Threes Lead To Fifth Which Gives Cobbers Fourth

MOORHEAD, Minn. (1/31/14)—Concordia used a three-goal third period and scored three power play goals to beat Hamline 6-3 and come away with their fifth straight victory. The six goals scored by the Cobbers are the most in a single game this season.

The Cobber goal rush helped Concordia jump into a tie for fourth place in the league standings. CC was in eighth place before they started their current five-game win streak. Concordia is now 7-8-3 overall and 6-4-1 in the league.

Concordia started their six-goal outburst in the second minute of the first period. Kaya Baker scored her third goal of the season at the 1:02 mark on an assist from Anna Westmark. Westmark would earn the assist on the second goal of the game for CC and record three points on the night.

Hamline (3-12-2/0-9-2 MIAC)  evened the game at 1-1 five minutes later before the Cobbers rattled off a  goal at the end of the first period and another at the start of the second to jump out to a 3-1 lead. Amber Schaack scored on the power play at 16:02 after the Pipers took three consecutive penalties in the final six minutes of the opening frame and then Bri Flynn scored the first of her two goals just 28-seconds into the middle period. Flynn's goal was assisted by Cassey Petrich and Libby Fransdal. For Fransdal it was her team-leading seventh assist of the season and sixth in the last five games.

The Pipers would tie the game at 3-3 with a pair of goals 55-seconds apart in the second period. The second tally of the pair capped a bizarre scoring scenario. Concordia appeared to have scored a fourth goal just prior to the Piper's game-tying tally but the referee waved off the goal because he said it failed to cross the goal line. While CC was celebrating the possible 4-2 lead, Hamline took the puck down the ice and wound up scoring on the subsequent flurry in front of the Cobber goal. Instead of being up 4-2, Concordia looked up at the scoreboard which read 303 with 11:45 left in the second period.

Concordia made sure the second-period slip up wouldn't be a factor in the game as they netted three goals in a span of 5:26 to start the final frame. Flynn scored the game-winning goal at the 1:07 mark when she let fly a wrist shot that sailed into the top corner of the net. It was Flynn's team-leading fifth goal of the season. It was also Concordia's third power play goal of the game which is a season high. CC has now scored seven power play goals in their last five games after scoring only three in their first 13 games of the year. Kelsey Vandegrift then made the score 5-3 with a wraparound at 5:45 and then Westmark put the game out of reach with her third point of the night at 6:33.

The teams were dead even in shots for the back-and-forth affair. Each team put up 31 shots on the night. Cobber goalie Andrea Klug stopped 28 shots to record her fourth win of the season. HU netminder Sam Stark turned aside 25 shots in the losing effort.

Concordia was 3-for-4 on the power play while Hamline went 1-for-4 in their man-advantage situations.

The Cobbers will put their five-game win streak on the line when the same two teams finish off the series on Saturday, Feb. 1 at 2 p.m.