The Gustavus men’s hockey team suffered a 9-1 loss at the hands of a hot Concordia squad on Friday night in Moorhead, Minn. The Cobbers jumped all over the Gusties in the first and second periods, scoring four unanswered goals before Gustavus got on the board. Concordia added five more goals in the remaining 24 minutes, to cruise to an eight-goal victory. Cobber Caleb Suderman registered a hat-trick by scoring the final three goals of the game.
The Cobbers move one point behind Hamline in the MIAC standings with 16 points, improving to 10-8-4 overall and 6-3-4 in the MIAC. Gustavus falls to 11-7-2 overall and 5-4-2 in the MIAC with the loss, remaining in fourth place in the MIAC with 12 points.
Concordia scored one power play, one short handed, and six even strength goals in the game. Aaron Wheeler put the Cobbers on the board first at 6:57 of the first period. Jared Collen added a short-handed goal in 13th minute to put Concordia up 2-0. The Cobbers’ only two shots of the opening period turned out to be goals, as Gustavus outshot them 11-to-2 in the opening frame.
Ben Payne extended the lead to 3-0 just :23 seconds into the second period. Chris Beede hit the back of the net 14 minutes later to give Concordia a 4-0 advantage. Gustavus’ lone goal of the contest came at the 16:35 mark, when Ross Ring-Jarvi and Zach May assisted on a Ryan Johnson goal. The Cobbers got the goal back less than a minute later when Braden Rahman scored to make it a 5-1 game.
Gustavus goaltender Josh Swartout was pulled after the second period. Swartout falls to 7-6-2 on the season with the loss. He finished the game with five goals allowed and nine saves.
Following a Marc Harrie goal 1:31 into the third period, Caleb Suderman struck at the 8:21, 10:44, and 13:01 marks of the third period to bring the game to a close.
Goaltender Kelly Andrew got the win in a complete-game, 26-save effort. Andrew improves to 9-4-3 on the season with the win.
Gustavus outshot the Cobbers 27-to-22, while winning 38-of-63 face-offs in the game. Brian White was 10-for-13 on the draw to lead the Gusties.
Gustavus went 0-for-6 with 10 shots on the power play, while Concordia was 1-for-6 with six shots.
The Gusties will look to rebound tomorrow afternoon in game two of the weekend series with Concordia. The Gusties and Cobbers will square off at 2:00 p.m. tomorrow from the Moohread Sports Center.