Game day: No. 4 CC 4, No. 9 Massachusetts 5 (OT)

CC dropped to 1-3 in nonconference games, with only one series versus a 'team under consideration' (TUC) -- that's PairWise speak for a team that stands a decent chance to make the NCAA Tournament -- left this season: No. 8 Clarkson on Feb. 1-2. All three of those losses come against the Hockey East. And a little explanation for those of you who are new to this whole college hockey thing: the PairWise rankings mimic the process used to select the NCAA Tournament field. A major criteria is record against TUC's... My take? The Tigers could really use a sweep over Clarkson; they need to finish in the top three of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association; and they need to advance to the WCHA Final Five to ensure a spot in the NCAA tournament. CC also can't tank against Bemidji State and Air Force in January.

Here's how it unfolded tonight:
First period
1. Colorado College 1, UMass 0: Jack Hillen 3 (Tyler Johnson 3), 4:33. Hillen wove through a couple of UMass players and bounced the puck off of goaltender Paul Dainton's shoulder and into the net.

2. Colorado College 2, UMass 0: Eric Walsky 7 (Nate Prosser 8), 16:19. Walsky took the puck from the defensive blue line, through four UMass players and tucked it inside the right post for the score.

Second period
3. Colorado College 2, UMass 1: Alex Berry 3 (Martin Nolet 2, Chris Davis 10), 2:41. Just as CC killed its second 5-on-3 of the game, UMass left wing Alex Berry tossed a shot from the blue line on net and beat goaltender Drew O'Connell between his blocker and leg guard.

4. Colorado College 2, UMass 2: Michael Lecomte 5 (Justin Braun 8, James Marcou 12), 14:53. On a 4-on-4, O'Connell rebounded Braun's shot off to his glove side and Lecomte was there to bang it in.

5. Colorado College 2, UMass 3: P.J. Fenton 3 (James Marcou 13, Michael Kostka 6), 16:33, pp. Fenton's shot from the left circle beat O'Connell glove side.

6. Colorado College 3, UMass 3: Chad Rau 11 (Scott Thauwald 6), 16:47, sh. Rau answers Fenton's goal as the announcer reads out the scoring line with a top-shelf shot. It was Rau's third short-handed goal of the season.

Third period
7. Colorado College 3, UMass 4: Cory Quirk 6 (Chris Davis 10, Michael Kostka 6), 0:48. With left wing Scott Thauwald and defenseman Jake Gannon following, Quirk slammed in a cross-crease pass from Davis.

8. Colorado College 4, UMass 4: Chad Rau 12 (Jimmy Kilpatrick 5, Ryan Lowery 1), 7:09, pp. Kilpatrick slid a pass behind UMass's penalty kill to Rau at the left circle. Rau paused for a moment before finishing in the upper right corner.

Overtime
9. Colorado College 4, UMass 5: Matt Burto 4 (James Marcou 14, Michael Lecomte 3), 1:55. Burto skates from the bench straight to the left side of the crease and redirects Marcou's pass into the open net for the game-winner.