DE PERE - St. Norbert College won the opener of its Northern Collegiate Hockey Association Harris Cup Playoffs quarterfinal series against Marian University with a 5-2 win at Cornerstone Community Center.
The Green Knights (16-8-2), who have won 45 consecutive games in the quarterfinal round of the NCHA Playoffs, need either a win or a tie in Game 2 of the series to advance to the Harris Cup semifinals.
St. Norbert got the early jump, taking a 2-0 first-period lead.
Adam Szubert scored his first goal of the season at 5:35, while
Adam Stacho redirected a punk in at the 12:40 mark.
The Green Knights doubled their lead when
Michael Spethmann scored at 2:45 of the second period, and Stacho converted for the 11th time this year after he slickly toedragged a defender and beat Marian goaltender Colby Muise at 12:00. The Sabres would get a shorthanded goal at 17:24 of the period to cut the deficit to 4-1 at second intermission.
Michael McChesney gave St. Norbert a 5-1 lead when he pumped home his 16th goal of the season with a marker at 3:54 of the third period. Marian finished the scoring with Jack Sampson's power-play goal - his second score of the night - with 20 seconds remaining.
Stacho had an assist for a three-point game, while Spethmann had a helper for a two-point game. Brock baker had two assists to also score two points.
St. Norbert outshot Marian 40-28, including 16-5 in the third period.
Colby Entz made 26 saves for the Green Knights, while Muise had 35 saves for Marian.
The Green Knights were 0-for-6 on the power play, while Marian was 1-for-3.
