Colorado College pulls off another hard-fought win over Denver tonight to
advance to the Final Five in Milwaukee next weekend. Alot more penalties
(21) and some non-calls that earned a round of "Anderson sucks" from the
fans during the second period. Shots on goal came out even for the game at
29 apiece, though Denver was outshot until the third period.
 
The Tigers wasted no time getting on the board tonight, as Darren Clark
netted one 36 seconds into the first period. CC drew the first penalty 6
minutes later, and Anders Bjork got started on his texas hat trick by
converting on their first power play to even things up. Brian Swanson had
a nice shot from the right circle late in the period during a 4-on-3 for
the Tigers to regain the 1 goal lead.
 
The Tigers showed how much better they play during 4-on-4 situations in
the second period. After Paul Manning received the minor for playing
without a helmet, Denver blew that power play by getting a penalty of
their own 16 seconds later. 13 seconds after 4-on-4 began, Brian Swanson
got his second of the night from right in front of the goal. Denver pulled
back to within one once again on the power play with 5 minutes left in the
period. Soon after that, we got a penalty on Denver, which the Tigers
negated with a penalty of their own 36 seconds later. Then Denver
eliminated their chance at another power play when they got another
penalty about a minute later. During the second 4-on-4 of that, Jason
Gudmundson fired one in from the left circle to make it 4-2. The
scoreboard operators still either need lessons or need to pay better
attention, because after that goal, they took off the Denver penalty, like
it had been a power play instead of 4-on-4. The WCHA officials upstairs
with us corrected them on that one before play resumed.
 
Only one power play opportunity in the third period, which went to Denver,
but a couple of scuffles resulted in coincidentals. Denver got the early
start of the period, as Bjork completed the regular hat trick 59 seconds
in to bring Denver to within one again. Cam Kryway put the Tigers back on
top by two about 7 minutes in, 15 seconds after 4 players had received
trips to the box. The Pioneers made a quick comeback 27 seconds later to
make it 5-4 CC, as Bjork got his 4th goal. We were half expecting overtime
again after this, as Denver was playing well, and the way things had gone
sometimes, they could have easily tied up the game. CC grabbed their two
goal buffer again with less than 5 minutes left on Kryway's second goal of
the night, and everyone waited and hoped it would stay that way. Denver
pulled Stephen Wagner with a little over 2 minutes left for the extra
attacker, but weren't able to get another one past Jason Cugnet. As
Charlie Shub said, it was almost comical the number of shots the Tigers
took at the empty net that went wide or were occasionally blocked by a
Denver player. I was kind of glad they didn't make it in, since I was at
the bottom of the page for the box score and didn't want to have to make
it go to two pages for one more goal. :)
 
Now the Tigers travel to Milwauke to meet Wisconsin in the #2 vs. #3 game
of the Final Five. CC will definitely have revenge on their minds, as the
only games between these two teams so far this year was the opening
weekend at the World Arena, when the Badgers swept them 6-5 and 4-0.
 
 
Karen Heasley
Colorado College '95
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