The Big Grebosky Abides In Overtime

MOORHEAD, Minn. (1/16/15)—Last week a Friday night classic against a nationally rankedopponent ended in heart break. This week Jon Grebosky abided.

The freshman made sure there would be no third-period let down as he scored two goals, includingthe game winner in overtime, to lead Concordia past No.14-ranked St. John's 3-2.

Last Friday the Cobbers hooked up with No.2-ranked St. Norbert and were deadlocked at 3-3entering the third period only to give up three unanswered goals and lose 6-3. Concordia onceagain entered the final frame tied with a nationally ranked foe but failed to give up a goal for theremainder of the game and won for the first time in eight conference games against the Johnnies.

The win is the second straight for Concordia. The three-point win for the Cobbers in the leaguepushes CC into a tie for second place in the MIAC standings. Concordia is now 3-2-2 in conferenceplay and only one point behind the league-leading Johnnies. The Cobbers are 8-5-3 in all games.The eight overall wins are the most by any team in the MIAC this year.                      

St. John's loses for the first time in 2015. SJU is now 7-4-4 in all games and 4-2-1 in the MIAC.

The game was played in segments with each team holding the better of play for stretches at atime. St. John's excelled at holding the puck deep in the Cobber end and not allowing CC to breakout of their own end while Concordia held the better of the free flow play when speeding throughthe neutral zone.

One of the key stretches of the game came in a seven-minute span midway through the firstperiod. Cobber senior captain, and leading scorer, Andrew Deters was given a gamemisconduct and a five-minute major for a check in the back when he rode a Johnnie player intothe boards behind the SJU net.

CC was forced to kill a full five minutes, and play the rest of the game, without one of their top penalty killers. The Cobbers rose to the occasion and limited St. John's to only a few shots on goal. The Concordia penalty killers erased the five-minute major only to have the team's second leading scorer Jordie Bancroft get whistled for a minor penalty for roughing and then given a 10-minute misconduct only 20-seconds after Deters' major penalty expired. 

Concordia vs. St. John's Highlights - Jan. 16, 2015

Concordia's penalty kill was nearly perfect for the second straight Johnnie power play and the teams would skate into the first break deadlocked at 0-0.

The Cobbers and Johnnies traded two-goal outbursts in the second period. Jordan Christianson opened the four-goal period when he collected a pass just below the right face-off circle and proceeded to go top shelf with a laser-guided wrist shot. Grebosky and Jeremy Johnson earned the assists on Christianson's second goal of the year.

Concordia doubled their lead at the 10:29 mark when Grebosky scored the first of his two goals. Concordia was able to keep the puck in the SJU zone after a turnover at the blue line. The puck eventually found Grebosky on the left sideboard. He then fired a bad angle shot that found the back of the net. His seventh goal of the year at 10:29 put the Cobbers firmly in the drivers' seat.

Unfortunately for the second straight Friday night, a two-goal lead would hold up against a top 15 team. St. John's showed its pedigree by scoring a pair of goals in the final five minutes of the period to send the game into the third frame all tied at 2-2.

The third period went back-and-forth with no real quality chances by either team. The best opportunity came in the dying seconds when a Johnnie attacker found himself all alone in from the of the CC cage. The St. John's fired a shot as he was falling to the ice and it looked to get past Cobber goalie Jordyn Kaufer but it wound up hitting Kaufer before going into the net and the 60-minute regulation period finished 2-2.

The overtime was played in the neutral zone until Grebosky latched on to the puck just outside the CC blue line. He then rushed through the middle of the ice and into the Johnnie end. Grebosky then decided to beat the SJU defender around the outside. He sped past the SJU defender and then cut hard to the goal under the bottom of the left-side faceoff circle. Grebosky then lifted a backhand which found a short side opening. It was Grebosky's first game-winning goal of the year and eight overall of the season. He is now second on the team in scoring.

Concordia held a 29-18 edge in shots on goal for the game. Grebosky had twice as many as any player in the game. He put up a season-high seven shots on goal and now has had at least three shots in five of the last six games.

Kaufer was solid in the Cobber goal throughout the 62:47 of play and turned aside 16 of the 18 shots he faced to pick up his fourth win of the year. He also lowered his team-leading goals against average to 2.15.

The two teams will square off one more time on Saturday, Jan. 17 when they finish off their key two-game MIAC match-up at 2 p.m. at the Moorhead Sports Center.