Special Teams Bring An End To Win Streak

MOORHEAD, Minn. (1/18/13)—Special teams played a huge role in the Cobbers' 2-1 loss against St. John's on Friday. Concordia went 0-for-3 on their power play chances while the Johnnies scored a crucial goal on one of their two man-advantage situations.

The loss ends Concordia's three-game winning streak. The Cobbers are now 8-9-1 overall and 5-4-0 in league play.  The Johnnies are now 7-6-3 in all games and 2-3-2 in the MIAC.

The teams battled through an up-and-down the ice affair with very few penalties and not a lot of difference on the stat sheet. Concordia and St. John's did not get whistled for a penalty in the first period of play and drew only five penalties in the entire 6- minutes of play.


Video of Jordie Bancroft's first-period goal


The lone goal of the first period came from Concordia's team-leading scorer. Freshman Jordie Bancroft took control of the puck on the left wing in the middle of ice, drove down the boards and cut sharply to the right as he reached the bottom of the circles. He then angles his way in front of the net and behind the defense and slid the puck past the Johnnie goalie on the far side of the net.

Bancroft's goal at the 18:22 mark was his team-leading ninth of the season. Dan Hrabowych and Trent Johnson earned the assists on the play.

The game would remain 1-0 in favor of CC until the sixth minute of play in the second period. The Cobbers were whistled for a too many men on the ice infraction. The Johnnies scored after a scrum in front of the net. The puck bounced out to the top of the circles where "the other" Trent Johnson snapped home a shot that found its way through a pile of bodies in front of the net.

The game-winning goal came from nothing with less than six minutes left in the second period. A turnover in the Cobber defensive end gave the puck to Alex Ach who wristed the puck past CC goalie Chris Neamonitis. The goal at 14:18 was Ach's first collegiate goal.

Concordia would have several quality chances in the final 24-minutes of play but were never able to come away with the equalizer. The best chance came off the stick of Bancroft when he hit the left goal post late in the game.

St. John's outshot the Cobbers 28-21 for the game. Neamonitis made 26 saves for Concordia while St. John's goalie stopped 20 shots to earn his sixth win of the year.

The two teams will finish off their two-game series on Saturday, Jan. 19 at 2 p.m. at the Moorhead Sports Center.