Now That's Overtime Entertainment

MOORHEAD, Minn. (1/10/14)—All that was missing was a marriage proposal on the Jumbotron and a bunch of dog-riding monkeys. Concordia skated to a highly entertaining 4-4 overtime with Marian in a game that featured a little bit of everything including a penalty shot with no time on the clock at the end of the extra period.

The Cobbers were able to erase a two-goal deficit, received a hat trick from freshman Garrett Hendrickson, netted the game-tying goal with less than five minutes left in the final period and scored a trio of power play goals. All those elements helped Concordia up its unbeaten streak to four games.

Concordia is now 9-3-2 on the season. Marian posts an overtime tie for the second time in the last three games. The Panthers skated to a 4-4 tie with No.1-ranked Adrian last Friday night. Marian is now 4-8-2 on the season.

The Cobbers were stunned in the first period when the Sabres scored a pair of goals to take a 2-0 lead. The second goal came at 15:28 and started a flurry of scoring that saw four goals scored in the final 4:32 of the first period. Hendrickson scored the first of his three goals just 17-seconds after Marian made it 2-0. He scored his second goal on the power play at 17:56 to tie the game at 2-2. Andrew Deters and Jeremy Johnson were credited with the assists. It would be Deters first of three assists on the night.

Marian took a 3-2 lead less than a minute later to finish off the four-goal barrage and take a 3-2 lead into the first intermission. The five goals scored in the first period is the most in an opening period in any game this season.               

The scoring spree stopped in the second period as the teams only scored one goal each. Hendrickson scored his third straight goal for the Cobbers to tie the game at 3-3. Deters and Jordie Bancroft earned the assists on Hendrickson's sixth goal of the season.

Like Hendrickson's second goal that tied the game at 2-2 at the end of the first period, the tie score didn't last long. The Sabres once again took a one-goal lead when they scored their fourth goal of the game at the 6:23 mark.

Concordia had a decided 14-5 edge in shots on goal in the second period but could never come up with the game-tying goal.

CC would have to wait until the final five minutes of the third period to get even with the Sabres. The game-tying goal came on the power play and featured a laser-guided wrist shot to the top shelf of the net. Deters and Hendrickson worked the puck to Cobber captain Caleb Suderman at the left point. Suderman took one stride toward the net and then sniped a shot from the top of the circle that nestled in the right top corner of the net. It was Suderman's team-leading 10^th goal of the year. He continues to lead nation in goals for a defenseman and has now put up at least one point in five straight games.

Marian had the best two chances of the overtime session. The first opportunity came early in the OT when a Sabres player took a shot from the blue line and Cobber goalie Chris Neamonitis kicked out his right pad to make the save. The rebound came straight out to Ben Morgan who had already scored a pair of goals in the game. Morgan's uncontested shot with Neamonitis on the ice went wide left.

The second chance came at the very end of overtime. A Marian forward gained control of the puck in the neutral zone with 5-seconds left in the period and went around the Cobber defense to gain a breakaway. One of the Cobber defenseman then threw his stick at the puck to try and stop the goal-scoring chance. The referee then awarded the Marian player a penalty shot with no time left on the clock.

Neamonitis saved his best for last as he challenged the shooter on the penalty shot and then dropped to the ice to block the attempted five-hole shot.

Concordia outshot Marian 42-24 for the game. Neamonitis stopped 20 shots and is now 8-3-2 on the year. Mike Baldwin made 38 saves for Marian.

The Cobbers went 3-for-5 on the power play and have now scored seven power play goals in the past four games. CC is 7-for-13 in man-advantage situations during that stretch. Concordia currently has a 29.8% success rate on the power play for the season and is ranked in the top 10 of the nation. The Cobber penalty killers held Marian scoreless in their three power-play attempts in the game.

Concordia will finish off the non-conference portion of their 2013-14 schedule when they host UW-Stout on Saturday, Jan. 11 at 2 p.m.