(Canton, MI) – The Concordia men's hockey team returned home Saturday evening for a rematch against the Aquinas Saints. In a contest that was close through two periods, the Cardinals used a massive four goal third period to secure the weekend sweep with a 6-1 win over the Saints.
Anthony Seykora started in net for the Cardinals, making 33 saves in the victory.
Aquinas came out the gate firing, controlling the pace of play and firing an array of attempts, getting their total shots for the period up to 18 through the first frame. Concordia would strike first, however, as Tyler Bieniek took a feed from Hunter Kepple and sniped it top shelf to give the Cards the early lead. The Saints countered with a score of their own with just 22 seconds remaining in the period, and that score held as the teams were knotted at a goal a piece heading into the first break.
Concordia flipped the script in the middle frame, outshooting the Saints 14-10 in the period and providing an array of quality chances on goal. However, only one shot would make it past the goalie in the entire period, this one in favor of the Cardinals, as a beautiful tic-tac-toe passing play from Nicholas Twombley to Carson Ediger to Kyle Hebner resulted in a great shot by Hebner to beat the Saints goalie and give CUAA the 2-1 lead that they would carry into the second intermission.
The flood gates broke loose in the third for Concordia's offense, though, as just over two minutes into the final frame Kyle Hebner would punch home a rebound for his second score of the game. Nicholas Twombley and Brandon Troyer would be credited with the helpers. Then, just past the halfway point of the period, Garrett Benoit would chip a puck ahead for Riley Smith, who took it in on a 2-on-1 and fed Sam Sahr for a wide open one timer that he put into the back of the net to make it a 4-1 game in favor of the Cardinals.
CUAA did not slow down, however, as just over two minutes later Carson Ediger would also tuck home a nice rebound goal on the powerplay to extend the lead to four for the Cards (assists by Bryce Iott and Zane Rydel). Then, after a laundry list of penalties and man advantage hockey for both sides, Concordia would strike one more time. Garrett Benoit would take the puck into the zone on a rush and fire a shot that was originally stopped by the Saints goaltender, but hit an Aquinas body in front and ended up in the back of the net with just 57 seconds to go in the contest. Bobby Lindsay and Brayden Tayles picked up assists on the score.
That would seal the deal for the Cardinals, as their big final frame led the way to an impressive 6-1 victory over the Aquinas Saints and the weekend series sweep overall.
Concordia will be back in action next Friday, November 18th, when they head to Chicago for a pair of matchups against the Roosevelt Lakers in some nonconference action. Puck drop is set for 7:20pm at The Edge in Bensenville, IL.
