Power Play Spot Prowess

STORY LINE: A pair of power play goals in the second period propelled Concordia to a 2-1 win over St. John's in Moorhead. The Cobbers trailed 1-0 after one period but then took the lead with a goal in the first five minutes of the middle frame and then one in the final five minutes of the period as they won their fourth straight series opener in conference play.

RECORDS: Concordia wins for the second time in three games and is now 11-5-2 overall and 7-1-1 in league play. The Cobbers have 23 points in the conference which puts them in second place in the MIAC standings. St. John's falls for the third straight game and has their overall record drop under the .500 mark at 7-8-3. The Johnnies are now 5-3-1 in the MIAC.

BALANCED FIRST PERIOD: The two teams skated through a very even first period. The only difference came in the seventh minute of play when SJU won an offensive zone faceoff, dropped the puck back to the point and then had the ensuing shot tipped in for the only goal of the period. The Cobbers wound up outshooting St. John's 11-8 in the first 20 minutes of play.

SAME BAT TIME, SAME BAT CHANNEL, SAME BAT POWER PLAY RESULT: Concordia was staked to their first power play of the game at the 2:58 mark of the second period. It took CC less than a minute to tie the game. Junior transfer Aaron Herdt entered the offensive zone with the puck on the left wing. He skated to the top of the faceoff circle, cut towards the middle of the ice and fired off a wrist shot that sailed over the glove hand of the Johnnie goalie and into the top right corner of the net. The Cobbers started their second power play of the game at the 14:23 mark of the second period and scored the game-winning goal less than a minute later at 15:17. The second goal came after CC held the puck in the SJU zone. Tyler Bossert fired a pass to the top of the right faceoff circle where Mario Bianchi settled the puck and then fired an identical shot over the glove hand and into the top right corner of the net. The two Concordia goals came from almost the identical spot on the ice and went into the goal in the exact same spot.

M-A-T STARTS BACK UP IN 2019: The M-A-T line left the terminal for the first time in 2019 and produced both the Cobber goals and accounted for five total points in the game. Mario Bianchi had a goal and an assist, while Aaron Herdt had the first goal and Tyler Bossert had a helper on both strikes. The trio has now accounted for 80 of the team's 174 points this year and are three of the top 4 scorers in the MIAC.

CLASS OF 82: Senior Mario Bianchi has 13 goals and 12 assists for 25 points on the season. His goal and point totals are single season career highs for the left wing from Bloomington. Bianchi now has 82 career points.

TOPS IN THE NATION: Sophomore transfer Tyler Bossert continues to lead Division III in assists and he now leads the nation in total points. Bossert had a helper on both goals and now has 25 dimes on the season. That total is one better than Andrew Romano of Geneseo. Bossert also has 33 total points which is one better than a pair of players from out East.

IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING: Bossert's 25 assists are only tied for 10th best by a Cobber in a single season. The school record for helpers in a season is 37 set by John Town in 1990. Bossert is currently tied with former Concordia head coach Steve Baumgartner who had 25 assists in 1979.

STEPHAN STEPS OVER SPEED BUMP: Junior goalie Jacob Stephan returned to his stellar ways in goal after having his worst outing of the year last Saturday in Winona. Stephan made 22 saves and stopped the final 19 shots he faced to earn his ninth win of the year.

UP NEXT: Concordia will look for its third straight conference home series sweep when they host the Johnnies on Saturday, Jan. 20 at 2 p.m. at the Moorhead Sports Center.

CONCORDIA vs. ST. JOHN'S HIGHLIGHTS: