180-Degree Turn In Series Finale With SJU
Concordia won the series opener with St. John's 4-1 on Thursday, but then had the exact same story line go against them in Friday's series finale.
MOORHEAD, Minn. (02/04/22)---Friday night's game between Concordia and St. John's was almost a full 180-degree turn from Thursday night's series opener in St. Cloud.
On Thursday neither team scored in the first, the road team scored a pair of game-winning goals at the start of another period and won 4-1. On Friday that same scenario played out, but this time it was St. John's using their road-team advantage to come away with the 3-goal victory.
Both teams scored a single goal in the second period, before the Johnnies countered with two goals in the first 3-minutes of the third frame to seize control of the game and earn the 4-1 victory.
The loss breaks up the Cobbers' 5-game win streak. CC is now 11-8-2 overall and 8-3-1 in the MIAC. St. John's is now 12-6-2 overall and 6-3-1 in league play. Concordia remains in second place in the conference standings, and SJU strengthens its hold on third place.
The series finale was scoreless through the first 25-minutes of play before St. John's broke on top with an even-strength goal at 5:59 of the second period.
Concordia countered with a goal 2:25 later when freshman Mason Plante pounced on a loose puck in the slot and buried it past the SJU goalie who had a pile of players in front of him in the crease. The goal was Plante's seventh of the season and was set up by Braden Costello.
The teams would skate into the second intermission deadlocked at 1-1 before SJU broke open the game with a power play goal just 32-seconds into the third period, and added their third at the 2:23 mark.
Concordia couldn't get closer than two goals and the Johnnies would finish off the scoring with an even-strength strike at 12:16.
The Cobbers outshot St. John's 38-18 in the game. CC was 0-for-4 on the power on Friday and 0-for-5 in the 2-game series.
Cole O'Connell led all players in the game with five shots on goal. Alex Stoley, Hunter Bjorge, Hanson O'Leary and Isaac Henkemeyer-Howe all had four shots each.
Cobber goalie Jackson Nelson had his 5-game win streak come to an end. He made 14 saves on the night.
UP NEXT: Concordia will finish off the home portion of their regular season when they host Bethel on Feb. 11-12. Both games will be played at the Moorhead Youth Rink.