Bates' Overtime Goal Powers Green Knights Past Bulldogs

From Asst. AD/Athletics Communications, November 11, 2017 | Men's Hockey
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

DE PERE - St. Norbert College freshman Peter Bates scored a power-play goal in overtime to push the Green Knights to a 4-3 win over Adrian College in a Northern Collegiate Hockey Association game at the Cornerstone Community Center.

The game pitted a pair of NCAA Division III Frozen Four qualifiers from a year ago, and the top two teams in both major national polls. St. Norbert (4-0, 4-0 NCHA) entered ranked No. 1 in the USCHO.com Division III Poll and No. 2 in the D3hockey.com Poll, while Adrian (3-1, 3-1) is ranked No. 2 by USCHO.com and No. 1 by D3hockey.com.

Bates' marker capped a wild last 10 minutes of the game.

St. Norbert nursed a 3-2 lead until Adrian went on a 5-on-3 power play with 4:24 remaining, with the second penalty a five-minute major. The Bulldogs' Taylor McCloy scored on the 5-on-3 advantage with 3:47 left to knot the score at 3-3. The Green Knights then killed off the remnant of the major penalty, which spanned into the first 36 seconds over overtime.

Adrian was then called for a too-many-men penalty at 3:27 of overtime to give the Green Knights a last-ditch power play. Dominic Sacco fed Bates, who then lifted the puck past a prone Adrian goaltender Kevin Entmaa from the door step at 4:01 to set off a wild celebration. Tanner Froese also assisted on the goal.

The Green Knights took a 1-0 lead after the first period on a Keegan Milligan goal at 10:49 of the frame.

The Bulldogs answered with a goal by Dino Balsamo at 6:51 of the second period. The game remained tied at 1-1 until the final minute of the second period, when Riley Christensen found Brad Pung behind the Adrian defense. Pung deftly deked Entmaa at 19:23 for his team-high fourth goal of the season.

Adrian again responded at 4:54 of the third period when Mathew Thompson scored unassisted off a turnover near the St. Norbert defensive zone. The Green Knights would get the goal back at 10:36, scoring on a major power play on Luke Davison's wrister from the high slot for his first collegiate marker.

Froese and Christensen both had two assists for multi-point games for the Green Knights.

St. Norbert outshot Adrian 31-27. T.J. Black made 24 saves for the Green Knights, while Entmaa made 27 stops for the Bullodgs.

The Green Knights were 2-for-7 on the power play, while Adrian was 1-for-5.