St. Mary's Game 2 Recap

Courtesy of GoCobbers.com, Release: January 28

Gameday Scoring Summary

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	OT	Total
Concordia	0	0	1	0	1
St. Mary's	0	1	0	1	2

Gameday Game Recap

WINONA, Minn.-- With 12:00 left in regulation, Concordia was right where they wanted to be in their series finale against St. Mary's on Saturday in Winona, Minn., they had just scored a power play goal to tie the game and were looking to use their momentum to grab the game-winner.

Unfortunately for the Cobbers, the Cardinal defense stiffened and St. Mary's was able to grab a goal in overtime to come away with a 2-1 victory and complete the series sweep.

The sweep is the first of the year for the Cardinals and puts a damper on the Cobbers' playoff hopes. Concordia entered the series alone in fifth place with a 4-4-2 record in conference play. After the two game series, the Cobbers are now 4-6-2 and tied for sixth place with St. Mary's. Concordia drops to 4-10-3 overall.

St. Mary's uses the two wins to get back into the playoff picture. They are now an identical 4-6-2 in league play and 5-10-2 overall.

Neither team was able to generate a consistent offensive attack for the entire game. St. Mary's put up nine shots in the first period, 14 in the second but then a mere three in the third period. Concordia started slow, firing six shots on net in the first, three in the second but then finished fast with seven in the third.

For the game, the Cardinals held a 29-17 edge in shots on goal. Cobber goalie Jenna Johnson turned aside 27 shots and kept Concordia in the game for the first two periods. Nikki Jung made 16 saves in the game and stopped 46 of the 47 shots she faced in the series to earn the win.

St. Mary's started the scoring with an even-strength goal at 7:48 of the first period. Jenna Roland picked up her third goal of the year to give the Cardinals an early 1-0 lead.

The one-goal margin would hold up until 7:55 of the third period when Hannah Impola slammed home a shot on the power play. Chelsea Hoselton was credited with the assist on Impola's third goal of the year.

After skating through 12 minutes of scoreless hockey to end the game, St. Mary's came out flying in the overtime period. They put up three shots on goal in the extra session and scored at the 2:43 mark on a goal by Melissa Mondo.

Concordia will have an extended break before returning to action on Feb. 10. The Cobbers were supposed to play an exhibition series with the University of Winnipeg next weekend, but that was cancelled after Winnipeg pulled out of the games at the beginning of January.

The Cobbers will play at Bethel on Feb. 10 at 7:00pm at Drake Arena in St. Paul in the first game of a critical two-game conference series for the Cobbers. Bethel is currently two points ahead of Concordia and in fifth place in the MIAC.