DE PERE - St. Norbert College eked past Aurora University 2-1 to open a two-game Northern Collegiate Hockey Association series in a well-played game at Cornerstone Community Center.

The Green Knights (11-3, 7-0 NCHA), ranked No. 12 in the USCHO.com Division III Poll, won for the 10th consecutive outing. Aurora (10-4-1, 6-3) had an extra attacker on the ice for the last 1:45 of the game but couldn't force overtime.

Following a scoreless first period, St. Norbert scored at 7:56 of the second period when Ben Schmidling converted a 5-on-3 power-play goal. Schmidling's goal was his first from the year, a snipe from the right faceoff circle off assists from Brendan Aird and Jordan Strand.

Aurora tied the game at 10:54 of the second period when Dylan Rauh stripped St. Norbert goaltender Colby Entz of the puck behind the net and Nate Keeley finished to make it a 1-1 game. St. Norbert didn't wait long to pull ahead, with Peter Bates converting a rebound opportunity at 12:44 for his 14th goal of the season. Peyton Frantti and Liam Fraser assisted.

St. Norbert outshot Aurora 11-6 in a scoreless third period. The Spartans had two power-play chances in the first nine minutes of the final 20 minutes but didn't convert.

The Green Knights outshot the Spartants 34-27. Entz made 26 saves to outduel Aurora's Josh Boyko, who made 32 stops.

St. Norbert was 1-for-5 on the power play, while Aurora was 0-for-6.