Box Score

MOORHEAD, Minn. – Saint John's hockey opened conference play with its third consecutive 5-2 win at Concordia on Friday, Nov. 4, in Moorhead.

The Johnnies (3-0, 1-0 MIAC) started its 2016-17 season with a pair of 5-2 non-conference wins over Gustavus Adolphus (Oct. 28) and St. Olaf (Oct. 30) last weekend at the MIAC Showcase in Blaine.

SJU broke a 1-1 tie with a pair of goals each in the second and third periods. Five different Johnnies scored a goal in the victory.

Sophomore defenseman Sean Lang (Apple Valley, Minn.) entered the offensive zone and blasted a nice cross-ice pass from senior forward Kevin Becker (Roseville, Minn.) to give SJU a 1-0 lead 7:20 into the game. Freshman forward Brady Heppner (Crookston, Minn.) earned his first collegiate point with the second assist.

Garrett Hendrickson took advantage of an SJU turnover in its own end to tie it for Concordia (2-1, 0-1 MIAC) with 8:04 left in the opening frame.

Sophomore forward Joe Chitwood (Carmel, Ind.) deflected a shot from the point from freshman defenseman Adam Orn (Ramsey, Minn.) to the back of the net, giving the lead back to SJU at the 9:35 mark of the second period. Senior forward Huba Sekesi (Germering, Germany) was credited with the second assist on the goal, which was the first of Chitwood's collegiate career.

Sophomore forward Mitch Fritz (St. Cloud, Minn.) stuffed in a saved shot on the power play for his third goal of the season with 4:55 remaining in the second, with assists going to junior forward Sam Valerius (Maple Grove, Minn.) and freshman defenseman Cole Souto (Yorba Linda, Calif.). Fritz now has 18 points (9g/9a) in his last 17 games going back to last season.

Eddie Eades answered for CC, however, with a power-play goal 57 seconds later to cut the Johnnies' lead in half.

Sophomore forward Matt Colford (Champlin, Minn.), the reigning MIAC Men's Hockey Athlete of the Week, padded the Johnnies' lead with 3:23 remaining on a nice feed by Valerius from behind the net. Heppner tallied the second assist on the scoring play.

Sophomore forward Matt Perry (Lakeville, Minn.) ended the scoring with his first point as a Johnnie on an empty-netter with 42 seconds remaining. Orn and Sekesi each recorded their second assists of the night.

Senior goaltender Tyler Nelson (Champlin, Minn.) made 22 saves to improve to 2-0 on the young season (4-0 for his career). Nelson and his six-man defensive corps, which consisted of three freshmen and three sophomores, held the Cobbers to 18 even-strength shots (a 34-24 shot advantage overall) in the win. 

The Johnnies were without four skaters, including three of their four captains, who did not play due to injury: senior forward Dan McNamara (Grand Rapids, Mich.), senior defenseman Daniel Tripicchio (Hudson, Wis.), junior forward Tyler Dunagan (Maple Grove, Minn.) and sophomore forward Garrett Riebling (Chanhassen, Minn.).

The weekend series wraps up with a 2 p.m. puck-drop on Saturday, Nov. 5, in Moorhead.