An Emotional Senior Night Celebration

MOORHEAD, Minn. (2/17/17)---It was an emotional Senior Night celebration for the seven Cobber seniors who had combined to play in 663 games for the maroon and gold.

Concordia couldn't overcome four straight goals in the first and second periods and lost 5-2 to Bethel.

Despite the loss the Cobbers still locked up the No.3 spot for the upcoming conference playoffs which means they will stay out of the quarterfinal play-in game and advance straight to the league semifinals.

The game started with a fitting tribute to the seven seniors who have been a huge part of the Cobber program which has gone to the MIAC playoffs in all four seasons.

Concordia (13-8-3/10-5-2 MIAC) started the game on the offensive attack and appeared to take a 1-0 lead in the first half of the opening period but the referee waved off a goal after he lost sight of the puck in the goal crease.

The Cobbers continued to pepper the Bethel goal for the first 12 minutes of the game and even had a 5-on-3 power play for a full 1:12 but couldn't come up with the opening goal of the game.

The Royals netted the first of their four straight goals when they scored on the power play at 13:40. They would add an even strength goal at 16:32 to take a 2-0 lead into the first intermission.

Concordia held the better of the shots in the second period as well but Bethel was more opportunistic as they built a 4-goal lead with a pair of scores in the final six minutes of the period. Like the first frame, the opening goal of the period came on the power play and then they added an even-strength goal late in the period.

The Cobbers finally got on the board at the 10:56 mark on the third period when sophomore Abbie Canton redirected a centering pass from Maddie Ellingson. Canton's one-time shot from the top of the crease came on the power play and it was her sixth goal of the year.

Bethel (8-12-4/5-8-4 MIAC) countered Concordia's power play marker with a goal of their own with the man advantage. The Royals put a stop to any comeback thoughts when they added their fifth goal at 11:59.

Freshman Amanda Flemming would finish off the scoring at 14:29 when she fired home a shot from the top of the crease after a pass from Tori Davis who was behind the BU goal. Jessica Kongelf was also credited with an assist.

Concordia would then pull goalie Brittany Boss for almost four minutes but couldn't get closer than three goals.

The Cobbers outshot Bethel in all third periods and ended the game with a 37-16 edge in shots on goal.

Senior Ellen Rethwisch led all players with eight shots on goal.

Concordia used two goalies in the game. Andrea Klug started the series opener and played the first two periods. She stopped 10 shots. Boss played the third period and made one save.

Bethel was perfect on the power play as they went 3-for-3. CC was 1-for-4 on the power play and had 14 of their 37 shots with the man advantage.

WHAT'S NEXT: Concordia will look to gain some momentum heading into the postseason when they host Bethel on Saturday, Feb. 18 at 2 p.m. at the Moorhead Sports Center. CC will also look to win 11 conference games for the fourth time in the last five years.