College hockey at its finest made an appearance at World Arena in Colorado Springs Saturday night. An intense, traditional rivalry; teams fighting for playoff positioning; and a highlight-reel goal way up on the WOW! meter. Colorado College came back from two goals down to tie Denver 2-2, and in the process reclaimed the Gold Pan Trophy by winning the season series with the Pioneers 2-1-1.
"It was a lot of fun. These were exciting games," said Tiger winger Jaden Schwartz about the weekend series that saw the team climb over Denver back into third place in the WCHA. "We battled through some adversity," Schwartz added, talking about the loss of center Nick Dineen and goalie Josh Thorimbert to injury during the game.
The Pioneers came out ready to make amends for the 2-0 loss they suffered at home on Friday. Senior Nate Dewhurst got his first goal of the season 2:34 into the game. Denver made it 2-0 with a pretty power play goal at the 8:42 mark. A series of crisp passes set up Drew Shore in the slot, and he got his 17th goal of the year.
The score stayed that way until a four-on-four situation in the second period. Late in that timeframe, Jaden Schwartz collected the puck just inside the Tiger blue line. He proceeded then to skate up the middle, and somehow managed to split three Denver defenders inside the Pioneer blue line, and then still had a moment for a quick deke before beating Pioneer goalie Juho Olkinuora for the Tigers first goaland his tenth of the season. "I found them a little flat-footed," Schwartz explained of his spectacular rush. "I knew I still had a moment there at the end."
"When he scored, and the way it was scored, really energized the whole building," said head coach Scott Owens. "The fashion to make it, and the statement he made by scoring like that."
At that point the SRO crowd of 7,733 was totally into the game. Just under three minutes later the Tigers knotted the score at the tail end of a major power play. Defenseman Gabe Guentzel kept the puck in the attacking zone with a nice stick play that was close to being a high stick. Seconds later Rylan Schwartz found Jeff Collett near the goal for a redirect past Olkinuora, his fifth tally of the year.
Right after that, Thorimbert got barreled into by a player from each side. He would not return, and Joe Howe was summoned to enter just past the halfway point of the game. "Howe has the mental wherewithal to come in like that," Owens said. "He practices every day like he's going to start."
And Howe was sharp for the remainder of the game, earning the decision by staying calm and making some big stops, especially a circus save just over two minutes into the overtime.
So CC currently stands five points behind league leader Minnesota, and one point ahead of the Pioneers. Their mark is now 12-7-1 in the conference, and 15-9-2 overall. They travel to Bemidji State next weekend for a pair against the 9th-place Beavers.
Blue Lines
Air Force overcame a 1-0 deficit after two periods to knock off RIT 4-1 at Cadet Ice Arena. The win put the Falcons into sole possession of first place in Atlantic Hockey, one point ahead of Mercyhurst. Adam McKenzie and Tim Kirby notched goals in the first 2:01 of the third period, and the Falcons held the lead through to the end. RIT slipped into a tie for third in the conference with Niagara, who will be the Falcons opponent next weekend.
The new National Collegiate Hockey Conference that Colorado College will be a part of starting in the fall of 2013 has signed a national television agreement with CBS Sports Network. The multiyear deal will consist of a minimum of 18 conference games, including the semifinals and finals of the conference tournament. NCHC commissioner Jim Scherr said, "We are delighted to be associated with the preeminent national broadcaster of college hockey. It is our goal to be the premier single-sport conference in intercollegiate athletics, and the unmatched exposure and production quality that will be provided by CBS Sports Network will contribute significantly to realizing that vision."
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