Quarterfinal #3 Review: CUW flummoxed by Lewis but uses late flurry to earn semifinal berth
Quarterfinal #3 – #1 Concordia University WI pulls away late against #8 Lewis University:
A well placed pass from Scott Pickands, to Jake Welninski, allowed Welninski to put the puck five hole and give Lewis the game’s first lead 4:02 into the opening stanza. The lead would last until the 10:38 mark when, right as the Concordia University WI penalty expired, Lucas Krueser, in a foot race, beat Michael Fischer with a backhand shot into the upper left corner to tie the game. At 11:53, a loose puck found Josh McDonald sitting on the left hash who then threw a shot on net and beat Ian Robertson, giving Lewis the lead once again. A vast majority of the remaining time in period one was spent in the CUW offensive zone but they were not able to put another puck in the net, with a lot of that credit going to Fischer as he made a number of big saves.
The second period started with CUW in a precarious position, one they have not been in much this season, behind on the scoreboard. Even with two powerplay opportunities in the first half of the second, CUW could not find the back of the net. Things got worse when Matthew Moro took a pass on the CUW blue line from Jack Sellman and got behind the CUW defense. With new CUW goaltender Mack Willy the only one between him and Lewis’s third goal, Moro was not going to be denied and let go a wrister from the top of the slot that made it 3-1 at 10:31. The two goal advantage did not last long as at 11:23 Samuel Weiss picked up a loose puck in front of the net and pulled CUW back within one.
CUW took an early penalty to start the third period but were able to kill it off and stay within one. The gates opened at the 4:17 mark when Thomas Cassel, assisted by Jacob Palmerio, finished off a 3-on-2 to tie the game at three. The tie game would last all of 21 seconds before Ian Malcolmson, assisted by Palmerio, gave CUW their first lead of the game at 4-3. Michael Fradette, assisted by Trenton Sherman, used the left crossbar to increase the CUW lead to two with 3:28 left in regulation. The score became 6-3 when Lucas Krueser danced around Fischer at 17:41 and slid the puck across the goal line. As the final horn sounded, to bring the game to a close, CUW earned a hard fought place in the semifinals with the 6-3 victory.
