From Concordia Ann Arbor Sports
(Chelsea, MI) – The Concordia men’s hockey team faced off with the 17th-ranked UM-Dearborn Wolverines on Friday night. The game resulted in a low scoring battle between the two sides, with the Cardinals eventually coming out with the 2-1 victory for their highest ranked win and first win over the Wolverines in program history.
The first period was an even, back and forth trial between the sides, with CUAA outshooting UMD 8-7 in the frame. Both teams generated decent chances both even strength and across the five combined powerplays in the opening 20, but would go into the intermission still scoreless.
The Cardinals would eventually strike first in the middle frame, however, taking advantage of a man-advantage as Kyle Hebner made a fantastic cross ice pass to Abel Christians on the back door, who shoveled the puck into the UM-Dearborn goal for a 1-0 lead at the 13:49 mark. Tristan Waechter also picked up a helper on the goal.
The period continued back and forth for almost ten more minutes, until Concordia got on the board again. Abel Christians cut off a Wolverine defensemen in the offensive zone and stole the puck, feeding Hunter Kepple in the slot, who made a move on the goalie and put it top shelf to double the Cardinal lead.
UM-Dearborn would strike back on the powerplay late in the frame to cut their deficit in half, and the teams went into the second break with the score at 2-1.
The Wolverines made their big push in an effort to tie the game in the third, outshooting Concordia 16-7 in the final 20 minutes of play. Starting Goaltender Anthony Seykora held firm in between the pipes for the Cardinals, however, stopping all 16 shots on goal to secure the win for CUAA.
Seykora made 32 saves in an impressive effort during the Concordia victory.
The Cardinals will hit the road for a rematch against UM-Dearborn tomorrow evening. Puck drop is set for 7pm at the UM-Dearborn Ice Arena in Dearborn, MI.
(Originally published at https://cuaa.prestosports.com/sports/acha/2021-22/releases/2022012911×568)
