Men's Ice Hockey Extends Win Streak to Eight :: Knights defeat Concordia (Minn.) 6-3 in second day of the Saint Michael's College Holiday Classic.

Knights defeat Concordia (Minn.) 6-3 in second day of the Saint Michael's College Holiday Classic.

Dec. 30, 2007

SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. - The Neumann College men's ice hockey team defeated Concordia (Minn.), 6-3, at the Saint Michael's College Holiday Classic at Cairns Arena on Sunday night. Michael Hedden had two goals for Neumann and the Knights scored three power play goals in the win. Mike Collichio had 17 saves in his eleventh win of the season. Both Knights were named to the Saint Michael's Men's Ice Hockey Holiday Classic 2007 All-Tournament Team for their stellar performances over the weekend.

"We played well this weekend and really rose to the challenge in the third period this afternoon. I am happy with our play this weekend and am looking forward to returning to conference play after the first of the year," stated Head Coach Phil Roy.

Concordia (1-10-0) opened scoring in the first period when Dustin Holland scored three-minutes into the game. He was assisted on the goal by Shawn Goos. After some back and forth action Neumann (12-4-0) generated a spark when Mark Van Vliet tapped in his ninth of the season, on the power-play, to tie the score just before the first intermission. He was assisted on the goal by Neil Trimm and Mike Gooch.

Neumann took over the lead 6-minutes into the second period when Trimm and Sean Cryer passed the puck to Hedden who put the Knights up 2-1. Neumann continued its success on the power play, as Hedden struck again at 10:47 with assists from Van Vliet and Gooch extending the Knights' lead to 3-1. Concordia answered seven minutes later when Ryan Clukey fired a shot to the back of the net to bring the Cobbers within one of the Knights' lead. The goal was scored at 17:15 and assisted by Alec Holen and Cory Johnson. Neumann however, did not back down as the Knights responded at 19:33 as Trimm scored his 13th of the season. He was assisted by Kyle Casey and Charles Paterson. Trimm's goal, the eventual game winner, gave the Knights a 4-2 advantage going into the final break and Trimm his 4th game winning goal of the season.

Early in the third period, Concordia scored to once again to come within one of the Knights lead but would not get any closer to over taking the lead as Neumann scored two consecutive goals midway through the third period which led to the 6-3 Knights win. Kyle Casey scored at the 10-minute mark on the power-play followed by Jesse Cole who took a pass from Cryer for the final goal of the night.
In goal, Neumann's Mike Collichio had three goals against and 17 saves. For Concordia, Mike Persson had six goals against and 39 saves, Neumann had 8 penalties for 16 minutes and Concordia had 13 penalties for 26 minutes. On power plays, Neumann was 3-7 and Concordia was 0-2. For the game, Neumann outshot Concordia 45 to 20.

The Knights will take a break from ice action until January 18 when they will return home to host Hobart College in an ECAC West weekend series.