Moorhead, Minn. – Just 19 hours prior today’s series-finale against Concordia College, goals were being scored early and often by the Gustavus men’s hockey team. On Saturday at the Moorhead Sports Center, it was a different story. By the time Gustavus was able to score its first goal, which came in the 59th minute of the game, Concordia was already up 3-0. After 40 minutes of scoreless hockey, Concordia’s offense came alive in the final frame, scoring three unanswered goals before Gustavus could bring the game to a final at 3-1.
Gustavus moves to 9-7-3 overall and 3-5-2 in the MIAC with the loss, while Concordia salvages a split, improving to 9-11-1 overall and 6-6-0 in the MIAC with the win.
Although Gustavus outshot the Cobbers 10-8 in the first period and 12-10 in the second, neither squad could tally the go-ahead goal in the opening two frames and the score remained tied 0-0 heading into the final period.
Nine of Gustavus’ 22 shots in the first 40 minutes came while on the power play. The Gusties went 0-for-1 on the man-advantage in each of the first two periods. Concordia could not take advantage on the power play either, going 0-for-2 in the first and 0-for-1 in the second.
Just two minutes into the third period, the Cobbers snapped the scoreless tie with a goal by Dan Hrabowych. The Hrabowych goal kicked off what was a three-goal run for the Cobbers.
At 6:51 of the period, Adam Wiertzema extended Concordia’s lead to 2-0 with a goal from Chris Beede and Joe Becker.
Joe Becker took advantage of an Alex Gallen (Jr., Hingham, Mass.) cross-checking penalty with a power play goal at 17:32 to cap off the three-goal scoring-spree.
Just over a minute later at 18:40, Tim LaBombard (Sr., Bloomington, Minn.) cut the lead to 3-1 with goal off a Brian White (Sr., Fort Frances, Ont.) assist. The goal was LaBombard’s second of the season and first since Nov. 2.
The LaBombard score was the only blemish on Concordia netminder Chris Neamonitis’s stat-line, as the senior finished with a total of 34 saves. Gustavus outshot the Cobbers 13-9 in the third period and 35-27 in the game.
Tyler Venne (Sr., New Hope, Minn.) suffered the loss in a 24-save effort, moving to 5-4-3 with the loss.
Gustavus will look to re-group next weekend in an away/home series against Hamline University. The Gusties will travel to Rosemount for a 7:00 p.m. game on Friday, Feb. 1 before returning to St. Peter on Saturday, Feb. 2 for the series-finale set to begin at 7:05 p.m.