A Very Young Streak-Breaking Sweep

ST. CLOUD, Minn. (11/07/15)—It took Concordia 15 years to end their winless streak at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud. It took the Cobbers less than 24 hours to get their second win at the home of St. John's.

Concordia scored a pair of goals in the second period, got the game-winning goal from freshman Jake Stilwell three minutes into the third period and received another strong goaltending performance from sophomore Alex Reichle as the Cobbers outlasted the Johnnies 3-2 on Saturday.

A very positive trend continued for Concordia as they upped their overall record to 3-1-0 on the year. The Cobbers received goals from two freshmen and a sophomore as they swept the Johnnies and started the MIAC season with a perfect 2-0-0 mark.

The sweep over SJU is the first at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center since the 1999-00 season and only second in the history of the facility.

Concordia has now scored 11 goals in their four games this year and nine of those have come off the sticks of either freshmen or sophomores. It gets even better for the future of the Cobbers as six of the goals in 2015 have been produced by first-year players.

After a scoreless first period, sophomore Jon Grebosky got Concordia on the board with a goal in the fifth minute of the middle frame. His second goal of the season was assisted by Ben McWilliams and Jordie Bancroft and was the first of two in a span of 34 seconds.

Freshman Mario Bianchi doubled the Cobbers' lead when he netted his second goal in as many games at the 5:21 mark. Zach Doerring and Charlie Aus earned the helpers on the goal that gave the momentum to Concordia.

St. John's scored on the power play in the final minute of the second period to get to within one but then the Cobbers responded with their third goal of the game at 2:59. Once again it came from a Kiddie Cobber. Stilwell scored his first collegiate goal at 2:59 of the final period. The goal would be the eventual game winner and was assisted by sophomores Shane Gingera and Bryan Kronberger.

The Johnnies got back to within one at 5:03 but that is when Reichle, the sophomore goalie, would shut the door. He faced 17 shots in the decisive third period and stopped 16. He finished with 36 saves in the game and kept his goals against average at 2.00. He has started all four games for CC and has a 93.5 save percentage.

St. John's outshot the Cobbers 38-28 for the game. Jeremy Johnson had a game-high eight shots and Grebosky put up five.

Concordia was 0-for-2 on power play chances while the Johnnies scored both of their goals on their three PP opportunities.

WHAT'S NEXT: Concordia will host their home opener next weekend. The Cobbers will square off against a pair of Top 10 WIAC opponents.  CC will face No.2-ranked Wis.-Stevens Point on Friday, Nov. 13 at 8 p.m. and then No.8-ranked Wis.-Eau Claire on Saturday, Nov.14 at 7 p.m.