The Colorado College men’s hockey team dropped two close games last weekend to No. 7 ranked Miami of Ohio at the World Broadmoor Area.
It’s no secret that the Tigers, now 5-21-1, 1-16-1 in the NCHC, have struggled to produce wins this season.
“We need to find the next level of play and figure out how to put the puck in the net and start to close out teams rather than playing from behind,” said senior captain Charlie Taft. “We know that we can play with the top teams in the country, now it’s just a matter of execution.”
Unfortunately, the Tigers were unable to fully execute in last Friday night’s 3-1 loss to Miami. CC sophomore forward Luc Gerdes opened the scoring with a rebound goal early in the first period, but the Red Hawks retaliated just 26 seconds later with a goal of their own. Two more unanswered Red Hawk goals followed in the remaining periods.
CC goalie Tyler Marble finished the game with 31 saves, as the Red Hawks outshot the Tigers 34-23 for the night.
“We gave up both a power play goal and a shorthanded goal which shouldn’t happen,” said Taft. “We also took some bad penalties, including two too many men penalties that set us back late in the game.”
The Tigers put up another good fight Saturday night, but ultimately fell to the Red Hawks 2-1.
After a scoreless first period, Miami went ahead at the 12:59 mark of the second period. Gerdes took a hooking penalty later in the period, and the Red Hawks were able to put away another goal to make it 2-0. With just 53 seconds remaining in the second, Scott Wamsganz cut the lead in half with a power play goal off a cross from junior Cody Bradley.
CC controlled most of the action in the third period. It looked as if the Tigers would tie things up with 9:05 left in the game when junior Cody Bradley knocked home a rebound off of a shot from junior Hunter Fejes. But after lengthy review, the goal was waved off for goaltender interference. The Tigers almost evened the score again with 2:45 left in the game when Slavin blasted a shot off the crossbar.
“I think we fought hard and delivered a solid team effort this weekend,” said Marble. “The guys did a great job blocking shots and clearing out the front of the net.”
“Our work ethic was there this weekend, but we definitely need to bear down on our chances and score more goals,” added Taft. “We also knew we needed to stay out of the penalty box, and not being able to capitalize on that hurt us both nights.”
The Tigers have a chance to redeem themselves this weekend as they take on No. 9 University of Denver at home on Friday night and then at DU on Saturday.