DE PERE – St. Norbert College throttled Concordia Univeristy Wisconsin 8-1 in a Northern Collegiate Hockey Association Harris Cup quarterfinal at Cornerstone Community Center.
The Green Knights (21-5), ranked No. 6 in the USCHO.com Division III poll, had a spectacular night to open the conference tournament, with Curtis Hammond (pictured) scoring a hat trick and Liam Fraser setting a new NCAA Division III record with his tenth game winning goal of the season.
The Green Knights started the scoring at 13:40 in the first period, with senior defenseman Adam Szubert scoring just his second career goal. Fraser followed his goal just over two minutes later, scoring the winner at 15:54 off assists from Dayton Deics and Logan Dombrowsky.
It seemed like the second period was the one that kept on giving for St. Norbert, scoring four goals in the period to put the Green Knights up 6-0 after 10:42 in the period. Brock Baker scored just after the second period began at 1:30, while Jack Christen scored on a power play at 4:29. Hammond scored back-to-back goals at 5:12 and 10:42 to give St. Norbert the six-goal advantage.
The Falcons did score one goal in the period, coming near the end at 18:17 from Sawyer Wirsing.
Hammond completed his hat trick in the third period at 9:06, with his three goals all coming in a row for St. Norbert. Blake Ulve added one final blow to Concordia at 15:25, putting the Green Knights up 8-1 with less than five minutes to play.
Hammond and Gustav Portillo finished with three points each, with Portillo recording a hat trick of assists. Dombrowsky, T.J. Koufis and Calvin Hanson finished with two assists each for two points, while Szubert finished with a goal and an assist. Mark Snarr, Byron Hartley, Braden Lindstrom and Ethan Bryne all finished with one assist.
St. Norbert outshot the Falcons 54-18. Hunter Garvey made 17 stops for the Green Knights. Gabe Rosek made 17 saves for Concordia, while Cameron Hrdicka made 29 in relief.
St. Norbert went 1-for-2 on the power play while the Falcons went 0-for-2.
