Big First Period Powers St. Norbert Past Marian

From Staff Writer, October 28, 2016 | Men's Hockey
by Zach Herson, ,

DE PERE - St. Norbert College cruised out to a 5-0 lead after the first period en route to defeating Marian University 6-0 in its season and Northern Collegiate Hockey Association opener at the Cornerstone Community Center.

The Green Knights (1-0, 1-0 NCHA), ranked No. 2 in the USCHO.com and D3hockey.com polls, started out strong against the Sabres, getting a power-play goal from Jeremy Olinyk 1 minute 40 seconds into the game. St. Norbert followed it up with a goal from Chris Rygus at the 7:44 mark.

Roman Uchyn added a third goal at the 9:19 mark to chase Marian's starting goaltender Mike Gudmandson from the game. The scoring barrage continued at the 15:11 mark with a goal by Tanner Froese and a goal from Steven Phillips at 17:00 for a 5-0 lead.

There was nothing doing in the scoring column during the second period, but at 15:49 of the third period Jake Larson's goal provided the final margin.

St. Norbert finished the game 1-for-12 on power-play opportunities, while Marian did not convert any power-play chances, going 0-for-7. The teams combined for 21 penalties, with the Sabres accounting for 13.

Pijus Rulevicius, Luke Karakas and Nick LeSage all had two assists for multi-point games for the Green Knights.

The Green Knights outshot Marian 25-15. T.J. Black made 15 saves in a winning effort for St. Norbert, while Gudmandson made two saves as the Sabres' starter. Mike Baldwin made 17 saves in relief for Marian.