St. Norbert Stays Unbeaten in NCHA With Win at Aurora
From Asst. AD/Athletics Communications, January 6, 2018 | Men's Hockey
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077
GENEVA, Ill. - St. Norbert College remained unblemished in Northern Collegiate Hockey Association play with a 5-3 win over Aurora University at Fox Valley Ice Arena.
The Green Knights (13-1-1, 8-0 NCHA), ranked No. 1 in the USCHO.com and D3hockey.com Division III polls, scored three goals in the third period to pull away from a 2-2 tie after two periods.
Peter Bates snapped the deadlock when he scored at 6:44 of the third period. Tanner Froese then gave the Green Knights a much-needed insurance goal when he scored a power-play marker at 13:05. Aurora would shave its deficit in half when Rihards Marenis scored with 4:17 remaining. St. Norbert would get a power-play chance with 1:34 to go, negating any extra-attacker time for the Spartans. The Green Knights salted away the win when Steven Phillips banged home an empty-net shot with 18 seconds remaining, also scored a power-play goal.
St. Norbert got off to a good start when William Yates scored at 4:34 of the first period. Aurora answered at 17:42 of the frame when Lordanthony Grissom scored. The Green Knights would seemingly take momentum into the first intermission when Luke Davison registered his fifth goal of the weekend on a power-play goal with just two seconds remaining in the period for a 2-1 lead.
Aurora would score the second period's only goal when Brendan Logan scored at 11:20.
Sean Campbell finished with two assists for the Green Knights' lone multi-point game.
St. Norbert, which outshot Aurora 30-20, was 3-for-7 on the power play, while Aurora was 0-for-7. The game was marred by 20 minor penalties, 10 on each team.
T.J. Black made 17 saves for the Green Knights. Josh Boyko 25 stops for the Spartans.