A statement was made and a rivalry was renewed this past weekend.
Concordia (MN) stunned a top five team and Adrian and St. Norbert battled on the ice.
Concordia (MN) stunned nationally ranked Wisconsin-Eau Claire on Saturday in the final game of their series.
Adrian and St. Norbert came out of their series with a split.
Bethel ended a losing streak and Wisconsin-River Falls kept its impressive win streak alive with a pair of shuouts. Aurora extended its unbeaten streak to five games.
Here are the top storylines from the weekend in the West Region
Statement win for Cobbers
No wins in its last four games. A rough 7-2 loss the night before to third-ranked Wisconsin-Eau Claire. The odds were stacked against the Cobbers to say the least.
None of it mattered Saturday night. Concordia erased a 2-0 deficit with three unanswered goals in a 3-2 victory.
It’s only the third loss of the year for the Blugolds and it’s the first time in 2020 that Concordia has scored more than two goals in a game. The Cobbers are 5-0 this season when scoring more than two goals in a game.
Joe Burgmeier came through with the game-winner, striking in the final minute to lift the Cobbers to the stunning win. It’s his second goal of the year and the game-winning goal of his career.
Aaron Herdt punched in the other two goals for Concordia, tallying both off the power play.Cam Haugenoe made 38 saves for his first win of the year, helping Concordia improve to 5-8-3.
Another classic series
Adrian and St. Norbert made sure their rivalry lived up to the hype. Adrian lost 1-0 on Friday despite holding a 33-21 advantage in shots but bounced back with a thrilling 3-2 overtime win on Saturday.
Peter Bates scored the lone goal on Friday for the Green Knights, who handed the 14th-ranked Bulldogs their first 1-0 loss in program history.
The two teams combined to go 0-for-7 on the power play and Cameron Gray made 20 saves for Adrian. Colby Entz recorded the shutout win for St. Norbert.
The story was different on Saturday as the Bulldogs used a goal by Joey Colatarci 38 seconds into overtime to edge the Green Knights and salvage a split in the series.
It was one of two goals scored by Colatarci, who helped Adrian improve to 9-5-3 overall and 7-3-3 in the conference. St. Norbert fell to 8-8-2 overall and 6-6-2 in league play.
Bates gave St. Norbert a 1-0 lead in the second before Sam Ruffin tied the score five minutes later.
Brenadn Aird gave the Green Knights a 3-2 lead going into the final period and that’s when Colatarci took over, tying the game at 3-3 before scoring the game-winner in OT to lift the Bulldogs to their ninth win in the all-time series against St. Norbert.
This was the fifth OT game for Adrian in its last six outings and the 11th time a game between the Bulldogs and Green Knights has gone to OT.
Oles earn thrilling win
St. Olaf notched its third victory of the year Saturday holding off Wisconsin-Stout 3-2.
Cooper Lukenda played a pivotal role, stopping 28 shots, including 21 in the final two periods of play.
Kyle Rimbach, Mitch Dolter and Josh Radtke all scored for the Oles. Rimbach punched in his fourth goal of the season just over a minute into the game. Dolter added his goal 58 seconds later to give St. Olaf a 2-0 lead at the end of the first.
Royals bounce back
Bethel ended a five-game losing streak Saturday by forging a 2-2 tie with nationally ranked Augsburg.
The Royals improved to 3-11-3 overall and 2-3-3 in the MIAC, moving into fifth place in the conference as their hopes for a MIAC tourney berth remains alive.
The ninth-ranked Auggies took a1-0 lead before the Royals took a 2-1 lead in the second on goals by Curtis Hansen and Luke Posner. Posner also tallied an assist in the game for his second multi-point game of the year.
Joe Sheppard stopped the first 17 shots Augsburg took and finished with 50 saves in all, including 23 in the third period.
It was a huge bounce-back for Bethel after it lost 6-0 to Augsburg Friday.
Falcons dominate on defense
UW-River Falls capped its weekend with a second consecutive shutout, rolling over Saint Mary’s 4-0 for its seventh consecutive win.
Zach Quinn helped make the win possible, recording 17 saves.
Chase Davidson came through with a goal and assist while Ryan Cusin dished out two assists to help fuel the offense. Christian Hausinger tallied a pair of assists as well. The Falcons held a slim 18-17 edge in shots as they improved to 12-4-2.
The Falcons opened the weekend with a 4-0 win over St. Olaf.
During UW-River Falls’ winning streak, the Falcons have kept three opponents off the scoreboard. Quinn has played a pivotal role, giving up just 17 goals all season. He owns a 1.53 goals against average.
Sweep success for Concordia
The Concordia Falcons capped a sweep of Lawrence Saturday with a 3-2 win. The Falcons won the opener on Friday by a 3-0 score.
The Falcons had to overcome a 2-0 deficit Saturday to get the job done. Brandon Picard ignited the rally in the second period with his third goal of the weekend and Cole Pickup tallied a goal to tie the game in the third. Josh Adkins scored the game-winner while Bo Didur was once again rock solid in goal, stopping 30 shots. He made 31 saves Friday.
Concordia used Saturday’s game as an opportunity to raise money for breast cancer awareness. The two-goal deficit Concordia battled back from was its largest of the season. With the wins, the Falcons now sit in fourth place in the South Division, meaning they have control of their NCHA playoff fate going forward.
The Falcons are 10-5-2 overall and 6-4-2 in the league.
Spartans continue surge
Aurora pushed its unbeaten streak to five games by sweeping Saint Scholastica. The Spartans closed out the weekend with a 5-3 win, improving to 11-5-3 overall and 7-4-3 in the NCHA.
Five different players scored. Aday Keyes helped fuel the offense with a goal and two assists. Drew Doyon scored a goal and dished out an assist. Josh Boyko came through with 27 saves.
The Spartans had to overcome deficits of 2-0, 2-1 and 3-2 to notch the victory. Larry Jungwirth scored the game-winning goal with 1:32 left in the game. Dylan Rauh added an empty-netter with 18 seconds to play. Aurora scored four goals in the third period.
