20 Minutes To Forget

MOORHEAD, Minn. (2/05/16)—The first two periods couldn't have gone better. The last period couldn't have gone worse. Concordia gave up five goals in the third period and had a 3-0 lead evaporate in the final 20 minutes against St. Thomas.

The Cobbers skated to a 3-0 lead through the first 40 minutes of play but then allowed five unanswered goals and lost 5-3.

The loss continues the string of tough losses at home for Concordia. The Cobbers are now 2-4-1 at the Moorhead Sports Center this season. CC falls to 8-10-2 overall and 6-4-1 in the MIAC. St. Thomas is now 10-6-4 in all games and 7-2-2 in conference play.

The two teams went end to end in the first 16 minutes of the opening period. Both squads created good chances and had extended zone time but both teams were stymied by hot goalies and shooting misses.

The tone of the first two periods changed in a span of 59 seconds at the end of the first frame. Concordia scored twice in that span and looked to take command of the game with a 2-0 lead.

Dalton Mills opened the scoring when he tipped in a Bryan Kronberger from the left point. Mills was standing between the faceoff circles and redirected the shot from waist level. It was Mills' first goal of the season.

The Cobbers were then sent on the power play at 17:07 and scored 8-seconds into the man-advantage situation. The puck found Jordie Bancroft between the circles and he let fly a shot that went under the crossbar. It was Bancroft's eighth goal of the season with Jordan Christianson and Jordan Krebsbach getting the assists on the play.

The Concordia defense and stellar goaltending from sophomore goalie Alex Reichle kept the Tommies off the board for the first 40 minutes of play.

Jon Grebosky continued his scoring streak when he notched his team-leading 11th goal of the season at the 13:31 of the second period. Grebosky took control of the puck inside the Tommie blue line skated in all alone on goal and "roofed" his wrist shot over the shoulder of the UST goalie.

The season-high crowd of 501 was feeling the high energy level inside the Moorhead Sports Center heading into the third period but then St. Thomas drained the enthusiasm with three goals in 5:56.

St. Thomas started their five-goal scoring spree at 3:55 then added the second just 31-seconds later at 4:26. The Tommies tied the game at 9:51 and they were rolling. They would add the game winner at 12:32 and then tacked on a fifth at 14:02 to complete their five-goal third period,

St. Thomas held a slight 29-27 edge in shots for the game. The Cobbers outshot UST 21-16 in the first two periods but then was on the wrong end of a 13-6 margin in the final period.

Grebosky had a team-high four shots on goal and now has 53 for the season.

Concordia played two goalies in the game. Reichle played the first 54:02 and stopped 24 shots while Donald Oldreive played the final 4:17 and didn't have to make a stop.

WHAT'S NEXT: Concordia will look for a split in the series when the two teams square off on Saturday, Feb. 6 at 2 p.m. at the Moorhead Sports Center.