A Conference-Opening OT Thriller

MOORHEAD, Minn. (11/9/23)---If the last 15 games in conference play are anything like the opener, then Cobber fans are in for one whale of a season.

Concordia and St. John's traded goals until senior captain Cole O'Connell won the game with a goal in the first minute of overtime to give the Cobbers a dramatic 4-3 win over the Johnnies.

The win extends Concordia's unbeaten streak to five games to start the year. CC is now 4-0-1 in all games. The last time they were unbeaten in the five games of the season was in the 1999-00 season when they also went 4-0-1 in the first five games. That was also the last time that CC made the NCAA playoffs.

Concordia never trailed in their MIAC opener with St. John's until the fifth minute of the third period. That led to some late-game magic from the Cobbers, with Caden Triggs netting the game-tying goal with 123 seconds left in regulation.

The Cobbers opened the scoring at the tail end of the first period. After dominating the offensive zone time in the opening 18 minutes of play, junior Isaac Henkemeyer-Howe finally got CC on the board when he slammed home a shot from in between the circles after Triggs fed him with a perfect pass from behind the goal.

The lead would be short-lived as the Johnnies started the back-and-forth rollercoaster by tying the game 31 seconds later on a rebound goal from the right post.

Senior Kevin Ness regained the lead for Concordia when he knocked the water bottle off the net from the right faceoff circle. Ness took a drop pass from Bauer Barry and let go a shot over the SJU goalie's shoulder and under the crossbar. The goal at 9:14 was Ness' first of the year.

St. John's (1-3-0) put up the only consecutive goal streak to take a 3-2 lead. They tied the game at 9:12 after CC took the 2-1 lead and grabbed their only lead of the game at 4:53 of the third period.

Concordia was held scoreless on three consecutive power plays in the third period and suddenly looked like SJU would walk out of the Moorhead Sports Center with 3-2 win. Triggs put that notion to bed when he scored his third goal of the year at 17:57.

The Cobbers won the draw to start the OT session and then controlled the puck for the entire 53 seconds. The winner started with senior All-American Liam Haslam held the puck on the boards and was able to dig it out and then fire a pass into the middle of the ice where O'Connell was in full stride, took possession just outside of the Johnnies' blueline and then skated to the top of the right circle. O'Connell unleashed a laser wrist shot that went into the top right corner of the net.

The overtime winner was the first for Concordia since they beat Gustavus at the end of last year on an O'Connell game-winner.

The Cobbers outshot the Johnnies 45-29 in the game with Triggs, Joe Harguindeguy and Ben Luedtke all having a game-high four shots.

Matt Fitzgerald made 26 saves to record his third win of the season. He is now 3-0-1 with a 1.46 GAA.

Up Next: Concordia and St. John's will finish their series on Saturday, Nov. 11 at 7 p.m. at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud.    

CONCORDIA vs. ST. JOHN'S HIGHLIGHTS