St. Olaf Game 2 Recap

Courtesy of GoCobbers.com, Release: January 14

Gameday Scoring Summary

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Total
St. Olaf	1	1	0	2
Concordia	2	1	2	5

Gameday Action Pictures

(Click on picture to see larger image)

For a complete Cobber women's hockey photo gallery from the 2005-06 season please go to:

www.cord.edu/dept/sports/photo/wh/index.html

Gameday Game Recap

MOORHEAD, Minn.-- Concordia made the most of every one of their shots on goal against St. Olaf on Saturday and came away with a key 5-2 win.

The Cobbers scored five goals on 13 shots on net as they posted a victory for the third time in the past four games. Concordia is now in fifth place in the MIAC standings, having vaulted four spots over the span of the last four conference games. The Cobbers are now 3-4-1 in the MIAC and 3-8-2 overall. St. Olaf evens their conference record at 4-4-0 and are only one point ahead of the Cobbers in the standings. The Oles are now 6-7-0 in all games.

The game started out on an ominous note for Concordia as St. Olaf scored at the 5:11 mark. The Oles dominated the early part of the first period, using the momentum they gained from the victory on Friday night to put the Cobbers' on their heels in the early going.

The game turned in the final five minutes of the opening period and first 1:12 of the second stanza. The Cobbers were able to score a short-handed goal at 15:05 that infused life into the players and evened the score at 1-1. Alyssa Dahl deftly finished off an odd-man rush when she put home a rebound for her team-leading fifth goal of the season.

The most pivotal goal of the game came with :21 left in the first frame. The Cobber transition offense once again set up the score as they quickly played the puck ahead to take advantage of another odd-man rush. Bre Brian buried the rebound on the play at 19:39 to give the Cobbers their first lead of the series at 2-1.

Concordia then used a goal at 1:12 of the second period to push the lead to 3-1 and put the Oles in a state of shock. Brandie Dunn set up Kelsey Puffe for the goal, the first of her collegiate career.

St. Olaf rallied for a goal at the end of the period when Susannah Brokl scored her team-leading eighth goal of the season at 18:28. The goal came when the Cobbers were reeling from watching freshman Mandi Samuelson break her collarbone after sliding into the end boards. Samuelson was hustling in the Ole offensive zone and tried to dive and make a shot on goal. In the process, she left her feet and slid shoulder first into the boards.

The third period was all Concordia and lone senior Jenna Johnson. Johnson, playing in her final game at home, made sure that the team would hold on for the win. Johnson turned back all 13 St. Olaf shots in the period and stoned the Oles late in the game when St. Olaf had pulled their goalie.

The Cobbers were able to lengthen the lead at the start of the period. Hannah Impola scored her second goal of the year to restore the two-goal advantage less than one minute into the final period. Hannah Valian netted her first collegiate goal on the power play at 8:48 to give the Cobbers a comfortable 5-2 lead with just over 11 minutes left to play.

Johnson finished the game by stopping 29 of the 31 shots she faced. That also included 24 of the 25 she saw in the final two periods. St. Olaf goalie Shannon Herrick made eight saves in the loss.

Another key factor for Concordia was their ability to stay out of the penalty box. less than 24 hours after allowing St. Olaf to have seven power plays and taking eight penalties, the Cobbers were whistled for only two penalties. The Oles were stopped on both man advantage situations while Concordia went 1-for-3 on their power play attempts.

The Cobbers will hope to continue their upward trend in conference play when they travel to St. Paul, Minn. to take on Hamline in a weekend series on Jan. 21-22.