Green Knights Win Series Opener Against Marian

From Sports Information Director, February 26, 2016 | Men's Hockey
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

DE PERE - St. Norbert College gained the upper hand in the first game of its Northern Collegiate Hockey Association Harris Cup Playoffs semifinal series with a 4-1 win over Marian University at the Cornerstone Community Center.

The Green Knights (22-2-2), ranked No. 1 in the D3hockey.com and USCHO.com Division III polls, need a win or a tie in Game 2 of the series Saturday. If Marian (18-6-3) wins, a 20-minute mini-game will be held immediately after Game 2.

St. Norbert took an early lead when Roman Uchyn scored his 12th goal of the season at the 9:55 mark of the first period. Marian, which had 13-game winning streak snapped with the loss, knotted the score 1-1 on a Tanner Pagendam goal at 16:02.

The Green Knights moved ahead for good in the second period. Chris Rygus scored off an Uchyn assist for his third goal of the year and a 2-1 lead at the 14:33 mark.

St. Norbert added an insurance goal at 6:29 of the third period. Ross Pavek scored for the sixth time this season to give the Green Knights a 3-1 lead. Tanner Froese's empty-net goal with 1:04 remaining closed out the scoring.

Erik Cooper assisted on Froese's goal, extending his consecutive-game scoring streak to 18 games, a new St. Norbert record. Cooper snapped the old mark of 17 games set by Maris Ziedins in 2001.

Uchyn had the lone multi-point game for St. Norbert with one goal and one assist for two points.

St. Norbert outshot Marian 22-12. Tony Kujava made 11 saves for the Green Knights while Mike Baldwin made 18 stops for the Sabres.

Marian was 0-for-6 on the power play and St. Norbert was 0-for-4.