St. Norbert Pulls Away From Finlandia In Series Opener

From Asst. AD/Athletics Communications, January 24, 2020 | Men's Hockey
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

DE PERE - St. Norbert College scored four unanswered goals in the third period as the Green Knights went on to claim a 6-1 win over Finlandia University in the first game of a two-game Northern Collegiate Hockey Association series at Cornerstone Community Center.

The Green Knights opened up a 2-0 lead in the first period. Peter Bates registered a power-play goal at 10:29, finishing a one-timed chance. Ben Schmidling then fired a puck in from the goal line extended off the back of Finlandia goaltender Marcus Gloss for a two-goal lead at 14:17.

Following a scoreless second period, Finlandia halved its deficit when Lee Pietila scored at 1:45 of the third period. St. Norbert didn't need to wait long to pull back ahead by a pair of goals, with Kurt Black scoring his team-high 13th goal of the season with a power-play marker at 8:26. Michael Spethmann added a goal at 11:57, followed by a second score from Schmidling at 14:03. Bates closed out the scoring with his second power-play goal of the game with a score at 18:36.

Bates added an assist for a three-point game, while Dominick Sacco posted three assists for three points. Keenan Spillum, Brendon Gysbers and Max Brainin all had two assists for two points apiece.

St. Norbert outshot Finlandia 44-17. The Green Knights registered a season-high three power-play goals on seven chances, while the Lions came up empty on six man advantages.

Colby Entz made 16 saves for St. Norbert, while Gloss turned away 38 shots for Finlandia.