Offense Goes South In Blaine

BLAINE, Minn. (2/19/16)—Concordia picked the wrong time of the year to go scoreless as they whatwere shutout 3-0 at Bethel in a battle of teams tied for second place in the MIAC.

The Cobbers missed a chance to tie for the conference lead with one game remaining in the regular season as league-leading St. Thomas battled to an overtime tie with St. Olaf. Concordia is now two points behind the Royals and Tommies in the MIAC standings with 22 points. CC is 13-10-1 overall and 11-6-0 in league play.

Bethel inches above the Cobbers and is now 13-9-2 overall and 11-4-2 in the MIAC.

The series opener was a clean affair with only three penalties whistled in the entire 60 minutes of play. Concordia drew two infractions while Bethel only had one penalty in the game. The Royals went 1-for-2 on the power play while the Cobbers failed to score on their only man-advantage chance.

The Royals held the better of the zone play in the first period. Bethel outshot 14-3 in the first 20 minutes of play and had a 14-3 edge in shots in the first period. BU picked up the eventual game-winning goal at the 15:19 mark of the frame.

The teams would skate through a scoreless second period before Bethel netted two insurance goals in the final 20 minutes to earn the three-goal win. While the Cobbers failed to score to get back in the game in the final two periods, they did outshoot the Royals 23-21 for the final 40 minutes of play.

Spurred on by their offensive first period, Bethel held a 35-26 margin in shots for the game. Concordia had a pair of players with four shots each in the game. Sophomore Tori Davis and junior Ellen Rethwisch both had four shots on goal.

Cobber goalie Andrea Klug made 32 saves in the game. It is only the second time this season that the Cobbers have lost when Klug makes at least 30 stops in a game. CC is now 4-2 in games they allow more than 30 shots on goal.

GOOD NEWS BEARS
The good news for the Cobbers is that neither team has swept the season series since the 2010-11 season. Concordia has only been swept by Bethel on two occasions in the 17-year history between the two teams.   

WHAT'S NEXT
The Cobbers and Royals finish off the regular season when they play on Saturday at 2 p.m. at the National Sports Center in Blaine. Concordia can secure the No.2 seed with a victory while a loss will more than likely drop CC into the No.4 spot for the upcoming playoffs.