(Fort Wayne, IN) – The Concordia men's hockey team headed to Fort Wayne Friday evening for a Wolverine Hoosier Athletic Conference Men's Ice Hockey Tournament Quarterfinal matchup against the Aquinas Saints. In what was an exciting battle that went to overtime, the Cardinals would score the sudden death winning goal just 101 seconds into the extra frame to defeat the 5-seed Saints.
Anthony Seykora started in goal for the Cardinals, making an impactful 37 saves in the overtime victory.
Concordia would get the first chance of the game, drawing a 5-minute powerplay just over a minute into the contest. The Cards would produce several big opportunities during the man advantage, recording 8 shots on goal, but the Saints goaltender would be up for the challenge. Just over a minute following the expiration of the the penalty, Aquinas would get on the board first off a nice set up, putting them in front early. The remainder of the period would even out in possession, with the shots being 13-12 in favor of CUAA, but both goaltenders were perfect for the remainder of the frame, taking the sides into the first intermission with a 1-0 score in favor of Aquinas.
The second period would be dominated by the Cardinals, who drew three penalties and fired 16 shots on frame during the middle 20 minutes of play. The Saints goalie continued to shut the door on Concordia, however, until Seth Francois made a move below the goal line, beat a defender, and slipped a shot on the ice past the Aquinas netminder for a powerplay goal to tie the game with 2:02 to go in the frame. Quinn Bieniek would record the assist on the score, as the contest went into the second break knotted at 1.
The third frame was more back and forth action, with the 29 total shots in the period being split nearly 50/50. Tyler Bieniek, playing in his first game in over a month, came up big for the Cardinals with just under 9 minutes to go, next, firing a shot over the net and off the glass back to himself, allowing him to fire his own rebound into an open Saints net. Sam Sahr and Garrett Benoit picked up assists on the goal. The Cards attempted to extend the lead on the powerplay a few minutes later, but would surrender a shorthanded goal to Aquinas, knotting the contest at 2 with 5:19 to go in the 3rd period. Despite good chances for both the sides during the remainder of regulation, neither team could score, sending the game into sudden death overtime.
The Saints got off to a quick start in the OT frame, having 4 shots on goal in the first 91 seconds of play, but CUAA would be the side to strike first, as Hunter Kepple would drive into the left side of the Aquinas goal, curl inside, and snipe a shot into the top right corner to win the 4th-seeded Cardinals the contest.
The Cardinals will be back in action next tomorrow, February 25th, when they head back to Fort Wayne for a WHAC Tournament Semifinal matchup against the hosts and #1 seed Indiana Tech Warriors. Puck drop is set for3pm at the SportONE/Parkview Ice House.
