Playoff Hopes Clipped By Cardinals

MOORHEAD, Minn. (2/17/12)—Concordia gave up four unanswered goals and lost 5-1 to St. Mary's at home on Friday. The defeat knocks the Cobbers out of contention for the playoffs. Concordia is now 1-7-1 in their last nine league games while the Cardinals win on the road for the first time all season.

Concordia (9-11-4/5-7-3 MIAC) had the better of the play at the start of the game and had a couple of chances to score before St. Mary's notched the opener on an odd-man rush at the 8:03 mark of the opening frame. The Cobbers appeared to get the break they needed in the "playoff style" game when sophomore defenseman Caleb Suderman skated the puck to the SMU blue line and let go of a shot with less than 10 seconds to play in the period. Suderman's harmless shot hit the Cardinal goalie in the shoulder and then bounced up in the air before coming down and hitting the netminder in the back and then rolling into the net. Suderman's unassisted goal on the power play at 19:53 was his second tally of the season.

The game unraveled for the Cobbers in the second period when CC opened the frame by taking two consecutive penalties. St. Mary's took advantage of the opportunity by scoring on the second power play at 4:08. That would be the first of three goals in the period. The Cardinals then scored at 16:04 and then again at 17:05 to put the game out of reach.  

Concordia made one final push in the first half of the third period but could never find the net. CC had several quality chances including a clear breakaway but could not get the puck past SMU goalie Andy Scheib. St. Mary's finished off the scoring with their third power play goal of the night. After CC had been whistled for a 5-minute major penalty, the Cardinals scored their final goal of the game at 16:11.

St. Mary's (5-17-2/2-11-2) scored three times on their seven power play attempts while CC was 1-for-4 on the PP.

The Cardinals outshot the Cobbers 32-25 in the game including 27-13 in the final two periods after Concordia outshot SMU 12-5 in the opener. Concordia split the goaltending duties. Chris Neamonitis played the first 36:04 and made 13 saves while Kelly Andrew finished off the game and stopped 14 shots.   Scheib stopped 24 of the 25 shots he faced in goal for St. Mary's and earned his third win of the season.

Concordia and St. Mary's will finish off the 2012 season when they play the series finale on Saturday, Feb. 18 at 2 p.m. at the Moorhead Sports Center.