Hot Start Lifts St. Norbert Past Marian for Series Sweep

From Sports Information Director, February 27, 2016 | Men's Hockey
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

DE PERE - St. Norbert College scored three goals in the first 13 minutes of the game en route to a 5-2 win over Marian University in the second game of a Northern Collegiate Hockey Association Harris Cup Playoffs semifinal series at Cornerstone Community Center.

The Green Knights (23-2-2) swept the series from the Sabres (18-7-3) to advance to the Harris Cup Championship next weekend at Adrian College.

St. Norbert wasted little time taking the lead, when Michael Hill scored his 15th goal of the season just 2 minutes 29 seconds into the game. The Green Knights went on the power play just after the midway point of the period and cashed in when Roman Uchyn scored his 13th goal of the season with a goal at 11:41.

Ross Pavek then scored unassisted for his seventh goal of the season. The score at the 12:27 mark of the period chased Marian goaltender Mike Baldwin, and the three-goal lead held up through the end of the period.

Tanner Froese scored for the fifth time this season with a goal at 8:56 of the second period, the only marker in the middle stanza.

Marian mounted a rally in the third period, scoring a 4-on-4 goal by Gianni Mangone at 5:21 of the period. Devin Stuermer scored at 10:40 to cut the deficit to 4-2, but Erik Cooper scored his 12th goal of the year at 13:43 to close out the win.

Cooper had two assists to finish with a three-point game. He extended his school record for consecutive games scoring to 19 and has scored in 26 of St. Norbert's 27 games this season. Hill also had an assist for a two-point game.

St. Norbert outshot Marian 29-19. Tony Kujava made 17 saves for the Green Knights. Baldwin made eight saves in his abbreviated start while Mike Gudmandson made 16 stops in relief.

St. Norbert was 1-for-6 on the power play while Marian was 0-for-5.