St. Norbert Bounces Back to Split Series With St. Scholastica

From Sports Information Director, December 5, 2009 | Men's Hockey
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

GREEN BAY - St. Norbert College rebounded from a tough series-opening loss with a hard-fought 4-2 win over the College of St. Scholastica on the back end of a two-game Northern Collegiate Hockey Association series at the Cornerstone Community Center.

The Green Knights, ranked third by USCHO.com's Division III Poll, improved to 10-2-1 overall and 7-1 in the NCHA and hold a six-point lead on St. Scholastica heading into a 33-day holiday break. St. Scholastica (7-2-2, 3-1-2), ranked seventh by USCHO.com, has two games in hand on the Green Knights and faces rival UW-Superior in a two-game series next weekend.

St. Norbert got the jump on the Saints, scoring twice in the first period for a 2-0 lead. Kyle Stroh scored on a pretty backdoor feed from Alain Joanette at the 8 minute 53 seconds mark. Tyler Allen then directed a puck in off a pass from the corner from Brandon Longley at 15:16.

The Saints got the better of the action in the second period, pulling to within 2-1 off Jordan Chong's shorthanded goal at 7:16, his second of the series.

St. Norbert would answer in the third period, when Johan Ryd tipped in a loose puck after the shift applied strong pressure, scoring at the 7:24 mark. Ryd salted the game away at 17:25 with his fourth goal of the season. St. Scholastica would score on Jeremy Dawes' marker at 18:22, but the Saints wouldn't score again despite having an empty net for 1:25.

Ryd finished with a three-point night for St. Norbert, also adding an assist. Longley had two assists.

B.J. O'Brien made 21 saves for St. Norbert, while Brennan Poderzay had 23 stops for the Saints. St. Norbert was 0-for-4 on the power play, while St. Scholastica was 0-for-2.