Iron Cup Comes Home

ST. PAUL, Minn. (2/08/14)—Concordia used a pair of third-period goals and strong goaltending in the waning minutes to beat St. Olaf 3-2 and gain control of the Iron Cup.

The Cobbers broke open a 1-1 tie in the final period of play to win the traveling trophy between the two teams which is presented to the winner of the total goals series every year. The win also keeps Concordia unbeaten in its last eight games. CC is 7-0-1 during that stretch and now owns a 9-8-4 overall record on the season. The Cobbers are currently 8-4-2 in the MIAC and need only one more point in their final four regular-season games to clinch an MIAC playoff spot.

The game looked like it was going to be a carbon copy of Friday night's 1-1 tie with the teams skating up and down the rink without being able to get through to the net and create quality chances.

St. Olaf (5-15-1/5-8-1 MIAC) got on the board first when a shot from just inside the blue line was inadvertently tipped by a Concordia defenseman and slid past CC goalie Madison Denny. The Cobbers then tied the game on one of the prettiest individual efforts of the season. Freshman Kaya Baker broke free on the right wing and then did her best Sidney Crosby impersonation by cutting to the middle of the net and completely faking out the St. Olaf goalie before sliding the puck in the empty far side of the net. It was Baker's fourth goal of the season.

The teams skated through a scoreless second period but midway through the middle frame Concordia started to get more offensive zone time and started to create more chances after setting up inside the Ole end. Concordia was stymied on five different occasions by St. Olaf goalie Cassie Alexander on a power play late in the frame.

Concordia would finally break the 1-1 deadlock with a goal in the second minute of the final period. Sophomore Cassey Petrich scored her first collegiate goal on the power play on assists from Madison Gendreau and Abby Taffe. The Cobbers continued the offensive zone blitz and were rewarded at the 9:21 mark when Bri Flynn's shot from between the faceoff circles found the back of the net. It was Flynn's team-leading eighth goal of the year and Kristin Dreschel and Kelsey Vandegrift were credited with the assists.

St. Olaf made sure the game would finish with the fans on the edge of their seats. The Oles scored on a wraparound with 4-minutes left in regulation and the final four minutes of play were spent in the CC end with Denny having to come up with a couple of huge game-saving stops.

Thanks to a 15-4 edge in shots in the second period, Concordia wound up outshooting St. Olaf 39-24 for the game. Denny turned aside 22 shots to record her fourth win of the season while Alexander made 26 saves in the losing effort.

Concordia will hit the road in search of their playoff-clinching point when they face St. Mary's in a two-game series in Winona on Feb. 14-15.