by Josh Buchholz
Sports writer
After losing three straight MIAC hockey games, the Cobbers stepped out of conference play to battle Minnesota-Crookston Wednesday night. Despite a solid effort from first-year goalkeeper James Foster, the Cobbers were unable to hold off Crookston, losing 6-1.
In a physical game filled with penalties, the score was 0-0 until the Eagles' Scott Gruber tallied at 18:51 of the first period for a 1-0 Crookston advantage. Concordia seemed to lose a little steam after that goal, and six minutes into the second period, Crookston's Jeremy Asheim put the Eagles up 2-0. Two more Eagle goals gave them a 4-0 advantage heading into the third period.
Crookston would get two more goals, one from Paul Balabanski and one from Jason Prystayko, to up their lead to 6-0. It wasn't until 19:35 of the third period that the Cobbers would get on the scoreboard. Freshman Corey Rupp made a beautiful end to end rush and ended Eagle goalie Nathan Pitt's shutout bid with a shot to the glove side. First year student Brock Blikre was credited with an assist.
Foster was peppered all night, but he came up with several good saves. It didn't help that Concordia was whistled for 44 minutes in penalties, leaving them shorthanded for much of the game. Foster ended the evening with 29 saves. Pitt made 27 saves for Crookston.
On Jan. 5-6, Concordia made its home debut in a two-game series with Bethel. Both teams came in with identical 2-5-1 records, so it was expected that both games would be close. In the opening game Friday night, junior Greg Salvevold got the Cobbers on the board first with his fifth goal of the year. The teams swapped goals, and the score was 2-2 going into the third period. Two quick Bethel goals in the third gave the Royals the cushion they needed and they cruised to a 5-3 victory. Sophomore Josh Brekke and senior John Nikolou scored for the Cobbers.
In Saturday's rematch, Bethel got off quickly with a goal just 38 seconds into the game. The Cobbers answered with goals from Salvevold and sophomore Todd Hashbarger to take a 2-1 lead going into the second period. Three Bethel goals, one in the second period and two in the third put the Royals up 4-2. Salvevold would add another goal late in the game, but it was not enough as the Royals claimed the sweep with a 4-3 win. The Cobbers were outshot in the game 47-19.
The Cobbers played at Hamline Jan 1-2 winning the first game by a score of 5-2 and losing the second 4-2
Concordia will play a non-conference doubleheader at Mankato State today and Saturday. The Mavericks, one of the top teams in Division II hockey, should prove to be a tough test for the young Cobbers. They will return home Jan 19-20 for a weekend series with Augsburg.
Hockey
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