Saturday, March 1, 2008

No. 10 Minnesota State-Mankato 3, No. 4 CC 2 (OT)

Not only does Colorado College have to wait another week to clinch at least a share of the MacNaughton Cup, the Tigers will have to win a game over their archrival, No. 7 Denver, meaning there's more than just the Gold Pan at stake next weekend.

"There's a lot of hardware on the line," right wing Jimmy Kilpatrick said. "You've got the Gold Pan, you've got the MacNaughton. It's a huge rivalry and the biggest thing is getting the momentum back after a tough loss tonight."

The locker room was deathly silent after CC was stunned 16 seconds into overtime (and over the course of the third period) when Mankato right wing Kael Mouillierat slammed the puck into goaltender Richard Bachman's pads with such force that it flipped into the net.

The Tigers won 44 of 73 faceoffs (60 percent) Saturday, but two of those lost draws resulted in Mankato's comeback. The Mavericks scored two goals off faceoffs in less than 5 minutes early in the third period.

Center Chad Rau, who lost a draw to Andrew Sackrison that set-up Mankato's first goal, summed it up best.

"Letting up the lead in our own building. . . . It stinks," he said.

1 comment:

Geoff said...

So, the roller coaster continues. Down against Mich Tech, up against Clarkson, down against St. Cloud, up against Duluth, down against Minn St. Does this team have the consistency to beat the likes of North Dakota, Michigan, etc in the playoffs? Can they even win the WCHA?