(Canton, MI) - The 24th-ranked Concordia Cardinals Men's Hockey returned to action on Friday night as they would go up against the 20th-ranked Wolverines from UM-Dearborn for their first Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference match of 2023. The Cardinals entered the game at a record of 11-9-1 overall while being 6-6 in WHAC play. The Wolverines on the other hand would come into the game at 9-6-2 overall with an 8-4 WHAC record.
CUAA 1, UMD 0 - FIRST PERIOD
The Cardinals would get on the board first as Hunter Kepple took advantage of a rebound shot just 3 minutes into the game as he would grab the early goal off a pass from Tyler Bieniek. The rest of the first period would be quiet with the exception of scoreless power plays from both sides.
CUAA 2, UMD 2 - SECOND PERIOD
The second period started off about the same as the Wolverines would get on the board and even the game up 1:29 into the period. Following three penalties, two by CUAA and 1 by UMD. With the teams playing 4-on-4 Jackson Blough would give the Cards the slight 2-1 advantage with assists going to Brayden Tayles and Brandon Kucera. Just over two minutes later the Wolverines would once again tie the game up at 2 with about 6 minutes remaining in the period. UMD would have to kill off another power play before the end of the period.
UMD 3, CUAA 2 -THIRD PERIOD
The teams would go back and forth throughout the final period, with both teams getting their share of shots off. Midway through the period the Cards would have a 5-on-3 opportunity for nearly a minute and a half, but were unable to come away with a goal. With just over 50 seconds left in the game the Wolverines would grab the score advantage, to put them ahead. The Cardinals would pull Zachary Janis for the final 40 seconds to push for a goal but were not able to even the game up.
The Cardinals will be back in action tomorrow night, January 7th, as they travel to UM-Dearborn to finish off the weekend series with puck drop at 7pm.
