Coborn's First Collegiate Goal Downs #3 UW-Eau Claire

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (1/05/13)—Tucker Coborn will always remember his first collegiate goal for Concordia. Coborn scored at the 1:42 mark in overtime to help the Cobbers upset No.3-ranked UW-Eau Claire 2-1.

Coborn's heroics, coupled with Cobber goalie Chris Neamonitis' 45-save performance helped Concordia post their first win over an NCHA opponent since the 2008-09 season when CC bettered No.5-ranked UW-Stout.

Audio Interview:
Coach Chris Howe on the win over Eau Claire  (2:54)

"It was a fun win," said Cobber head coach Chris Howe. "The guys did exactly what we asked them to do and played at a pace we thought we had a chance to win."

The Cobber pace of play resulted in a tight checking affair with the Concordia defense yielding 20 shots in the first period. Most of the shots were from outside which enabled Neamonitis to keep the Blugolds off the board.

Concordia (6-8-1) took a 1-0 lead in the first six minutes of the second period. Joe Becker scored on the power play at 5:12 with an assist from Chris Beede. The power play goal would be the difference in the game as CC went 1-for-4 on their man-advantage situations but held Eau Claire scoreless in their six attempts. "Any time you hold a team like Eau Claire from scoring on six power play chances, you know your penalty killers are really working hard," commented Howe. "Plus Neo (Neamonitis) was really focused after giving up four goals last night."

It looked like the upset victory might go by the way side when the Blugolds scored just 2:32 into the third period. However, Concordia's defense responded by not allowing any quality chances for the rest of the period and CC stayed out of the penalty box for all but two minutes.

The game winner came after Concordia dumped the puck in the Eau Claire zone from the neutral zone. Jordie Bancroft won possession of the puck behind the Blugold net and then spotted a streaking Coborn coming down the middle of the ice. Bancroft put the puck on Coborn's tape between the face off circles and he one-time the game winner past the Eau Claire goalie.

"Tucker's been a little snake bit but he has been getting chances," said Howe. "I just keep telling him that you worry if you don't get chances. You know you are going to score if you get chances. He has had plenty of chances and boy was it fun for him to get that one tonight."

Eau Claire (12-3-1) wound up outshooting Concordia 46-27 for the game. The Cobbers had the only shot on goal in the overtime period.

Concordia will now head back to conference play next weekend. The Cobbers will play at Augsburg on Jan. 11-12 before returning home for an eight-game home stand.