Concordia pulls away with big third period

APPLETON, Wis. — The Concordia (Wis.) University hockey team scored three third-period goals to pull away for a 6-2 Northern Collegiate Hockey Association win over Lawrence University in the season opener Friday at the Appleton Family Ice Center.

Lawrence (0-1-0, 0-1-0 NCHA) trailed just 3-2 heading into the third, but the Falcons (1-0-0, 1-0-0) got a power-play goal midway through the period and then added two more in the final five minutes to seal the victory.

Eli Riddle, Devin Stuermer and Buster Hebda all had a goal and an assist for the Falcons. Jake Hebda made 26 saves to pick up the win in net.

Concordia led 2-0 after the first and pushed that lead to 3-0 with a power-play goal at the 9:19 mark of the second. Lawrence fought back with a pair of goals from Huck Saunders.

Saunders scored on a two-man advantage at the 15:16 mark off an assist from Blake Roubos to cut the lead to 3-1. Saunders then scored again just before the horn sounded at the end of the second period to trim the margin to 3-2.

The lone penalty of the third period resulted in Concordia’s second power-play goal of the night when Riddle scored at 11:13. The Falcons then got goals at 15:51 and 16:25 to complete the scoring.

Peter Emery stopped 25 shots and took the loss for Lawrence.

Box score