Four Straight Gains Series Split

MOORHEAD, Minn. (11/05/16)— Concordia exploded for three goals in the third period and cruised to a 5-1 win over St. John's on Saturday. The Cobbers scored four consecutive goals in the second and third frames to gain the series split with the Johnnies.

The win is the third in the first four games of the year for the Cobbers. Concordia and St. John's now have identical 3-1-0 overall marks and 1-1-0 record in league play.    

After getting severely outshot on Friday night, the Cobber offense sprung to life in the series finale behind the strong leadership of its upperclassmen. Zach Doerring, Jon Grebosky, Jeremy Johnson and Garrett Hendrickson combined for eight points in the game. Junior Dalton Mills added two power play goals for Concordia which included the game winner at 13:08 of the second period.

After a scoreless first period which saw CC outshoot SJU 10-6 it was tenacious play in front of the Johnnie net resulted in the first goal of the game in the second frame. Doerring stuffed home a loose puck under the outstretched leg of St. John's goaltender Andrew Lindgren at 2:10 mark of middle period. Hendrickson and Johnson got the first of their two assists in the game on the play.

Mills added his first goal of the game — the eventual game winner — just 16-seconds into a Cobber power play after the Johnnies were penalized for high sticking. The assists on the goal went to Grebosky and Eddie Eades, a freshman from East Grand Forks who has found his way onto the power play unit after a strong start to the year.

Concordia was in the driver's seat going into the third period, and a quick goal from freshman Quinn Fuchs at the 1:29 mark seemed to let the air out of the St. John's attack. The goal for Fuchs marked his second goal in his two games in his first season of college hockey.

The lone goal for the Johnnies came at 7:52 of the third period when Evan Okeley snuck a shot behind Cobber goaltender Jacob Stephen from the left circle after a scuffle for the puck out front. Stephen was fantastic in net for Concordia, stopping 31 of 32 shots in the game.

The Cobbers regained momentum just over four minutes later on the power play when they put together a tic-tac-toe passing play from Eades-to-Grebosky-to-Mills in front of the net. Mills hit a one-timer in the slot that Lindgren couldn't get to after being Mills was set up by Grobosky in the corner.

JUST MILLSING ABOUT: Junior Dalton Mills notched two power play goals today, bringing his season total to three goals in four games. His three points are already more than he had in all of last season.

BUILD A WALL: The Cobbers continue to get strong goaltending performances as freshman Jacob Stephen notched a 31-save performance to bring his season save percentage to an MIAC-leading .955. The duo of Stephen and fellow freshman Sam Nelson currently rank first and second in the MIAC in save percentage and first and third in goals-against average. 

POWER-FUL PLAY: After going 0-for-5 on the power play in the opening weekend of the year the Cobber power play unit went 3-for-10 in the two games against the Johnnies.  

WHAT'S NEXT: Concordia will travel to Wisconsin next weekend for a matchup with the No.1-ranked   team in the nation. The Cobbers will face off against Wis.- Stevens Point on Friday, Nov. 11 at 7 p.m. CC will then face another solid WIAC opponent on Saturday when they play at Wis.-Eau Claire at 7 p.m. The Blugolds are currently ranked eighth in Division III. Both games will be available via live stream.