Last weekend the Tigers traveled to play a two-game series against fellow NCHC member University of Minnesota Duluth. The series followed the consistent pattern of the season: CC lost both games.
The Tigers haven’t won a single game in a two-game series since the season opening series against University of Alabama-Huntzville. Also following the season pattern, the Tigers lost by a higher margin in the second game.
The first game, held on Friday, started off promisingly for the Tigers. Sophomore forward Sam Rothstein scored the first goal of the game during a power play at the 10:06 mark. The goal was Rothstein’s first of the season. The Tigers held that 1-0 lead for the rest of the period.
The Tigers even managed to increase the lead in the second period. Junior forward Hunter Fejes made a great goal only a few minutes in. Fejes received a pass from junior forward Cody Bradley at the Minnesota Duluth blue line and then held off a UMD defender all the way down the ice to the net. Fejes then sent his shot in between the legs of UMD’s goalie.
Later in the second period, the tides started turning in UMD’s favor. They cut the Tigers’ lead in half at the 7:11 mark. But still, it looked like it could be a victory for the Tigers. The Tiger defense held off UMD for the rest of the second period and most of the third.
With a quick rebound shot after a successful block by freshman goalie Chase Perry, UMD tied things up with only a few minutes left in the third period. The game was sent into overtime. This is only the second time all season that the Tigers have held a lead after the first and second periods.
UMD scored the only goal of the overtime period at the 3:32 mark. The game ended with a UMD win, 3-2. Perry made 30 saves and CC did beat UMD in power plays, capitalizing on one out of three, while UMD failed to capitalize on any of their four power plays.
While Friday’s game was a close battle, Saturday was less successful. UMD scored the first goal early into the first period at the 5:39 mark. Similar to Fejes’ impressive goal the previous night, UMD got the puck at the CC blue line and brought it down the ice. The following shot deflected off of senior defenseman Ian Young’s skate into the Tigers’ net.
The score remained 1-0 in UMD’s favor for the rest of the first period. In the second period, UMD extended their lead less than two minutes in. A few minutes later, UMD scored again during a power play.
The third period started similarly to the second with a quick goal from UMD. UMD’s lead was 4-0 after a goal at the 1:22 mark made off a rebound shot. The Tigers finally got on the board with a power play goal by junior forward Jared Hanson at the 5:26 mark. A couple minutes later, senior forward Scott Wamsganz battled through to score while on his knees with two UMD players draped on him. But the Tigers were unable to come back from UMD’s sizeable lead.
At the 9:51 mark, UMD increased their lead to 5-2. Then, in the final minutes of the period, UMD scored two goals only 1:07 apart. The final score was a second win for UMD, 7-2. During the game, UMD attempted 43 shots, which is the largest shot total by any CC opponent this season. The Tigers only had 18, which is their second lowest shot total this season.
On Dec. 12 and 13, the Tigers are traveling to Kalamazo, Michigan for their last games before the winter break. The Tigers have their fifth two-game series of the season against Western Michigan University.