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November 23, 2004
Piper men’s hockey frozen by power-houses St. Norbert and Lake Forest
The momentum gained by their 5-4 win over Eau Claire was not enough to help the Piper men’s hockey team overturn St. Norbert or Lake Forest.
Against St. Norbert, the Pipers opened the game with five shots on goal, but the Green Knights quickly countered and scored three goals in the final seven minutes of the first period.
Trailing 3-0 at the start of the second period, Piper Lubos Taragel scored his first goal of the season at the 3:55 mark. He was assisted by Mike Forconi and Cody Drysdale.
Unfortunately, St. Norbert furthered their lead with two power-play goals to end the second period.
The third period saw no Hamline goals and two more St. Norbert goals.
Green Knight forward Troy Boisjoli had a hat trick on the contest.
Hamline was outshot 33-18, and Piper goaltender John Harstad made 26 saves in the 7-1 loss.
The Pipers (1-3) were also defeated the following day when they hosted Lake Forest.
The Foresters took an early 1-0 lead, but Hamline was able to counter with a Taragel goal.
Drysdale and Forconi provided the assists on the goal.
Forester Tyler Canal broke the tie with a short-handed goal and scored the eventual game winner with 4:06 remaining in the first period.
Forester Cory Wilson also netted two goals in the contest. He scored the lone goal of the second period and opened scoring in the third period at the 2:40 mark.
Junior defenseman Shane Wagner scored his first goal of the season on a power-play opportunity with just under four minutes remaining in the final period.
During the contest, the Pipers generated quite a bit of offense, outshooting Lake Forest 30-26, but were unable to get more than two goals past Forester goaltender Cody Brown.
Hamline’s Harstad blocked 20 shots for the Pipers in the 6-2 loss.
The two recent losses to strong opponents have given the Pipers a chance to examine their defense.
As a result of a recent NCAA crackdown on several penalties, there are many more power-play opportunities. Both of these contribute to high shot counts and more high-quality shots.
Senior goaltender John Harstad has “played tremendously” through these less-than-favorable conditions and helped the Pipers defensively, Piper coach Chris Brown said.
Hamline will next play on Saturday, Nov. 27, at Northland. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
They next face Northland at 2 p.m. the following Sunday.
Posted by msveum at November 23, 2004 11:25 AM
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