Stoley Loves St. Peter

ST. PETER, Minn. (2/07/20)--- Alex Stoley loves playing at Don Roberts Ice Arena. The junior defenseman scored his second game-winning goal at Gustavus in the last two series Concordia has played in St. Peter and helped Cobbers post a 3-2 win over the Gusties in the series opener.

Stoley, who also had the game-winning goal in the series opener the last time the teams played a regular-season series at Don Roberts Ice Arena on Feb. 9, 2018, gave Concordia a 3-2 lead with only 1:41 left in regulation.

Stoley's late-game heroics helped Concordia extend its win streak to six games and move to within three points of the lead in the conference standings. The Cobbers are now 10-8-2 overall and 7-3-1 in the MIAC. Gustavus, who was only a point behind the Cobbers in the standings heading into the weekend, loses for only the second time in the last nine games and falls to 9-8-3 in all games and 5-4-2 in the MIAC.

"I was proud of the way the team battled all night long," head coach Chris Howe said. "We overcame some adversity in the second and third periods and didn't get down when Gustavus came back to tie the game in the third."

The Cobbers never trailed on Friday night, and midway through the game it didn't look like CC would need Stoley's late-game winner. Concordia scored a pair of goals in the first period and led 2-0 heading into the back half of the second stanza. Gustavus then answered with a power play goal at 12:03 of the second and another man-advantage strike at 10:39 of the third to level the game at 2-2 and set the stage for Stoley.

Senior Aaron Herdt put Concordia on the scoreboard when he netted his team-leading 11th goal of the year at 10:56 of the opening period. Linemate Tyler Bossert and defenseman Jaret Lalli recorded the assists on the play.

The Cobbers then doubled the lead on a goal from Matt Donnelly with 1:49 remaining in the first period. Blake Berg and Joe Burgmeier had the helpers on Donnelly's first goal of the season.

Concordia outshot Gustavus in the first and third periods but needed the goal in the final two minutes of play to earn the win. Berg and Bossert set up the game winner for Stoley but it was the hustle of senior Quinn Fuchs that gave Stoley a wide open net.

Bossert and Berg combined to get the puck into the Gustie end and fire a shot on net. Fuchs then broke hard to the net to try and get a shot off the rebound. He was ultimately checked into the goalie as the players went towards the puck and the ensuing collision knocked the Gustavus goalie to the ice and away from the puck. Stoley was trailing the play and able to knock the puck into the net and give the Cobbers the 1-goal win.

The Gusties pulled their goalie just after winning the ensuing faceoff but were only able to get one shot on goal in the final 70 seconds of play and CC goalie Jacob Stephan was able to make the stop and preserve the victory.

Stephan made 21 saves in goal for Concordia as the Cobbers outshot Gustavus 32-23. CC had 12 shots in both the first and third periods of play.

Herdt led all players with eight shots on goal and Bossert and Jake Ellingson had four shots each.

The Cobbers went 0-for-3 on the power play in the game while GAC scored both of their goals on the man-advantage and went 2-for-5 on the power play.

INSIDE STAT INFO: The victory gives Concordia 10 wins on the year which marks the 10th straight season that the Cobbers have recorded a double-digit win total.

THE BIG HERDT: Aaron Herdt has now scored a single goal in three straight games and ha recorded at least one point in 13 of the past 14 games. He has 11 goals overall which is tied for second in the MIAC and his 17 total points is ninth best in the league.

BOSS MAN: Junior All-American Tyler Bossert continued hos 2-year assist tear on Friday. Bossert had two helpers in the series opener and now has an MIAC best 19 for the season. He has 19 assists in 19 games played (1.00 apg) which is tied for 10th best in assists per game in 2020. Bossert also has five multiple assists games this year and has had at least one assist in three straight games and 12 of the past 14 contests.
   
UP NEXT: Concordia will look for its third straight series sweep when they play at Gustavus on Saturday, Feb. 8 at 2:05 p.m. The Cobbers have won their las three Saturday games and are 4-5-0 in games played on a Saturday while the Gusties are 3-3-3.