55 Out Of 60 Not Enough In 4-2 Loss To St. Mary's

BLAINE, Minn. (11/02/14)—Concordia was five minutes away from posting its second straight win to open the season. Unfortunately for the Cobbers hockey games are 60 minutes, not 55, and they conceded three goals to lose 4-2 to St. Mary's in the annul MIAC Showcase.

The Cobbers were able to hold the Cardinals to only one goal through the first 55 minutes of play but then SMU scored two goals in a span of 2:57 and added an empty net goal with five seconds left to earn the win.

Concordia finishes the conference showcase with a 1-1 record and will now get ready to host the home opener on Thursday, Nov. 6. St. Mary's also ends the opening weekend with a 1-1 record.

The game started out as a carbon copy of Saturday night's opening game win. Concordia opened the scoring in the first period on a goal from freshman Jon Grebosky. Grebosky also scored the first goal in the opener against Augsburg. Grebosky's game starter against St. Mary's came at 13:35 and was assisted by Jordan Christianson who also set up the first goal on Saturday.

The similarities from Saturday to Sunday started to fade at the end of the first frame. Instead of taking a shutout lead into the dressing room, the Cobbers gave up a goal with 1:45 left in the period and had to settle for a 1-1 tie after the first period.

The final similarity between Saturday and Sunday came at the 17:51 mark of the second period when Jordie Bancroft notched his second goal in as many games. Bancroft also notched the second goal against the Auggies on Saturday. Andrew Deters and Garrett Hendrickson both picked up their second assists of the young season.

Concordia held the 2-1 lead through the second intermission and through most of the third period until the Cardinals went on their three-goal spree.

The first five goals in the game were all even-strength tallies. Both teams only had two power play chances in the game and neither team was able to connect on the man-advantage situation.

St. Mary's held a 29-24 edge in shots on goal for the game. Bancroft and Jeremy Johnson had a team-high four shots each. 

Hendrickson was also successful in the face-off circle. He won 10 of the 13 draws he took during the game.

Concordia sophomore net minder Jordyn Kaufer got his second start in goal and continued his solid play. He made 25 saves and stopped 60 of the 64 shots he faced on the weekend.

The Cobbers will now host Wis.-River Falls in the home opener on Thursday, Nov. 6 at 7 p.m. at the Moorhead Sports Center. It will be the first game of the season for the Falcons who were picked to finish second in the WIAC in the annual preseason poll. River Falls returns four of their top five scorers from last year's team which went 15-9-3.