Regular-Season Finale Walk Through

MOORHEAD, Minn. (2/20/16)—With nothing to play for except their final regular-season record, Concordia gave up two goals in the first 10 minutes of play, three straight scores to start the game and lost 4-1 to Bethel in the regular-season finale.

The Cobbers had clinched a spot in the MIAC postseason on Friday night and were locked in to the No.4 seed for the conference playoffs and responded by putting up big shot numbers but not big goal numbers. Concordia had 49 shots on goal on Saturday but could only manage a single score.

Concordia finishes the regular season with a 10-13-2 overall record and an 8-7-1 mark in the MIAC.  

The Cobbers put up an astronomical 58 shots on goal on Friday but couldn't shake the Royals and won by single goal. Bethel used the momentum of scoring a goal at the buzzer of the third period in the series opener to gain control of the finale in the first minute of play.

The game wasn't even 30-seconds old before Bethel struck for the opener. The Royals then doubled their lead before the midway point of the first frame when they scored a shorthanded goal at 9:19.

The teams were even in shots on goal at 12-12 in the first 20 minutes of play. That changed dramatically in the final two periods where the Cobbers held a 37-13 edge.

Unfortunately the decided edge in shots didn't translate to the scoreboard where BU came away with a 2-1 lead in the final 40 minutes.    

Bethel scored their third straight goal to start the game just before the end of the second period.

Concordia tried to stage a furious comeback in the third period but super-sized Royal goalie Matt Rowe held his ground and stopped blast after blast.

Senior Ben Gislason finally broke the scoreless drought for CC when he fired a shot from the point that eluded Rowe. Gislason's first goal of the season came at the 8:18 mark and set the stage for a flurry of action in the BU zone.

Jordie Bancroft was credited with the assist on the even-strength goal.

The Royals capped the scoring with a final score at 17:46.

Concordia outshot the Royals 49-25 for the game. Tucker Coborn led all players with six shots while the trio of Jordan Krebsbach, Mario Bianchi and Jeremy Johnson all had five shots on goal.

Cobber sophomore goalie Donald Oldreive suffered his first career loss in four collegiate starts. Oldreive made 21 saves and is now 2-1-1 for the season.

SENIOR WEEKEND WARRIOR
Senior Ben Gislason was one of the lone offensive bright spots for the Cobbers over the weekend. Gislason scored the lone goal on Saturday and had an assist on Friday. The two points in the series were the first points of the year for Gislason and he nearly matched his career point total.

20-POINT PATRON
Jordie Bancroft had an assist on the lone Cobber goal and now has 20 points on the season. He has at least one point in seven of the past nine games. Bancroft's recent scoring trend has brought him to 20-point mark for the fourth time in his career in maroon and gold. Bancroft now has 48 goals and 47 assists for 95 points for his stellar career at Concordia. The last player to eclipse the 1000-point mark was Marc Terris back in 1994. Terris finished with 107 career points and had a brief stint on Canada's national team. 

FINAL SERIES FRUSTRATION
The one goal scored by Concordia is the fewest of the season in a conference game. The Cobbers only other game where they scored one, or fewer, goals came against nationally ranked Wis.-River Falls. The last time the team was held to one goal in an MIAC game came at the end of last year when they tied St. Olaf 1-1 at home. And that was also the final series of the regular season.  
    
WHAT'S NEXT
Concordia will head to the postseason as the No.4 seed in the conference tournament. The Cobbers will host No.5 seed Hamline in the quarterfinal game on Thursday, Feb. 25 at 7:30 p.m. at the Moorhead Sports Center. The Pipers, who are the defending playoff champions, earned their way into the postseason on the final day of the regular season. Hamline is 9-11-5 overall and 6-8-2 in league play. The Pipers took five of six points with Gustavus over the weekend and have won just once in the past four games.  CC and HU split their regular-season series in St. Paul. Hamline won the opener 6-4 before Concordia claimed the finale 7-3.