to make it a positive."

The Cobbers got on the board first at the start of the opening period. St. Thomas came out flying in the first few minutes of the game but CC was able to regroup on the very first penalty of the game. Concordia went ahead 1-0 when Aaron Wheeler one-timed home a rebound from the slot after CC defenseman Caleb Suderman pounded a shot on goal from the right point. For Wheeler it was his fourth goal of the season and Suderman earned his team-leading seventh assist. Fellow defenseman Erick Galt was given his fourth assist of the year on the play.

The 1-0 lead would last until the middle of the second period. The Tommies were finally able to get the puck past Neamonitis when Brandon Bahnemann poked home a rebound at 10:43.

The game would stay deadlocked at 1-1 until the final two minutes of play. Between the UST goal and the end of the third, Neamonitis – and the CC penalty killers – single-handedly kept the Cobbers in the game. Neamonitis went from post to post to turn back Tommie point-blank shots and the Concordia penalty killers put on a tutorial on how to kill off penalty after penalty.

The final two minutes provided the most drama of the weekend. Suderman started the flurry by netting his first goal of the season at 18:47. Suderman collected the puck at the right point and then took a couple of stride towards the goal before snapping off a waist high shot that somehow snuck through the pile of players in front of the St. Thomas goal. Galt and Nick Thielen had the assist on the go-ahead goal.

Concordia tried to hang on to the one-goal lead and almost completed the task. After pulling their goalie in the final minute of play, UST won a face-off on the right side of the CC goal. The puck came back to the top of the face-off circle and UST where able to gain control. A pin-point pass found Travis Baker on the left side of the net and he was able to slap home a one-time shot that beat Neamonitis before he could get to the right side of the goal to make the save.

The 5:00 overtime period was anti-climactic with only one real chance between the two teams. Once again Neamonitis was equal to the chance and kept the game tied at 2-2.

St. Thomas outshot CC 45-16 which included a 14-2 edge in the second period when Concordia was killing off five power play chances.

"It was just a great college hockey game," added Howe. "We were fortunate to come away with a tie but are glad that we got three points on the weekend."

Concordia will only have two more games before the end of the calendar year. CC will play at Northland College in a two-game series on Dec. 17-18.