College men's hockey: UMD's power play sparks big night in win at CC

That's exactly what happened for No. 15 UMD, which went 3-for-6 on power plays in a 6-5 win over Colorado College in NCHC play Friday, Jan. 12, at Broadmoor World Arena in Colorado Springs.

The win by the Bulldogs (10-9-3 overall, 4-7 NCHC) creates a three-way tie for sixth in the conference along with the Tigers (9-9-3, 3-6-2) and Nebraska-Omaha. UMD and CC meet again at 6:07 p.m. today.

Junior center Peter Krieger and sophomore wing Riley Tufte, playing on the top line together, each finished with two goals and two assists Friday.

UMD jumped out to a 6-4 lead after the second period thanks to two goals and an assist by Tufte. All three of his points came in succession as he increased his scoring totals to 10 goals and 15 points.

Tufte tied the game with a one-timer on a power play at 3:32, gave UMD a 5-4 lead at 14:02 and then set up Krieger on a tic-tac-toe play with less than five minutes to go in the second.

Krieger also had three points in the period — a goal and two assists — all in succession like Tufte.

The Bulldogs and Tigers battled to a 3-3 draw in the first period with UMD cashing in on two of its three power plays to tie the game twice.

Krieger scored UMD's lone even-strength goal of the period just 31 seconds into the game.

Freshman wing Kobe Roth, with his first collegiate goal, tied the game at 2-2 on another power play after deflecting in a shot by senior center Jared Thomas, the Hermantown native who later deflected in a shot by sophomore defenseman Jarod Hilderman.

Sophomore wing Nick Halloran, who came into the game with 11 goals, scored two of the Tigers' first-period goals. His second came on a 5-on-3 power play that resulted from Roth and freshman defenseman Mikey Anderson getting called for simultaneous hooking violations.

The Tigers took a 4-3 lead exactly two minutes into the second period, only to give up three straight goals to fall behind by two going into the third.

Cloquet native Westin Michaud, a CC junior wing, pulled the Tigers within a goal in the third period, scoring on a power play for his seventh goal and 15th point of the season. He also had an assist in the first period.

• The Bulldogs are without freshman wing Nick Swaney this weekend, who is out with an undisclosed injury.
• After missing the Ledyard Bank Classic at Dartmouth two weeks ago, sophomore wings Riley Tufte and Joey Anderson and freshmen defenseman Mikey Anderson, Scott Perunovich and Dylan Samberg were all back in the lineup after helping Team USA capture a bronze medal at the World Junior Championship in Buffalo. The five combined for two goals and eight assists Friday in their returns.
• It was a high-scoring night around the NCHC on Friday. The seven teams (all but Denver) that took part in three conference games and one nonconference game combined for 46 goals. Eighteen came from Nebraska-Omaha's 11-7 win at home over Miami.

Minn. Duluth 3-3-0—6 Colorado College 3-1-1—5

First period — 1. UMD, Peter Krieger 5 (Riley Tufte, Scott Perunovich), 0:31; 2. CC, Nick Halloran 12 (Trey Bradley, Mason Bergh), 6:43; 3. CC, Kristian Blumenschein (6) (Trvor Gooch, Westin Michaud), 7:09; 4. UMD, Kobe Roth 1 (Jared Thomas, Mikey Anderson), 11:10 (pp); 5. CC, Halloran 13 (Blumenschein, Bergh), 13:47 (pp); 6. UMD, Thomas 5 (Jarod Hilderman, M. Anderson), 17:06 (pp). Penalties — Tanner Ockey, CC (cross checking), 7:38; Halloran, CC (hooking), 9:56; M. Anderson, UMD (hooking), 13:01; Roth, UMD (hooking), 13:01; Trey Bradley, CC (holding), 16:30.

Second period — 7. CC, Tanner Ockey 4 (Troy Conzo, Gooch), 2:00; 8. UMD, Tufte 9 (Krieger, Perunovich), 3:32 (pp); 9. UMD, Tufte 10 (Joey Anderson, Krieger), 14:02; 10. UMD, Krieger 6 (Tufte, Perunovich), 15:58. Penalties — Zach Berzolla, CC (cross checking), 2:48; Kade Kehoe, CC (roughing), 5:29; Nick Wolff, UMD (roughing), 5:29; Miller, UMD (roughing), 5:29; Miller, UMD (tripping), 16:19.

Third period — 11. CC, Michaud 7 (Bradley, Halloran), 7:29 (pp). Penalties — Krieger, UMD (tripping) 7:09; Gooch, CC (interference), 8:06; Michaud, CC (holding), 12:13; Christiano Versich, CC (10-minute misconduct), 12:13.

Shots on goal — UMD 13-11-6—30; CC 10-12-10—32. Goalies — Hunter Shepard, UMD (32 shots-27 saves); Alex LeClerc, CC (24-18); Alec Calvaruso, CC (6-6). Power plays — UMD 3-of-6; CC 2-of-5. Referees — Geno Binda, Nick Krebsbach. Linesmen — Jon Shaw, Scott Staudte. Att. — N/A.