Box Score Box Score

The CSS men's hockey team lost a four-goal lead and settled for a 4-4 tie with the University of Wisconsin-Stout Blue Devils in the NCHA Peters Cup quarterfinal game on Friday night at Mars Lakeview Arena.

The tie with UW-Stout (8-16-2) gives each team one point going into tomorrow night's matchup in Duluth.  A team needs at least three points to advance to the semi-final next weekend so a win tomorrow night is needed to move on.

The Saints started strong as Alex Valenti (Blaine, Wash./Bellingham HS (Merritt-BCHL) ) scored unassisted just 54 seconds into the game to give CSS an early 1-0 lead.

The Saints offense continued at the 12:23 mark when Brenden Bradbury (Winnipeg, Manitoba/Monticello HS/Vincent Massey Collegiate (Waywayseecappo-MJHL) ) scored his second goal of the year assisted by Cody Danychuk (Biggar, Saskatchewan/Biggar HS (Waywayseecappo-MJHL) ) to make it 2-0 in favor of St. Scholastica.

Four minutes later Dave Williams (Okotoks, Alberta/Athol Murray College of Notre Dame (Waywayseecappo-MJHL) ) got in on the action scoring a shorthanded goal from Brandon Nowakowski (Calgary, Alberta/Central Memorial HS (Calgary Royals-AJHL)) to put the Saints up 3-0 heading into the first intermission.

The Blue Devils replaced starting goalie Tom Lescovich with Nick Hopper to begin the second period.  It didn't seem to make much difference to CSS as Tyler Miller (Fort Frances, Ontario/Rainy River HS (Thunder Bay-SIJHL) ) scored a power play goal 1:20 into the period from Carter Davis (Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan/Central Collegiate (Waywayseecappo-MJHL) ) and Brett Corcoran (Parksville, British Columbia/Ballenas Secondary (Trail Smoke-BCHL) ) to give the Saints a 4-0 advantage.

The game would go 17 minutes without a goal from that point but the drought was broken by Stout's Zach Vierling as the Blue Devils finally answered to cut the Saints' lead to 4-1.  Garrett Grimstad and Sam Carr earned assists on the play.  The Saints would hold onto the three-goal advantage heading into intermission number two.

The Blue Devils cut the lead down by another goal 4:47 into the third when Carr scored on assists from Vierling and Grimstad to make it 4-2 CSS.

With just under five minutes to go in the game the Blue Devils continued to chip away at the lead when Grimstad scored an unassisted goal to make it 4-3 Saints.

Chris Stafne would prove to be the Blue Devils saving grace when he found the back of the net with under two minutes to left to tie the game up at four a piece.  Casey Kirley and Jordan Tredinnick were credited with assists on the play.  The tying goal was the last of regulation and the teams prepared for an overtime period.

The overtime period was a physical one as the Saints and Blue Devils fought for the game-winner.  Both teams had golden opportunities with less than 30 seconds to go in the extra period but neither could convert and the game ended in a 4-4 tie.

Colin Rundell (Tees, Alberta/Lacombe Composite (Alaska-Fairbanks) ) made 42 saves for the Saints in the tie and his record on the season is now 11-7-5.

Corcoran's assist gives him a team leading 33 points on the season with 17 goals and 16 assists.  Davis' assist and Miller's goal put them in a three-way tie for second with Jeremy Dawes (Winnipeg, Manitoba/College Jeanne Suave (Portage-MJHL) ) all having 25 points this year. 

The Saints (14-7-5) and Blue Devils will meet again tomorrow night at Mars Lakeview Arena for game two of the quarterfinal series.  The 7:05 p.m. puck drop can be seen live on the GameCentral portal at csssaints.com