Tigers stun Pioneers
COLORADO COLLEGE 5, DENVER 4 (2 OT) Top-ranked DU bows to archrival CC in thriller
In a Gold Pan rivalry series that had been lopsided as of late, Colorado College marched into Magness Arena on Friday night and took down top-ranked Denver in a back-and-forth, double-overtime thriller.
Christiano Versich scored the winning goal on a power play, giving the Tigers a 5-4 victory and Colorado College’s first win over Denver since Feb. 22, 2014 — snapping a 14-game losing streak to the Pioneers.
Officially, the game goes down as a tie because no one won after the first overtime. But for the National Collegiate Hockey Conference standings, CC picks up two points for the win (instead of three for a regulation win or 5-on-5 overtime win) while DU gets one point in the loss.
“Give them credit, they played desperate and they deserved what they got tonight,” DU coach Jim Montgomery said. “I thought they were a harder, more committed team throughout their lineup than we were.”
The Tigers put themselves at a disadvantage a minute into the game with a penalty for too many men on the ice, but the Pioneers — second in the nation with a 28.1 conversion percentage heading into the game — couldn’t covert that power play (or the other three power plays they had).
Then it was Colorado College’s turn to take control, and the Tigers possessed the puck so well at times — and so often in Denver’s zone — that it felt they were on the power play more often than they actually were.
Both goalies kept the game scoreless with an array of impressive plays before the Tigers, boomeranging off a DU push that saw the Pioneers nearly light the lamp on several occasions, capitalized on a two-on-one
break when Kristan Blumenschei streaked down the center of the ice behind the defense to put away a crossing pass on goalie Tanner Jaillet’s backside with eight seconds to play in the first.
The Pioneers came out with an increased tempo in the second, finally getting on the board with a Logan O’Connor wraparound goal less than six minutes into the period.
But the Tigers, who found seams in the Pioneers’ defense all evening, both in the zone and by breakaway, took the lead right back 10 minutes later. Mason Bergh threaded a pass between two Denver defenders and right to the stick of Nick Halloran, who put it home for a 2-1 advantage.
Denver then owned the final few minutes of the period, using two goals in the last 1:56 — first by Dylan Gambrell and then via Ian Mitchell’s first score of the season — as the Pioneers took their first lead of the night, a 3-2 advantage, into the third.
Colorado College, looking every bit of the part of a program that’s ascending toward its highest win total since 2013, stormed back in the third with Halloran’s second goal of the night, this time off a loose rebound in front of the net.
And just when it looked like the Pioneers had dealt the game’s knockout blow with Jaakko Heikkinen’s goal in traffic with 2:28 left to make it 4-3, the Tigers pulled their goalie and tied the game 4-4 when Mason Bergh knocked the puck through a scrum in front of the net and past Jaillet with only 6.8 seconds to play — eventually setting up the Tigers for the victory in double overtime.
“I thought guys panicked a little bit — that guy had all day to shoot that puck,” Montgomery said. “Everyone just stood at the net front and watched, instead of going to pressure and block the shot so it doesn’t get into the crease area or hash-marks area.”
The teams meet again Saturday night in Colorado Springs.