(Canton, MI) – The Concordia men's hockey team returned home to host the Rochester Warriors in rematch on Saturday night. The Cardinals dominated the possession, firing 68 shots on goal as they defeated the Warriors, 5-1.
Anthony Seykora started in net for the Cardinals, making 17 saves in the win.
Just as they did Friday, the Cardinals got off to a blazing hot start, this time with Quinn Bieniek punching home a rebound goal in front of the net just 2 minutes in to get CUAA up one. Zane Rydel and Bobby Lindsay were credited with assists. Just a minute and a half later, Nicholas Twombley would receive a feed from Brandon Troyer on the rush, step into the slot, and rip a shot past the Rochester goalie to double the advantage.
The period remained quiet, with the Cardinals garnering 21 shots on target to Rochester's 6 in the frame, but were unable to find the back of the net until late in the period when Riley Smith intercepted a pass, went in on a breakaway, and fired a shot bar down to make it 3-0. The Cards would hold that lead heading into the first intermission.
The middle period was more of the same, but this time the Warriors goaltender stood up to every Concordia chance, stopping all 22 shots in the period to blank the Cardinals in the frame. Rochester took the first penalty by either side in the contest with just 1:35 to go, putting CUAA on the powerplay, but they could not convert in the 2nd period portion of the advantage, and maintained a 3-0 lead and 25 seconds of a powerplay heading into the second break.
The Cards wouldn't convert on that powerplay, but jumped on the advantage a minute later, where Nicholas Twombley fed Hunter Kepple, who fired a pass right to Quinn Bieniek, who converted on his second goal of the game to make it 4-0.
A little while later in the final frame, the Cards were back on the attack, as Bryce Iott passed to Tyler Bieniek and he fed Brandon Troyer for a back door tap in on a beautiful tic-tac-toe play. Rochester jumped on a 5-on-3 powerplay with under 5 minutes to go in the contest and scored to snap the CUAA shutout, but the Cardinals held on as the clock expired for a 5-1 victory.
Concordia will be back in action next Friday, November 4th when they host the 8th-ranked Indiana Tech Warriors at the Arctic Edge. Puck drop is set for 6:30pm in Canton, MI.
