Sweepuary Ends With 11th Straight 10-Win Season
Concordia finished off the month of January by recording its second straight conference sweep and extending its win streak to four games.
MOORHEAD, Minn. (01/29/22)---Concordia finished off the month of January by recording its second straight conference sweep and extending its win streak to four games.
The Cobbers scored the first four goals of the series finale with St. Scholastica and hung on for a 4-2 win. The victory is the 10th of the season for the Cobbers which marks the 11th straight season that CC has posted a double-digit win total.
The 4-game win streak to end January helps Concordia continue their hold on sole possession of second place in the league standings. The Cobbers are 7-2-1 in the MIAC and 10-7-2 overall.
St. Scholastica continues its road woes and drops to 6-9-2 in all games and 3-6-1 in the conference. The Saints are now 1-7-0 in games played away from Mars Lakeview Arena.
The Cobbers carried over the momentum they gained in the 4-1 win on Saturday into the first minutes on Saturday. Cole O'Connell added to his team-leading goal total when he took a perfect pass from Kevin Ness and buried a 1-timer in the top right corner of the net.
O'Connell's 10th of the year gave CC a 1-0 lead after only 61-seconds of the opening period. It was also his 20th overall point which gives Concordia a pair of 20-point scorers on the season.
Parker Simonson would double the lead midway through the first period when he scored the most acrobatic goal of the season for Concordia. Hanson O'Leary won the draw to the right of the CSS goal and linemate Keaton Leininger was able to fire the puck on goal. Leininger got his own rebound and slide the puck into the slot where Simonson had to reach behind to collect the pass. His effort to control the puck put him off-balance and as he was falling to the ice he slid a backhanded shot into the far right corner of the net.
The second goal of the game for CC came at the 7:42 mark of the opening period and was Simonson's fifth of the year.
The Cobbers would hold a 2-0 lead until midway through the second frame when Isaac Henkemeyer-Howe recorded his second goal of the series. He finished off a passing sequence from Brady Tatro and Tanner Breidenbach on the power to give CC a 3-0 lead. The goal was Henkemeyer-Howe's sixth of the year.
Breidenbach gave Concordia a 4-0 lead in the final minute of the second period when he was able to jump up into the offensive zone and bury a 1-timer from between the faceoff circles. O'Connell took a feed from Bossert and waited for Breidenbach to skate down the slot and proceeded to tee up a perfect pass that Breidenbach pounded into the top right corner of the goal.
The tally gave Breidenbach four for the season and earned him his ninth overall point. O'Connell got his second point on the day and Bossert earned his MIAC-leading 20th assist of the year. He now has a league-leading 27 points this season and it bring his career point total to 94. He also has 70 career assists.
Holding a 4-0 lead heading into the third period, the Cobbers thought they would be able to play out the final 20 minutes of play and coast to an easy win. That plan was derailed by the Saints who scored a pair of goals in the first four minutes of the final frame.
St. Scholastica got on the board at the 54-second mark of the third period and then got to within 4-2 at the 3:25 mark.
Concordia was able to stop the offensive push from the Saints and held their 2-goal lead for the final 16 minutes of the game.
The Cobbers outshot the Saints 37-16 in the game and held a 76-43 advantage in the series.
Concordia went 1-for-3 on the power play and only allowed CSS one PP chance which they killed in the third period. The Cobbers have now scored at least one power play goal in four straight games and are 6-for-16 in the past four games.
Senior goalie Jackson Nelson made 14 saves to record his second win of the weekend and eight of the year.
UP NEXT: The Cobbers will have a rare home-and-home series when they face St. John's in a battle of two of the Top 3 teams in the MIAC. Concordia will play at SJU on Thursday, Feb. 3 and then return home to host the Johnnies on Friday, Feb. 4 at 8 p.m. at the Moorhead Sports Center.
