Cobbers Host MIAC Semifinals

MOORHEAD, Minn. (2/27/19)—Concordia will face Augsburg in the semifinal game of the MIAC men's hockey playoff on Saturday, Feb. 29 at 7 p.m. at the Moorhead Sports Center. The Cobbers are making their eighth straight MIAC playoff appearance and ninth in the past 10 years.

Below you will find all the information you need to get ready for playoff hockey.

TICKET INFORMATION: The first 100 Cobber students will be admitted free of charge. Ticket prices for all others are $10 for adults and $2 for any students (5 years old and younger are free). There is no senior discount. MIAC passes will be honored. No other passes will be accepted.

WHAT: MIAC Men's Hockey Semifinals

WHEN: Saturday, Feb. 29 at 7 p.m.

WHERE: Moorhead Sports Center – Moorhead, Minn.

TEAMS: No.3 Seed Augsburg (14-10-1/9-6-1 MIAC) at No.2 Seed Concordia (13-10-2/10-5-1 MIAC)

LIVE LINKS:  Live Video | Live Stats

HOW THEY GOT HERE: For the second straight season Concordia finished with more than 30 points in the league standings. The Cobbers ended the regular season with a 10-5-1 mark in league play which was good for 32 points in the standings. Last year CC had 31 conference points and tied for third place but was the No.4 seed for the tournament. Concordia finished the MIAC by winning three straight games and going 8-2 against conference opponents since Jan. 1.

Augsburg, who was ranked in the Top 15 of DIII for much of the year finished the regular season with 29 conference points. They sat atop the league standings for almost the entire season until they lost their last three games and four of the final five. The Auggies had a chance to win the regular-season title by sweeping St. Thomas last weekend but dropped 5-3 decision in the series opener and then lost 5-4 in the finale at St. Thomas.

RECORDS VS. OTHER PLAYOFF TEAMS: Concordia went 4-3-1 against MIAC playoff teams this year including a 1-1 record against Augsburg in a series that took place at the Moorhead Youth Rink just two weekends ago. The Auggies have a 3-5-0 record against playoff teams.

HOME AND AWAY: Concordia actually has a better record on the road then they do at home this season. The Cobbers went an even .500 at home (5-5-0) while they were 8-5-2 on the road. The Cobbers were 4-4-0 at home against MIAC teams and went 6-6-0 in games played on a Saturday. Augsburg had very similar home and away record this year. The Auggies went 7-4-1 at Ed Saugestad Rink and were 7-6-0 on the road. Augsburg was 6-3-0 on the road in conference games. They started the season 5-0-0 but have dropped their three of their last four on the road vs. MIAC teams. Their only win during that stretch was the series opener with the Cobbers. The Auggies are 6-6-1 in games played on a Saturday.        

PLAYOFF PEDIGREE: Concordia is making its eighth consecutive playoff appearance and ninth in the past 10 seasons. It will be the 16th overall spot in the league playoffs and CC is 10-16-2 all-time in the conference playoffs which included two-game series back in the late 90's. Head Coach Chris Howe has made the conference postseason in nine of his 12 seasons at the helm of CC. The Cobbers are 2-8 in playoff games, and 1-3 in semifinal games, in the Howe era.

The Cobbers have won the MIAC playoff title twice (1987 & 2000) and have advanced to the finals of the league tournament on three occasions. The last time Concordia made it to the MIAC title game was back in 2011 when they fell at Hamline. It will be the first home MIAC semifinal game for the Cobbers since the 2001 season when the league played a 2-game series in the playoffs. Concordia lost both games in the semifinals that year to St. John's. CC is 2-4 all-time at home in the conference playoffs and 5-8-1 in the semifinals.

Augsburg is the 4-time defending MIAC tournament champions. They have won eight straight league playoff games with their last loss in the tournament coming in 2015 when they dropped a 4-3 decision at home in the quarterfinals against Hamline. They have won the conference tournament on five occasions with the only other title coming in 1998. The Auggies are making their 18th overall appearance in the conference tournament and are 13-16-0 in the previous 17 trips to the postseason. Augsburg is 9-5 in MIAC playoff games under head coach Chris Brown. They are 4-2 in semifinal games in the Brown era.

The Auggies are 6-14 overall in semifinal games and 4-16 in MIAC playoff games on the road. Augsburg lost their first 13 road playoff games before beating St. Olaf in a quarterfinal game in OT in Northfield in 2010. The last time that Augsburg was the No.3 seed was in 2018 when they beat St. John's 4-3 in the semifinals and Gustavus 3-1 in the title game in St. Peter.

PLAYOFF MATCH-UPS: The teams have only played one other time in MIAC playoffs and that came back in 2000 with the Cobbers getting the sweep over the Auggies in the semifinals in Moorhead. CC won the first game 7-2 and then came back to take a 3-2 decision to earn the series win and advance to the MIAC title series where they beat St. Thomas to grab the NCAA playoff berth – the last time the Cobbers made the national playoffs.

REGULAR SEASON MATCH-UP: The teams split their regular-season series in Moorhead at the Moorhead Youth Rink. Both games were decided by hot goaltenders. In the opener, Augsburg netminder Daniil Gerasimov stopped all 27 shots he faced to help the Auggies post a 2-0 shutout win. The shutout was Gerasimov's fifth of the year. Augsburg got the game-winning goal on the power play in the final six minutes of the second period and then added the insurance marker at 6:32 of the third. The Cobbers outshot the Auggies 27-22 in the opener.

The second game of the series had Cobber senior goalie Jacob Stephan turning aside 35 shots to help CC to a 2-1 victory. Senior Eddie Eades scored from a bad angle in the third minute of the first period and then Aaron Ryback got the game winner on the power play at 7:16 of the second period. The Auggies were able to get on the board at 14:20 of the third but then Stephan shut the door to come away the series split. Augsburg turned the shot table in the second game as they outshot Concordia 36-31. 

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING: How each team ranks in the MIAC for conference games only.

STAT STARS: For the second straight season Concordia is led by junior All-American Tyler Bossert. Last year Bossert led the MIAC in scoring in conference games with 24 points. He backed that up with a 16-point season this year. Bossert was tied for third in assists with 12 in 16 MIAC games. Senior Aaron Herdt led the Cobbers in goals scored with seven goals. He finished with 12 total points which was tied for 15th in the league. Herdt was second in the league in game-winning goals with three. Herdt had
four total game-winning goals this year and has 10 game winners in the past two seasons.

Augsburg was led in scoring in MIAC play by sophomore Austin Dollimer who didn't score a goal but had 12 assists. His 12 assists tied with Bossert for third in the MIAC. He had at least one assist in nine league games and had three 2-assist games including getting both helpers in the Auggies series opening win over the Cobbers. Junior Gunnar Goodmanson is second on the team with five goals and six assists for 11 points but he leads the MIAC in shorthanded points and goals. He scored a pair of shorthanded goals vs. MIAC foes. Freshman Michael Redmon is tied with Herdt in game-winning goals (3) and is tied for fifth in scoring by a freshman with 11 overall points.    

Cobber starting goalie Jacob Stephan leads the MIAC in all three goaltending categories. He has a 1.63 goals against average in the 11 conference games he played. He also posted a 93.8% save percentage and went 8-2-1 for a 77.3% winning percentage in league play.

Auggie goalie Daniil Gerasimov was second in goals against average, sixth in save percentage and third in winning percentage. He played in 12 of the team's 16 conference games and posted a 2.03 GAA, a 92.1% save percentage and had a 58.3% win percentage.