Comeback Trail Goes Cold In Series Finale At Eau Claire

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (01/15/22)---There would be no comeback attempt at Wis.-Eau Claire for the Cobbers. On Friday, Concordia trailed 3-0 heading into the final 20 minutes of play, and posted two straight goals to drop a 3-2 decision. On Saturday, the Cobbers trailed 2-0 after two periods, but gave up two more goals and lost 4-0 in the series finale.

It's the first shutout of the Cobbers since Decmeber of 2019 when CC fell 5-0 at home against St. Mary's. 

The Blugolds scored two goals in the middle period and two more in a span of 7:13 in the final frame to earn the series sweep.

Concordia has its season record drop under the .500 level. CC is now 6-72 on the year. Eau Claire wins for the third time in its last five games and moves to 6-9-0.

The teams skated through a scoreless first period with each squad putting up six shots on goal. The Cobbers were 0-for-2 on the power play in the first 20 minutes of the game.

Sophomore goalie Aaron Dickstein, who posted a shutout in his last start last Sunday, extended his shutout streak to 89 minutes before Eau Claire was finally to crack the code with the opening goal of the game at the 9:06 mark of the second period.

The eventual game-winning goal was the first of two in the period, and the first of three straight even-strength goals in the game.

The Blugolds added a power play goal at 18:22 of the third period to bring the final score to 4-0.

Concordia was outshot 23-16 in the final two periods, and 29-22 in the game. Sophomore Cole O'Connell had a game-high six shots for the Cobbers. He now has a team-best 43 shots on goal this year which is tie for eighth best in the league.

Dickstein finished with 25 saves.

The Cobbers were 0-for-5 on the power play, while UWEC scored on one of their only two man-advantage situations for the night.

Concordia is now 1-for-15 on the power play in the last four games. They have a 12.5% success rate on the PP this year which is seventh in the MIAC.                     
  
UP NEXT: Concordia will see its first conference action of 2022 when they travel to St. Peter to take on Gustavus in a 2-game series on Jan. 21-22. The Gusties are 3-7-2 overall and 0-3-1 in the MIAC.