Longley's Hat Trick, Bashor's Shutout Powers St. Norbert

From Sports Information Director, November 21, 2008 | Men's Hockey
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

DULUTH, Minn. - Brandon Longley posted his first career hat trick and Blake Bashor fashioned his first career shutout as St. Norbert College registered a 3-0 win over the College of St. Scholastica in a Northern Collegiate Hockey Association game at Mars Lakeview Arena.

The Green Knights, ranked No. 1 in the USCHO.com Poll, are 8-0 on the season. St. Norbert is unbeaten in its last 37 games and has won a school record 16 straight contests heading into Saturday's key game with UW-Superior at Wessman Arena. St. Scholastica fell to 4-3-1 overall and 1-2 in the NCHA. Eight of St. Norbert's last 11 wins against the Saints have been shutouts.

Following a scoreless first period that saw St. Norbert come up empty on a pair of power plays, Longley broke through with a marker at 12 minutes 21 seconds of the second period off assists from Ryan Petersen and Sam Tikka.

Longley scored a critical goal with 21 seconds left in the second period, getting set up again by Petersen and Tikka, for a 2-0 lead heading into the third period.

Longley, who now has a team-high six goals this season, finished off his natural hat trick with a score 3:19 into the third, with assists from Petersen and Steven Sleep.

Longley, who scored the lone St. Norbert goal in a 1-0 win over St. Scholastica in a NCHA Peters Cup semifinal last March, had his first three-point game as a collegian. Petersen's three assists were a career high, while Tikka's two helpers tied a career high.

Not to be lost in Longley's scoring output was Bashor's first collegiate shutout. Bashor made 10 saves in the first period, nine in the secnd and 12 in the third for a 31-save shutout.

Steve Bounds made 34 stops for St. Scholastica.