A Tie Feels Like A Loss

MOORHEAD, Minn. (12/6/13)—When does a tie feel like a loss? The answer can be found in the Concordia locker room after the Cobbers tied No.8-ranked St. Thomas 2-2 in overtime but then lost in a shootout and gave up an additional point in the standings to the Tommies.

The MIAC became the first Division III league to feature the shootout format to award an extra point after overtime when it adopted the format at the beginning of the season. Teams are now given three points for a win in regulation, two points for a win in overtime and one point for an overtime or shootout loss.

The game will go in the record books as a tie with Concordia moving to 6-2-1 overall this season and  3-1-1 in conference play. St. Thomas is now 6-1-2 in all games and 3-0-2 in the MIAC. The Tommies have won each of their two games that advanced to the shootout and hold a one-point lead in the conference standings. CC is now in third place with 10 league points, three behind UST.

The tie also keeps the Cobbers' unbeaten record against the Tommies in the past six meetings at home. Concordia owns a 3-0-3 record against St. Thomas in Moorhead since the 2009-10 season.

The game played in regulation and overtime was a dramatic back-and-forth affair between two of the top teams in the region. Each team was able to control chunks of time during the three periods and overtime.

Concordia dominated the early part of the contest and scored a pair of goals less than two minutes apart midway through the first period. Tucker Coborn put Concordia 1-0 when he scored his first goal of the season at 12:41 of the first period. His brother Sam and Dan Hrabowych picked up assists on the play. Freshman Garrett Hendrickson then gave Concordia a 2-0 lead at 14:29 mark when he finished off a play from Andrew Deters and Jordie Bancroft.

The Cobbers would have more chances to score in the final 50 minutes of regulation and overtime but could never find a way to get the puck past Tommie goalie Drew Fielding.

St. Thomas turned up the intensity in the second period and got to within one with a power play goal at 5:08. Concordia was able to hold off the Tommies for the remainder of the period and went into the locker room with a 2-1 lead.

The Tommies scored the final goal of the game at the 6:16 mark of the third period on a rebound off the back wall that caromed right to a waiting player.

Concordia held a 14-11 edge in shots on goal for third period and then into overtime. That included a 5-1 margin in overtime. St. Thomas wound up outshooting CC 38-31 thanks to a 17-6 advantage in the second period.

After skating to a 2-2 tie through overtime, the teams battled through a three-player shootout – the first in Cobber history.

Concordia went first in the shootout and was stopped on all three attempts. The closest chance came on the second shootout shut when freshman Jordan Christianson beat Fielding but had the puck clang off the crossbar and carom away from goal. The Tommies won the shootout on the final chance when Jordan Lovick faked a shot and then went to his right to slide the puck in the net.

Cobber senior goalie Chris Neamonitis was his usual brick-wall self and stopped 36 shots. Fielding came away with 29 saves in the tie.

There were only three power plays in the game. CC failed to score on their only power play attempt of the night while UST went 1-for-2 in their man-advantage situations.

Concordia and St. Thomas will look to settle the two-game series when they square off on Saturday, Dec. 7 at the Moorhead Sports Center at 2 p.m.