(Hudsonville, MI) – The Concordia men's hockey team went out west for a rematch with the 17th-ranked Grand Valley State Lakers on Sunday afternoon. The Lakers jumped ahead by a pair of goals in the second period, but the Cardinals would rally back with 4 consecutive goals and held on for a 5-4 victory.
Anthony Seykora started in net for the Cardinals, recording an impressive 51 saves in the win.
In a back-and-forth contest with a lot of offense, the Lakers would get on the board first, scoring just under 9 minutes into the opening frame to take an early lead. The Cardinals bounced back just over 5 minutes later, however, as Zane Rydel put the puck into the back of the net to knot the game at 1. Garrett Benoit and Riley Smith picked up assists on the score, as the sides would remained locked at a goal apiece heading into the first intermission.
The Lakers opened the middle frame in a fury, scoring on powerplay goals just 24 seconds apart to give them a 3-1 advantage with 14:29 to go in the frame. Concordia struck right back, however, as Kyle Hebner scored his team leading 12th goal of the season less than 2 minutes later to cut the deficit to one. Brandon Troyer and Hunter Kepple recorded helpers on the goal.
The Concordia attack would not stop there, however, as Sam Sahr scored at the 8:02 mark in the second period to knot the matchup at 3. Concordia continued to attack, drawing 3 more powerplays before the frame ended, but the score would remain at 3-3 as the teams went into the final break.
The Cardinals continued their scoring ways in the final period, taking their first lead of the contest at the 7:47 mark with a Jackson Blough goal. Hunter Kepple and Zane Rydel were knotched with assists on the score. Less than 90 seconds later, Brandon Troyer would feed Seth Francois, who beat the Laker goalie to double the Concordia lead.
Grand Valley State responded with goal at the 3:33 mark, but despite 22 shots on target in the last frame, would be unable to beat Anthony Seykora again, as the Cardinals secured a 5-4 victory.
Concordia will be back in on Friday, December 9th, when they hot the 22nd-ranked Purdue Northwest Pride. Puck drop is set for 8:30pm at the Arctic Edge in Canton, MI.
