A 3-Goal First, 1 Game-Saving Stop & 3 MIAC Points

BLAINE, Minn. (11/21/14)---Most fans will look at the difference in Concordia's 5-2 win at Bethel as a furious three-goal period by the Cobbers. However, the real difference could have come with four minutes left to go in the third period when freshman goalie Alex Reichle made a game-saving stop on a breakaway while Concordia was on the power play.

Reichle's big save coupled with the three tallies in the opening period gave Concordia their first league win of the year. The Cobbers have only lost once in their last four games and are now 3-3-1 overall and 1-1-1 in MIAC play. Bethel, who started the season with two straight wins, drops to 2-5-0 in all games and are still looking for their first conference victory at 0-3-0.

It was a game for the youngster on Concordia's squad. Besides the heroics between the pipes for first-year netminder Reichle, fellow freshman Dalton Mills came away with his first collegiate goal and sophomore Jeremy came away with his first conference multiple-goal game of his career.

Mills scored the game's first goal when he started the first-period explosion at 2:32. Mills' first collegiate tally was assisted by Tucker Coborn. Coborn would have the helper on the first and last CC goals and would add a third on Johnson's first goal of the game.

The game would stay at 1-0 until midway through the opener. That's when a pair of veteran goal scorers staked Concordia to a 3-0 lead before the first break. Senior captain Andrew Deters scored his fourth goal of the year at 11:50 and then team leading scorer Jordie Bancroft potted his fifth goal of the year just 7-seconds before the end of the first period. Sophomore Garrett Hendrickson earned an assist on both goals.

Concordia held a decisive 14-6 edge in shots on goal in the first 20 minutes of play.

Bethel was forced to play catch up for the final 40 minutes and Concordia was content to trade goals for the remainder of the game. Each team would score once in the second frame and then one more in the third.

The Royals finally beat Reichle to get on the scoreboard at the 9:22 mark of the middle period but then Johnson was quick to answer when he netted his first goal 1:28 later. Mills earned his first collegiate assist and Coborn added the second of his three helpers in the game.

Bethel got to within 4-2 midway through the final period which set the stage for Reichle's big save. The Royals continued to push into the CC offensive end and had several great chances to get within one. The biggest opportunity came when Concordia went on the power play at the 16:09 mark. The Cobbers had a pair of shots on the man-advantage situation before a Royal attacker broke free of the CC defense and went untouched in on Reichle. Reichle stood his ground, made the save and kept the two-goal advantage.

Johnson would add his second goal of the game at 18:32 after BU had pulled their goalie for an extra attacker.

Concordia outshot Bethel 33-31 for the game which marks the fifth straight game that CC has outshot its opponent.

Reichle made 29 saves and has been in the goal for two of the three Concordia wins this season. Matt Rowe stopped 28 shots for the Royals.

The Cobbers were 1-for-4 on the power play while Bethel scored both of its goals on the man-advantage situation.

The same two teams will finish off their two-game series on Saturday, Nov. 22 at 2 p.m.