Goal King Cole Rescues 2 Huge Conference Points
Cole O'Connell scored with 1:32 left in overtime to give Concordia a 4-3 win over Gustavus. O'Connell's second goal of the game helped CC earn two big MIAC points in the standings.
MOORHEAD, Minn. (2/11/23)---Concordia changed the ending to an almost identical story line from Friday and came away with a 4-3 overtime win against Gustavus in the series finale.
The Cobbers had a 2-goal lead erased in the final 26-minutes of both games, but unlike the series opener on Friday when they fell in a shootout, Concordia was able to get the game winner in the 5-minute, 3-on-3 extra session.
Junior Cole O'Connell provided the heroics as he scored twice on Saturday, including the game winner with 1:32 left in the overtime.
The win give Concordia a Himalayan-large two points in the MIAC standings. The Cobbers now have 20 league points which is tied for fourth place in the standings.
Concordia ups its overall record to 10-11-2 on the year, and is now 7-6-1 in conference play.
The Cobbers never trailed in the 2-game series. Like Friday, Concordia scored the opening goal of the game and then had the Gusties play catch-up for the remainder of the game.
Caden Triggs opened the scoring for the second straight game. He posted his seventh goal of the year at the 2:28 mark. Liam Haslam recorded the first of his two assists on the opener. Jacen Bracko also got credit for a helper.
The Cobbers wasted little time in doubling the lead. Ben Luedtke gave CC a 2-goal lead just 88-seconds later when he tipped home a centering pass from Kevin Ness. The strike was his sixth of the year, and Ness has now earned at least one point in six of the past eight games.
Gustavus (3-17-3, 1-11-2 MIAC) got one back on a power play at the 18:26 mark of the opening period, and the teams went to the break with CC holding a 2-1 lead.
O'Connell reclaimed the 2-goal lead for CC when he offered up his first snipe of the game in the fourth minute of play in the second period. Luedtke and Cole Lehmann were credited with the assists on O'Connell's sixth goal of the season.
The game then downshifted and went into a snail's pace. The second period featured several penalties and a boatload of stoppages. When the dust settled on the period, Gustavus had tied the game at 3-3 with a pair of goals less than a minute apart beginning at 14:44. The second goal was the Gusties' second power play tally of the game.
The teams skated through a scoreless third period with the Cobbers missing a chance to win it in regulation by going scoreless in two power play opportunities.
O'Connell won the game in the 3-on-3 overtime when he and teammates Haslam and Hanson O'Leary kept possession of the puck in the Gustie end. O'Connell ended up with the puck at the top of the faceoff circles after the trio successfully weaved the puck around the GAC defense.
O'Connell then snapped off a shot that went just under the crossbar into the right top corner of the net.
The goal gave O'Connell seven for the year, and it was his team-leading 21st point of the year. It was also his sixth multiple-point game of the year.
Haslam and O'Leary got the assists, and the Cobbers got the two points for a win in OT.
Concordia outshot Gustavus 41-15 in the game and 73-43 for the series.
Matt Fitzgerald made 12 saved to pick up his team-leading sixth win of the year.
UP NEXT: Concordia will travel to Winona to take on St. Mary's in the final series of the regular season on Feb. 17-18. The two teams are tied for fourth place in the standings, and the series will ultimately be a playoff before the playoffs.