It’s been a great couple of weeks for Colorado College hockey. Their three-game winning streak is the longest since February 2014. It started when the Tigers defeated the Air Force Academy on Nov. 27 and kept going this past weekend when the Tigers swept Miami University.
This is the Tigers’ first home sweep against a league opponent since November 2012, when the Tigers were still a member of the WCHA. Now it seems like the tides may finally be turning for the Tigers in their current league, the NCHC.
“I think winning is a habit,” said Head Coach Mike Haviland. “Once you start to win, you get confident and you feel good about yourself…It’s amazing to see where we’ve gone from the start of this year.”
The Friday game against Miami started off slow. Neither team got on the board until about halfway through the second period, when Miami managed a slapshot past freshman goalie Jacob Nehama. The second period ended with Miami in the lead, 1-0.
But the RedHawks’ first goal of the game proved to be their last. The Tigers came back in the third period ready to win. At the period’s midway point, the Tigers got on the board with a goal by senior forward Hunter Fejes.
Junior forward Luc Gerdes forced a Miami turnover and got the puck to Fejes. From the blue line Fejes sent a shot racing past Miami’s goalie, evening the score with less than ten minutes left in the game.
Teamwork continued to be key when Gerdes won a faceoff and sent the puck to junior forward Sam Rothstein who took it towards the goal just in time to find Fejes, who made his second and the winning goal of the game.
The game ended 2-1, giving CC their first NCHC victory of the season. But the Tigers’ success wasn’t over. They returned to take on Miami for a second time on Saturday.
“You’ve got to kind of leave it all out there,” said Fejes. “Find the rest of the fuel you have in the tank to win that second game because, in our conference, winning back-to-back games is extremely hard. For us we just had to find a way.”
Once again, Miami got on the board first, this time with the only goal of the first period. But Miami’s lead didn’t last long. A little over halfway through the second period, the Tigers tied the game with some brotherly cooperation. Freshman defenseman Andrew Farny sent a shot wide, which freshman forward Trey Bradley then collected and tapped towards his brother, senior forward Cody Bradley, who fired it in from the side of the net.
Six minutes later, the Tigers scored again, pulling into the lead. Junior forward Matt Hansen had a shot on goal that was saved by Miami’s goalie but then freshman Mason Bergh backhanded the puck into the net. With just 1:12 left, Miami managed to even the score.
The third period started 2-2 and remained that way for most of the period. Once again, it was a great assist from Gerdes to Fejes that secured CC the win. Gerdes forced another Miami turnover and sent the puck to Fejes who was racing ahead of the pack. At the 1:13 mark, Fejes made his third goal of the weekend and got the Tigers their third consecutive victory. The game ended 3-2.
Fejes partially credits the Air Force win with how the team performed against Miami.
“We had to get the first one under our belt,” said Fejes. “Since we have such a young team, we had to get them some confidence and us older guys as well, going through that losing streak is not easy. When you get that first win, everyone kind of believes and I think that’s what happened and we were able to carry that into the next weekend against Miami.”
Miami had really stepped it up with shots on goal, totaling 36 on Saturday to CC’s 24. But they were no match for Nehama who made 34 saves that night and 20 saves on Friday. Nehama has since been named the NCHC Rookie of the Week.
“They never got down, they never gave up and now they’re getting rewarded for their hard work,” said Haviland. “We’ve got another tough weekend coming in, but we feel good about ourselves as a team and we understand our team identity and how we have to play to be successful.”
This weekend the Tigers travel to Kalamazoo, Mich. to play Western Michigan on Dec. 11 and 12. “Going into Western Michigan this weekend is exciting,” said Fejes. “We’re tied with them in the standings right now and one of us is basically going to leap over the other one.”