DE PERE - St. Norbert College responded in a big way in its regular-season finale with a 6-1 win over Adrian College in a matchup of Northern Collegiate Hockey Association rivals at Cornerstone Community Center.
The Green Knights (15-8-2, 12-5-1 NCHA), ranked No. 14 in the USCHO.com Division III Poll, finished one point behind Adrian (19-4-2, 13-4-1) atop the NCHA standings. Adrian took the series opener 6-1 on Friday to clinch the Peters Cup championship. The loss was the worst for Adrian to an NCAA Division III opponent since a 7-0 St. Norbert win on Jan. 25, 2019, at Cornerstone Community Center.
Adrian took a 1-0 lead after one period for the second-straight night when Bradley Somers scored 14 seconds into a power play at the 16:26 mark of the first period.
St. Norbert then got a big boost when
Carter Hottmann scored shorthanded at 2:59 of the second period to bring the Green Knights even. The marker turned momentum to the host in a big way, with
Curtis Hammond following up with a goal at 10:50.
Ben Schmidling then puffed the net at 12:40 to give the Green Knights a 3-1 lead at second intermission.
The Green Knights pulled away in the third period.
Michael McChesney scored his 15th goal of the season at 3:24 of the stanza.
Brock Baker scored at 13:16 and
Adam Stacho followed at 15:50 to close out the scoring.
Hammond, Baker and Stacho all had an assist to finish with two-point games.
Jordan Strand and
Liam Fraser each had two assists.
St. Norbert outshot Adrian 45-27, including 17-5 in the third period.
Colby Entz made 26 saves for the Green Knights, while Nic Tallarico made 39 stops for the Bulldogs.
The Green Knights were 0-for-1 on the power play, while Adrian was 1-for-3.
