Cobbers Continue Tommie Mastery

MOORHEAD, Minn. (12/02/11)—Concordia scored three unanswered goals in the second and third periods and rallied to beat St. Thomas 3-2. The Cobbers are now unbeaten in their last four conference games and have now beaten the Tommies four straight times.

Concordia (6-3-1/3-1-1 MIAC) gave up two goals in the first period despite having the better of the play in the opening 20 minutes. The Cobbers gave up the first goal right after a power play when Braden Bahnemann stepped out of the penalty box, joined an odd-man rush and snapped home a shot from the slot to give UST a 1-0 lead at the 4:13 mark. The Tommies second goal came on the power play when Travis Baker slammed home a rebound on the right side of the goal. St. Thomas continued to press for a third goal in the final 4:46 but CC was able to get to the break trailing just 2-0.

The game changed in the second frame when the Cobber defense tightened and the CC offense started to find the target. A pair of sophomores pulled Concordia level with 7:00 left to play in the period. Dan Hrabowych finished off a pass from Joe Becker at 9:46 and then Braden Rahman scored on the power play from the right face-off circle at 13:00. Brian Kang and Nick Thielen were credited with the assists.

The game-winning goal came within the first five minutes of the third period. Ben Payne was able to get free on the right side of the goal and he one-timed the puck into the goal after a centering pass found wide open. Thielen earned his second assist of the game and fifth of the season on the play. Erick Galt picked up the second helper on the goal at 4:53.

The Cobbers were then content to sit back and plug up the neutral zone and make St. Thomas beat all five players in order to get to the goal. Concordia was able to keep the Tommie offense on the wings and did not allow a quality chance when the teams were even up.

St. Thomas (6-3-1/4-1-0 MIAC) outshot the Cobbers 28-19 in the game. The biggest differential in the shots came in the third when CC was defending their one-goal lead.

Cobber goalie Kelly Andrew stopped the final 26 shots he faced in the game. After giving up two goals in the first period, Andrew settled down and did not allow another goal for the rest of the game. He wound up with 26 saves and earned his third win of the year. Tommie goalie Tyrone Simcoe made 16 saves.

Both teams had one power play goal on the night. CC was 1-for-3 on the power play while the Tommies scored once in their six man-advantage situations.

The two teams will finish off their two-game series on Saturday, Dec. 3 at 2 p.m. at the Moorhead Sports Center.