Another Overtime Leads To A Four-Point Weekend

MOORHEAD, Minn. (1/25/14)—Fans of the Cobber men's hockey team are getting their money's worth this season. Of the nine games played at the Moorhead Sports Center this season, six have gone to overtime and three have been decided in a shootout.

For the second straight game Concordia rallied to tie Augsburg and then picked up the extra conference point by winning in a shootout. The Cobbers gave up the first two goals of the game against the Auggies on Saturday, netted two unanswered scores and skated through a goalless overtime session before winning the shootout 1-0.

Concordia earns four out of a possible six points on the weekend and move into fifth place in the MIAC standings. Both games vs. Augsburg go into the books as ties which pushes CC's record to 9-6-4 on the season. The Cobbers are 3-4-3 in the league.

The first period would be the most offensive of the afternoon. The teams combined for 28 shots and three goals. Augsburg got on the board first when they scored on their very first shot of the game. A goal at 3:20 of the first period staked the Auggies to a 1-0 lead and came against the run of play after CC had peppered the Augsburg net for four shots in the first two minutes of play.

Augsburg (9-5-3/2-3-3 MIAC) doubled their lead in the 17^th minute of play when they scored an even-strength goal at 16:06. Perhaps the biggest sequence of plays came in the next two minutes of play. The Auggies were called for a "holding the stick" penalty 11 seconds after going ahead 2-0. The Concordia power play unit would make the penalty costly as they scored at 17:16. Andrew Deters netted his sixth goal of the season with the defensive tandem of Caleb Suderman and Charlie Aus earning the assists. For Deters it was the first of his two points in the game.

Concordia would eventually tie the game midway through the second period. Jordie Bancroft came up with the game-tying goal when he scored at 13:33. Deters and Garrett Hendrickson picked up the helpers on Bancroft's eighth goal of the season.

The two goals in the game would push Suderman and Bancroft into the 20-point club for the season. Deters now has a team-high 22 points in the team's 19 games and leads the MIAC in scoring.

The teams would skate through a tight-checking and controlled third period and then through the five minutes of overtime. There was only one power-play opportunity in the final 25 minutes of play. Augsburg didn't convert on the lone man-advantage situation of the third period or overtime.

The extra point for the shootout win was earned by freshman forward Jordan Christianson and senior goalie Kelly Andrew. Chrtistianson scored the only shootout goal when he skated in and just ripped off a shot that sizzled into the top right corner of the net. Andrew stopped all three Auggie shootout attempts. Andrew and Chris Neamonitis, who was the goalie for CC on Friday, stopped all six Augsburg shootout shots in the two games.

Concordia outshot Augsburg 36-34 for the game. Andrew, who was starting only his second game of the season, stopped 32 shots and is now 1-0-1 on the year. John Bretzman made 34 saves in goal for Augsburg and is 6-4-2.

Concordia will take to the road for the next conference series. The Cobbers will play at Hamline on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 31-Feb. 1.