A Nationally-Ranked Win To Start The New Year

MOORHEAD, Minn.  (1/07/14)—Concordia had a belated New Year's celebration as the rallied from a 1-0 third-period deficit and beat No.13-ranked UW-River Falls 2-1 in overtime.

The win is the third straight for the Cobbers who finished the 2013 calendar year with an 8-3-1 record. CC is now 5-1-1 in its last seven games. UW-River Falls has their seven-game win streak come to an end and loses for only the second time this season. The Falcons are now 9-2-1 on the season. The victory also avenges an early loss to River Falls by Concordia. The Cobbers lost to the Falcons 3-2 in the third game of the season on Nov. 8.  

Concordia showed its rust from having a three-weak break for the Christmas holiday. The Cobbers played a lot of the first two periods in their own defensive end and relied on senior All-Conference goalie Chris Neamonitis to thwart any of the River Falls attacks in the first 40 minutes of play. Neamonitis made 35 saves in the opening two periods and allowed just a single power-play score late in the second period.

Even though Concordia trailed in shots 36-20 after two periods of play, the Cobbers' defense was able to keep the Falcons away from the front of the net with most of the 36 shots coming from outside the face off circles.

The game changed in the third period when the Cobbers started to get their game legs back and started to dial up the intensity on their offensive-zone forecheck.

"The third period came around and we were desperate and we needed to play that way and we did," summarized Jordan Christianson who scored the game-winning goal in overtime.    

 The hard work paid off midway through the final period when CC was able to pinch down and keep the puck in the River Falls end and forced a faceoff to the right of goalie Tanner Milliron. Dan Hrabowych won the ensuing draw and got the puck to Cobber captain defenseman Caleb Suderman. Suderman proceeded to go "D-to-D" with a pass and fellow blueliner David Velich let go with a slapshot that got through the pile of bodies in front and eluded Milliron. It was Velich's second goal of the season. Suderman picked up his seventh helper of the year and continues to lead the MIAC in points. The senior has nine goals and seven assists for 16 points and has at least one point in four straight games. Hrabowych was credited with his team-leading ninth assist.

Both teams had semi-chances in the final nine minutes of play but neither squad could come up with a late game winner. The Cobbers finally scored the decisive goal less than two minutes into the extra period. Tucker Coborn went hard on the forecheck on the near wall and got the puck to Jeremy Johnson. Johnson then relayed the puck to Jordan Christianson who was standing in front of the net. Christianson collected the puck in his skates and was able to put his stick on it and beat Milliron on the ice.  

"It was in my skates and I was lucky to get a stick on it," said Christianson. He now has five goals and five assists on the year.

Concordia outshot the nationally ranked Falcons 13-9 in the third period and then 4-0 in overtime. The Cobbers were outshot 45-37 for the game. Neamonitis made 36 stops to earn his eighth win of the season. He also lowered his season goals against average to 1.82. That is second best in the MIAC and he now ranks 15^th in the nation. Neamonitis has now made 387 saves on the year which is the third most in all of Division III. Milliron stopped 35 shots for River Falls and was saddled with his first loss of the season.

Concordia will continue with non-conference play when they host Marian (Wis.) on Friday, Jan. 10 at 7 p.m. The Cobbers will close out the non-conference portion of its schedule on Saturday when they host UW-Stout at 2 p.m. Both games will be played at the Moorhead Sports Center.