Brothers lead Cards to victory

Tibaudo hat trick lifts SVSU over Delta 5-2

October 1, 2007 —

by Adam Baudoux

Jon Tibaudo scores his first of three goals on Saturday, giving him his second hat trick in as many days. Tibaudo has accounted for six of the team's nine total goals on the season. The Cards finished the weekend 2-1.

What would SVSU hockey be without the Tibaudos?

The Tibaudo brothers, Jon and Chris, combined for four goals in SVSU's 5-2 victory over Delta College on Saturday.

By the end of the third period, Jon Tibaudo had his third goal of the game and second hat trick within two days. His first had occured Friday night when the team played against Lansing Community College in Lansing.

"My linemates are out there working the puck around," Tibaudo explained. "They are giving me plenty of scoring opportunities."

Chris, was in awe of his younger brother's effort.

"You don't see that every day."

Coach Steve Hart also commented on Jon's play, saying, "He's one of those kids that's got natural talent. He's a team player; he uses the ice well and he sets up the players well."

Late in the first period, during a power play, a turnover in the neutral zone led to a breakway, and Jon's first goal of the night.

With a bit of help from his brother, Chris scored a power-play goal, a back hand in the high slot, shortly after returning to the ice after a hooking penalty. Teammates Jake Trombley and Brian Jensen also assisted on the goal.

Less than two minutes later, Jon scored his second goal of the game, giving the Cardinals a 3-1 lead.

Jon and Chris worked well together to help the team to victory as Chris commented, "There's no rivalry, it's just great seeing both of us succeed and watch the team win."

The second period ended with a save by senior goalie Brad Altenbernt of a penalty shot taken by Delta. Altenbernt's net wasn't as tight Saturday as it had been Friday night in the 4-0 shutout against LCC, but he still only let up two goals to help the team fasten the win.

Delta came back in the third period hoping to catch up to the Cardinals. Instead they took two consecutive roughing penalties.

The Pioneers were given a chance to score with 9:17 left in the third as Saginaw turned the puck over in the neutral zone. The breakaway led to a wrist shot that went high.

During the first period, penalties seemed to be a problem for the Cardinals. They spent half of the period in the penalty box.

"Some penalties are something that you can't control, and the refs were making some questionable calls," Coach Hart commented. "The ones we can control are the retaliation penalties and those are the ones we like to focus on."

Penalities in the third period were not as much of a problem as they had been at the start of the game, resulting in the Cards' ability to keep the lead.

However, with 5:46 left in the third, an SVSU penalty led directly to a Delta 5 on 3 powerplay goal. Saginaw successfully killed the penalty, - the second 5 on 3 disadvantage they killed in the third - and kept their two goal lead.

The Cardinals came right back as Jon Tibaudo scored his third goal of the night, assisted by junior Doug Greene and captain Pat Miller.

With 23 seconds left to go, freshman Alex Lajoie scored the fifth and final goal for the Cardinals, assisted by Jon Tibaudo and junior Matt Fogal.

Next week the Cardinals will have the opportunity to compete in the Division 3 showcase in Iowa.