(Farmington Hills, MI) – The Concordia men's hockey team hit the road to take on the Lawrence Tech Blue Devils on Friday night. The game resulted in a back-and-forth barn burner between the two sides, eventually ending with the Cardinals pulling out a 6-5 thrilling victory for their first win over LTU in program history.
LTU jumped out to a fast start, scoring just over 8 minutes into the contest. The Cards responded back later in the period, as Hunter Kepple took a feed from Abel Christians on the powerplay and ripped the puck past the goalie into the top corner of the net to tie the contest at 1. The Blue Devils responded with another goal later in the frame and carried a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.
Concordia responded once again in the middle period, as an LTU miscue in front of their net led way to a Thomas Hendry short-handed goal that tied the game back up at 2. Lawrence Tech answered back once again, tacking on two consecutive goals to double the lead to 4-2 with 2:46 remaining in the 2nd frame.
Just over a minute later, however, CUAA would get one back of their own, as Abel Christians went end-to-end past three Blue Devil defenders and pulled the puck across the crease to his backhand and past the LTU goaltender to cut the defecit in half. The Cards weren't done yet in the period, though, as Carson Ediger picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone, beat the defender for a mini breakaway, and put it five hole on the Lawrence Tech goalie to tie the game at 4 heading into the second break.
The third period contained even more action, as LTU got on the board just over three and a half minutes into the frame on the powerplay, handing the lead back to the Blue Devils. Momentum would shift later in the period when Lawrence Tech would take two penalties in less than a minute and half span to put the Cardinals on a 5-on-3 advantage.
CUAA would take advantage right away, as Hunter Kepple would take a feed from Tyler Groth and once again snipe the goaltender to tie the game back at 5. The Cards did not slow down, however, as 45 seconds later Tyler Groth would pick up a loose puck off a blocked shot and rip a slap shot five hole past the goalie to give Concordia the lead with less than 11 minutes to play. Carson Ediger and Abel Christians picked up helpers on the score.
The Blue Devils continued to press in the third, but the Cardinals would hold off for an eventual 6-5 victory. Starting Goaltender Anthony Seykora held firm in between the pipes for Concordia in the final frame, stopping a total of 34 shots across the entire game.
The Cardinals will host Lawrence Tech in a rematch tomorrow as CUAA celebrates their seniors. Puck drop and the Senior Day celebration is set for 4:30pm at the Arctic Coliseum in Chelsea, MI.
