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MOORHEAD, Minn. (1/29/10)-- Fans of penalties, face-offs and shots on goal were treated to a dream game on Friday in Moorhead as Concordia and St. Ben's combined for 32 penalty minutes, 87 face-offs and 83 shots on goal but had to settle for a 4-4 overtime tie.

The tie keeps the Cobbers unbeaten in their last five games but takes a point away from their playoff chase. CC is now 9-6-1 in overall games and 4-4-1 in the MIAC. Concordia is currently one point out of a two-way tie for fifth place. The Blazers remain winless in the conference but earn their third tie of the year. CSB is now 2-11-3 in all games and 0-6-3 in league play.

The Cobbers looked like they would run away from St. Ben's in the second period. Concordia grabbed a 4-1 lead in the seventh minute of the second frame when Kayla Thorson scored at 6:29. The Blazers would then slowly chip away at the three-goal deficit. CSB scored a single goal in the final six minutes of the middle period and then added a pair of goal in the final frame to complete the comeback. Gretchen Leyendecker brought St. Ben's to within two at 4-2 and then Holly Reinking scored her first goal of the season at 9:05 of the third before Amie Ernst pounced on a rebound at 16:51 to tie the game and send it into the extra period.

Concordia opened the scoring just 1:54 into the game when Kayla Hendrickson scored her fourth goal of the season. Jenna Westerham then posted the first of her two goals of the game. She scored at 6:29 of the first period and then added her seventh goal of the season at 5:19 of the second period.

The game was chopped up by a steady flow of penalties that started in the second period and continued all the way into overtime. The two teams combined to take 16 penalties for 32 penalty minutes. At times it looked like the two referees were auditioning for a Sure deodorant commercial as they kept raining their hands to signal another penalty. In the end, the Cobber power play might have been the team's undoing as CC went scoreless in their six extra-player attempts. St. Ben's was 2-for-8 on their man-advantage situations.

Not only was the game segmented by penalties, there were also numerous whistles for icing, frozen pucks and offsides. The game featured 87 face-offs - that total is about 30 more than the usual average of about 50-60 per game.

The Cobbers posted a season-high 52 shots on goal but could only manage four goals. The 52 shots are the most since Jan. 13 of the 2000-01 season when they put up 60 against St. Olaf. St. Ben's had 31 shots in the game.

Cobber freshman goalie Desiree Goret stopped 27 shots and is now 4-1-1 on the season. CSB netminder Lauren Herzog made 48 saves and moved her overall to 1-6-2 on the year.

The two teams will finish off their two-game series on Saturday, Jan. 30 at 2 p.m. at the Moorhead Sports Center.