First Period Trio Leads To Sweep

STORY LINE: Concordia used the strength of three first-period goals to beat St. Olaf 4-2 and earn the series sweep over the Oles. The Cobbers got a trio of goals 12:09 apart midway through the opening period to seize control of the game and cruise to the 2-goal victory.

RECORDS: The win pushes Concordia's unbeaten streak to five games. The Cobbers are now 6-2-2 overall and 3-0-1 in MIAC play. The 5-game unbeaten streak is the longest since midway through the 2016-17 season. St. Olaf falls for the fourth straight game and is now 3-6-1 in all games and 1-4-1 in the MIAC.

BOSSERT'S A BUZZIN': Sophomore Tyler Bossert had a pair of assists and added the empty-net goal to post a 3-point game. The three points gives him 19 for the season which is tops on the team and pushes him into the conference lead. Bossert has at least one point in nine of the 10 games this year and has six multiple-point games. Bossert has 15 assists on the season which also lead the MIAC and is tied for second in all of Division III.    

GIVE HIM THE KNUCKLE PUCK: Concordia captain Tanner Okeson scored the opening goal of the game when he fired a wrister from inside the blue line that dipped and went under the pads of the St. Olaf goalie who dropped to his knees to make the save. The goal was Okeson's second of the season.

ROOKIE LEADER: Freshman Jacen Bracko continues to put up points. Bracko scored Concordia's second goal at the 14:15 mark of the first period. He has now scored in three straight games and has nine points on the season which is second in the MIAC among newcomers.

SNIPE MASTER: The final first-period goal was recorded by Aaron Herdt. Herdt got the puck just inside the right faceoff circle, skated to his left and then snapped home a laser into the top right corner as he was going away from the net. Bossert earned the assist on the eventual game-winning goal. Herdt has also scored in three straight games and has at least one point in nine games. He has 15 total points for the year which is third on the Cobbers and tied for third in the MIAC.   

M-A-T TOTALS KEEP ADDING UP: Concordia's M-A-T (Mario Bianchi-Aaron Herdt-Tyler Bossert) line keep racking up incredible numbers. The Cobbers' top trio has combined for 23 goals and 29 assists for 52 points. The three have scored 65.7% of the team's total goals.  
   
STEPHAN STEPS UP: Concordia watched as St. Olaf came back in the second period and scored two goals. CC then blanked the Oles in the third period thanks to the solid play of goalie Jacob Stephan. Stephan stopped all 10 shots he faced in the third period and finished with 34 saves. He continues to be second in the MIAC in both goals against and save percentage. Stephan is now 5-1-1 on the year.     

STAT STUFF: Concordia outshot St. Olaf 44-36 in the game. The 44 shots is a season high – less than 24 hours after posting a season high 40 shots on Friday. The Cobbers outshot the Oles 80-59 for the series. Neither team scored on the power play in Game 2. CC went 0-for-3 on the PP while the Oles were 0-for-4.

PENALTY KILL PROPS: The Cobbers are now second in the MIAC in penalty kill percentage. Concordia has killed off 90.2% (37-for-41) of their penalty kill chances and hasn't allowed a power play goal in the past five games which covers 21 chances.        

UP NEXT: Concordia will host a rare midweek game when they square off against Milwaukee School of Engineering in a non-conference game on Wednesday, Dec. 5 at 7 p.m. The Engineers are 2-5-1 on the year but posted a huge win over No.1-ranked St. Norbert on Nov. 3.   

CONCORDIA vs. ST. OLAF HIGHLIGHTS: