Power play leads Men's Hockey to program record fifth straight win

WINONA, Minn. – The Concordia University Wisconsin Men's Hockey offense has been in full force as of late and was once again in dominant form Friday night in a 5-1 non-conference win over Saint Mary's University. The win was a school record fifth straight for the Falcons who have scored at least four goals in each of those games and are averaging 5.8 goals per game during the winning streak.

A big reason for the CUW victory was a strong performance on the power play. The Falcons converted on 3-of-4 chances with the extra skater including a pair of goals by sophomore Eli Riddle (Blissfield, Mich.) Freshman Brett Penner (Medstead, Saskatchewan) also added a goal with an extra man for CUW.

The Falcons built a 2-0 lead after one period of play as Riddle got the team on the board first 6:54 into play. His power play goal was assisted by Penner and freshman Tanner Bull (Brooklin, Ontario). The goal continued an impressive streak for Riddle who has now scored in the last five games which he has played in, scoring two points in each of the last three contests.

Sophomore Chris Hughes (Dundee, Mich.) would put CUW up 2-0 at the 10:15 mark of the opening stanza. Penner, who finished the game with career-high three assists, and freshman Brandt Weldon (The Pas, Manitoba) assisted on the Hughes goal. Penner, like Riddle, has been on a tear recently as he now has five points since the calendar turned to 2014 (two games).

The Falcons came out soaring in the second period as well as Riddle put the team up 3-0 just 47 second after the first intermission. His second goal of the contest was unassisted. SMU (5-7-0) would get their lone goal of the game at the 10:01 mark of the second stanza on a score from Jonathon Elliot.

The Falcons (7-4-3) would put the game away early in the third period scoring two goals 30 seconds apart from one another. Penner made the score 4-1 just 2:04 into the third on a power play goal assisted by Hughes and sophomore Buster Hebda (Firestone, Colo.). Sophomore Devin Stuermer (Milwaukee, Wis.) then put the game out of reach with a goal assisted by sophomore James Poston (Sylvania, Ohio) and senior Dan Shilts (New Richmond, Wis.). Stuermer is another play who has hit his stride as of late, scoring a goal in five straight games.

Sophomore goaltender Domingo Torrenueva (Oshawa, Ontario) continued his impressive play between the pipes, recording 29 saves in the win. Torrenueva has been on a roll since being inserted as the starter on November 30 winning all five games he has started this season.

The five-game winning streak breaks the previous record of four which was set early on last season. The Falcons won four straight from November 2-10 last year. CUW is also unbeaten in its last six games, having tied Bethel University on November 29. The six game unbeaten stretch is also a school record. The Falcons also won their seventh game of the season, tying another school record which was set last season.

The Falcons will look for its sixth straight win tomorrow afternoon when they take on Augsburg College. Augsburg, who is receiving votes in the latest USCHO.com poll, defeated MSOE by a 3-1 score tonight. Puck is set to drop at 4:05 p.m. and live stats will be available courtesy of the Augsburg Athletic Department.