COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Firing 40 shots on goal on the road is normally an ingredient for success. Allowing a season-high 41 shots and taking eight penalties, however, tends to make the recipe go bad.
Colorado College scored twice in each of the first two periods to build a 4-0 lead, and sophomore goalie Joe Howe tied his season high with 38 saves, keying a 4-2 Tigers win over the Fighting Sioux tonight at World Arena.
CC jumped out to a 2-0 lead within the game's first eight minutes on goals by Dakota Eveland and Alexander Krushelnyski. The Sioux tilted the ice heavily in their favor for the final 15 minutes of the period, attempting 30 shots and getting 20 of them on goal, but could not solve Howe.
Just under six minutes into the second period, CC's Jeff Collett knocked home a Krushelnyski rebound for his second goal of the season, a tally that would prove to be the eventual game-winner. William Rapuzzi stretched the lead to 4-0 with a power-play goal at 17:08 of the middle frame, beating Sioux goalie Aaron Dell (So., Airdrie, Alberta) with a turnaround wrist shot from the slot.
The Sioux, now 18-8-2 and 13-6-0 in the WCHA, were outshot 19-7 in the second period.
"They had a good second period," said UND head coach Dave Hakstol of the 20th-ranked Tigers. "We gave up too many opportunities from grade-A scoring areas."
UND junior winger Jason Gregoire ignited a brief Sioux rally with a pair of third-period goals. He walked around CC's Archie Skalbeck at the top of the circle and beat Howe up high at 9:03, and then added a shorthanded goal with the Sioux killing a two-man disadvantage with 6:36 remaining. Gregoire was sprung by an Andrew MacWilliam breakaway pass on the second goal, which gave the Sioux life.
However, just one minute after Gregoire cut the lead in half, junior Mario Lamoureux (Grand Forks, N.D.) was assessed a 5-minute major and game misconduct for contact to the head, essentially snuffing out the Sioux rally.
"They (penalties) may not have been the sole reason we lost the hockey game," said Hakstol. "but they sure didn't give us an opportunity to win the hockey game. It wasn't a good team game for us. We need a heck of a lot better, and we'll start to look forward to tomorrow night."
UND, trailing idle Denver by one point in the WCHA standings, missed an opportunity to reclaim first place with the loss.
The Tigers went 1-for-6 on the power-play, although the game's first goal came just as UND's Brad Malone (Sr., Miramichi, New Brunswick) stepped out of the penalty box.
The Sioux went 0-for-3 with the man advantage.
Dell finished with 36 saves.
Compounding UND's difficult night, captain Chay Genoway (Sr., Morden, Manitoba) left the game with an injury in the second period and did not return. Hakstol said Genoway will not play on Saturday, but could not provide a prognosis beyond that.
The two teams will face off again Saturday night at 7:07 Mountain.
- Go Sioux -
