Men's Hockey drops Senior Night affair with MSOE

MEQUON, Wis. – The Concordia University Wisconsin Men's Hockey team was shut out on Senior Night, falling to MSOE by a 3-0 score. Despite the loss, CUW still controls its own destiny for the final spot in the NCHA Tournament with one regular season game to go.

Matt Gates (Palatine, Ill.) was honored before the game as the lone senior on the 2014-15 roster. Gates started at center for the Falcons and finished the game with three shots on goal.

The Raiders broke a scoreless tie 5:29 into the second period on a power play goal by Nick LaRue. MSOE would add two third-period goals, one scored by Eric Tien at the 12:16 mark and an empty-netter off the stick of Jerad Tafoya with 1:02 to play, making the final 3-0.

The Falcons ended the night with more shots on goal, finishing with a 31-25 advantage. Unfortunately for CUW, MSOE goaltender Nick Kohn was in the zone all night, stopping all 31 shots he faced. The Falcons got a strong performance from sophomore Jake Hebda (Firestone, Colo.) as he made 22 saves on 24 shots faced.

The two teams combined for 29 penalty minutes on Saturday, MSOE whistled six times for 15 minutes, while the Falcons had seven infractions for 14 minutes in the box. MSOE was 1-for-5 on the power play, while CUW was 0-for-4.

The Falcons head into tomorrow's regular season finale at MSOE knowing a win will clinch them a spot in the NCHA Tournament. A loss by Northland against St. Norbert would also secure a spot for CUW. The game tomorrow at MSOE is set for 7 p.m. at the Kern Center in Milwaukee.