Marian University men’s hockey (13-6-1, 9-6-1 NCHA) closed out the game with five unanswered goals to defeat Concordia Wisconsin 7-4.

Both offenses came out scoring with the two squads combining for three goals in the first 4:37 of the game.  The Falcons opened the scoring just 1:37 in before junior Anthony Orubor scored his second goal of the season with assists from freshman Daylan Marchi and senior Lawson MacDonald at the 3:53 mark.

Concordia Wisconsin then retook the lead at the 4:37 mark and extended their advantage to 3-1 with a goal at the 15:54 mark.  The Sabres responded when sophomore Blaine Caton scored on the power play, his eighth goal of the season, with just 41.7 seconds remaining. He was assisted by seniors Davis Ross and Conner Blanck.  This put Marian behind 3-2 after the opening period.

The second period was dominated by Marian but the Falcons opened the scoring taking a 4-2 lead at the 4:25 mark.  Just 37 seconds later, freshman Ty Enns would light the lamp to bring the deficit back down to one with assists from sophomores Gianni Vitali and Salvatore Scalise.  Enns then lit the lamp a second time, this time on the power play, just 3:23 later to tie the game at 4-4, assists to Vitali and senior Brett Radford.

Blanck was then able to give Marian their first lead of the game with his seventh goal of the season at the 13:59 mark, assists to sophomores Yuri Chernichko and Troy Ring.  Marian closed out the period with a power-play goal from senior Nolan Ross, his third of the year, with just over four minutes remaining, assists to Ross, D. and Blanck.  This closed out a period that saw Marian outshoot the Falcons 17-6.

The final period saw only one goal but also caused the hats to fly at Blue Line as Enns was able to corral his own rebound at the point and send a wrister past the glove of the CUW goalie for a hat trick, his seventh tally of the season.  Sophomore Parker Colley assisted the goal which came at the 4:22 mark.

The Sabres finished with a 45-27 advantage in shots led by Caton who had a game-high seven shots.  In a relief appearance, senior Hunter Vorva (10-4-1) stopped 19 shots over 44:06 only allowing one goal.

The Marian special teams once again posted a perfect night scoring on all three power-play opportunities, while holding the Falcons scoreless on just one man-advantage.

Marian closes out their series with CUW on the road Saturday, February 1 for a 7 p.m. puck drop.

–FightBlueFight—