DE PERE - St. Norbert College set a new school record in its storied history by capturing its 17th consecutive win in a wild 10-5 win over Trine University in a Northern Collegiate Hockey Association game at Cornerstone Community Center.
The Green Knights (18-3, 14-0 NCHA) surpassed their previous best of 16 straight wins, set in both 2008 and 2014. The 15 combined goals in the game was also the most in the 22-year history of the Cornerstone Community Center, surpassing several 14-total-goal games.
St. Norbert received a pair of hat tricks from
Peter Bates and
Ben Schmidling. Bates added two assists for a five-point game, moving his season totals to 23 goals and 21 assists for 44 points and his career totals to 60 goals and 83 assists for 113 points. It was his Bates' third hat trick of the season, joining Rob Smillie (four in 1997-98) and Bruce Henderson (three in 1988-89) as the only players to ever have three hat tricks in one year. Bates' 44 points are the most in a season for St. Norbert since Marc Belanger's 45 in 2007-08. His 23 goals are the most since Belanger's 23, also in 2007-08, and is tied for fifth-most in a season in school history. Bates is just the ninth player in St. Norbert history to reach 60 career goals, and his 83 career assists are now tied for fifth-most in school history with Matt Boyd (2007-10).
Trine (14-7, 8-6) took the early lead for the second night in a row when Tyler Fox scored 85 seconds into the game. It didn't take long for St. Norbert to draw even, when Bates scored a power-play goal at 3:59. The Green Knights took the lead when
Carter Hottmann scored at 5:00. The Thunder drew even at 2-2 when Drew Welsch scored a power-play goal at 13:31. The game stayed tied 2-2 at first intermission.
Liam Fraser scored his 15th goal of the season at 3:18 of the second period, with Schmidling following at 5:20 for a 4-2 lead. Schmidling's goal set off a wild three-goal flurry in a 27-second stretch. Trine's Frank Trazzera scored at 5:38, but the Green Knights quickly retook their two-goal lead when Bates scored at 5:47 for a 5-3 lead. Bates then scored again with a power-play goal at 8:07 and a 6-3 advantage. Trazzera scored for the Thunder at 17:48, but Schmidling's goal at 19:28 sent the Green Knights into second intermission with a 7-4 lead.
Schmidling posted the hat trick with a power-play goal at 1:12 of the third period. Trine's Brad Jenison scored a power-play goal at 7:42.
Brock Baker then scored unassisted at 11:33, and
Peyton Frantti's 5-on-3 power-play goal at 12:01 closed out the scoring.
Fraser tallied four assists to score a career-high five points. Frantti had two assists for three points, while
Michael McChesney and
Brendon Gysbers each had two assists for two-point games.
St. Norbert outshot Trine 50-29.
Johnny Roberts made 24 saves for the Green Knights, while Shane Brancato made 40 stops for the Thunder.
The Green Knights were 4-for-7 on the power play, while the Thunder was 2-for-6.
