Christmas Presents Come Early To Cobbers

BLAINE, Minn. (12/10/13)—Concordia got a pair of Christmas gifts in their last game of 2013. The Cobbers received more goals than they had scored all season long and unwrapped their second straight holiday tie in a 2-2 overtime deadlock at Bethel in a non-conference game on Tuesday.

The Cobbers had not scored more than one goal in any game this season and used goals from a pair of former Bismarck stars to push their record to 1-6-3 heading into the Christmas break. Bethel finishes off the 2013 calendar year with a 6-2-1 record.

Concordia also finishes off a stretch of 10 games where every one of their opponents was ranked in the top 18 of the nation. The Royals were in the "others receiving votes" category in this week's USCHO.com poll and would be ranked 14^th if the poll would be pushed out to the top 15 in the nation.

The Cobbers received goals from a pair of players from Bismarck, N.D. and it was the first goal of the season for both players. Freshman Bri Flynn opened the scoring when she netted her first collegiate goal at 8:01 of the first period. Her goal, assisted by defenseman Libby Fransdal, would give CC a 1-0 lead and would last until the second period.

Concordia outshot Bethel 8-7 in the opening 20 minutes of play.

The Royals then tied the game and took a 2-1 lead with a pair of goals in the middle frame. BU tied the game with a power play goal at 5:30 and then grabbed their first lead of the game at the 16:25 mark.

The Cobbers would need almost the entire third period to come up with the equalizer. Junior captain Madison Gendreau gave Concordia their season-high second goal of the game at 15:59 when she finished off a play from Kaya Baker and Chelsey Petrich. The game-tying goal was a trifecta of firsts as it was the first goal of the year for Gendreau and first collegiate helpers for Baker and Petrich.    

Both teams had five shots on goal in the third period and then one more in the overtime session. By virtue of their 12-9 advantage in the second period, Bethel wound up outshooting the Cobbers 25-23 for the game.

Concordia sophomore goalie Madison Denny turned aside 23 shots while Royal goaltender Caitlin Dantzscher made 21 saves.

The Cobbers will now have a full four-week break before returning to action on Thursday, Jan. 9 when they host Concordia (Wis.) at 7 p.m. at the Moorhead Sports Center.