Chances Go A-Begging In St. Cloud

ST. CLOUD, Minn. (1/22/12)—Concordia gave up two goals in each of the second and third periods and lost 4-1 at St. John's on Sunday. The Cobbers outshot the Johnnies 24-23 but were 0-for-7 on the power play as they lost for the fifth time in the last six games.


Concordia is now 8-8-3 on the season and falls to 4-4-2 in the MIAC. The Cobbers are currently in a three-way tie for second place in the league standings. St. John's earns their third straight win and is now 6-9-2 in overall games and 4-4-0 in league games. SJU is now just two points behind the logjam for second place as a mere two points separates six teams in the standings.

The first period was a defensive battle with each team only getting six shots on goal. The game opened up in the second frame as the teams combined for 23 shots. St. John's turned the game in their favor with a pair of goals in the final 5:00 of play in the middle period.        

Concordia had three power play chances in the first two periods and weren't able to get on the board. CC then had a man-advantage situation to start the third period and couldn't capitalize before the Johnnies scored the all-important third goal of the game at the 5:44 mark.

The Cobbers then misfired on two more power plays before connecting on their only goal of the game with under 2:00 to play. Marc Harrie scored his second goal of the season at 18:52 to bring CC within two at 3-1. Ben Payne and Dave Velich were credited with the assists on the play. St. John's rounded out the scoring in the final minute of play with a goal at 19:19.

The Cobbers finished the two-game series with the Johnnies 1-for-10 on the power play.

Concordia goalie Chris Neamonitis made 19 saves in the game while SJU netminder J.D. Wells stopped 23 shots to pick up his second win of the weekend.

The Cobbers will stay on the road as they travel to Gustavus for a two-game series on Jan. 27-28.