Power Of Three Ends Playoffs

STORY LINE: Concordia fell behind 3-0 in the third period, staged a late-game rally but gave up an energy-draining goal in the final four minutes and lost 5-2 at home to St. Mary's in the quarterfinals of the MIAC playoffs. The Cobbers trailed 3-0 with 12 minutes to play and then cut the lead to 3-2 before the Cardinals tacked on an insurance marker and then an empty-net strike to bring the final total to 5-2.

RECORDS: Concordia finishes the season with a 13-10-3 record while St. Mary's improves to 9-14-3. The Cobbers are now 1-4 in their last five playoff appearances. The Cardinals are 2-2 in playoff games since 2010.

MOMENT THAT MATTERED: Concordia cut the lead to 3-2 on a goal by Tyler Bossert at the 15:07 mark of the third period. Blake Berg and Mario Bianchi earned the assists on the goal that got the crowd of over 400 back into the game. The Cobbers had the momentum in the game and looked like they would have a chance to come away with the game-tying goal. Unfortunately St. Mary's would put the game away when they scored 1:16 later.CC would never recover and fell by three goals.

LATE-PERIOD SINGLE-STRIKES: St. Mary's led 2-0 after two periods thanks to a pair of late-period goals.  Concordia controlled the first eight minutes of the game and outshot the Cardinals 4-0. St. Mary's opened the scoring on a seeing-eye shot from the top of the right faceoff circle at the 13:12 mark of the first period and took a 1-0 lead into the first break. The Cardinals and doubled the lead in the final five minutes of the second period on a scrum in front of the CC goal.

BERG BREAKS THROUGH: Just when it looked like Concordia was going to get shutout, junior Blake Berg brought CC within two goals with a power play goal at 8:51 of the third period. Kyle Siemers and Eddie Eades.were credited with the assists on the opener for Concordia. For Berg it was his second goal of the season.

BOSSERT FINISHES ON TOP: Tyler Bossert's third-period goal was his 11th of the year and he finishes the year with a team-leading 39 points (11g/28a). His point total is tied for 10th in all of Division III.  

SUPER MARIO SENDOFF: Senior Mario Bianchi had an assist on the Cobbers' second goal. He finishes the year with 14 goals and 19 assists for 33 points which is a single-season career high. Bianchi finishes his Cobber career with 90 points in 98 career games.  

POWER PLAY POST ANOTHER: The goal by Berg was the Cobbers' 21st power play strike of the year. CC scored at least one power play goal in five of the last six games.

SPECIAL TEAMS LAST STAND: Concordia held St. Mary's scoreless in their two power play attempts and went 1-for-3 on the PP. CC finishes the year by leading the nation in combined special teams. The Cobbers have a 58.9% success rate on power play and penalty kill combined.

STAT STUFF: Concordia outshot St. Mary's 34-32 including a 16-7 margin in the third period. Junior Aaron Herdt led all players with six shots on goal. Junior goalie Jacob Stephan stopped 27 shots. He finishes the year with a 2.44 GAA and a 92.7% save percentage.

CONCORDIA vs. ST. MARY'S HIGHLIGHTS: