Justin Morrison scored two first-period goals and Colin Zulianello made 21 saves in his first start of the season as Colorado College defeated Michigan Tech 3-1 on Friday night.
Alex Kim scored the Tigers’ final goal and Paul Manning had two assists for CC (3-0-0, 3-0-0 WCHA).
Jarrett Weinberger had the only goal for Tech (1-4-1, 1-4-0) and Brian Rogers turned in another impressive performance with 40 saves.
The host Huskies failed to score on any of their seven power-play opportunities
“I was pleased with our defensive play and our penalty-killing,” Colorado College coach Scott Owens said. “It isn’t very often that you’re going to give up that many power-play opportunities and still win the game.”
Morrison opened the scoring at 7:31 of the opening period on an assist from defenseman Paul Manning. The play started at the other end when Zulianello made a brilliant save on a shorthanded breakaway by Weinberger.
The Tigers made it 2-0 at the 17:24 mark when Morrison was credited with an unassisted goal that appeared to go off a Tech player before going into the net.
Weinberger cut the lead to 2-1 when he scored on a rebound at 16:21 of the middle period.
But Kim put the game away when he took a pass from Manning and beat Rogers up high to make it 3-1 at 14:29 of the final period.
Said Michigan Tech coach Tim Watters: “They’re a great hockey team that really exposed some of our weaknesses tonight. I thought that the only guy that prepared himself to play a full 60 minutes tonight was Brian Rogers.”
Rogers kept the Huskies in the game with several tremendous saves from close range while his team struggled to find some offense.
Zulianello, who backed up Jeff Sanger in CC’s first two games, made the most of his season debut. “I thought he made a huge save on the breakaway before we scored the first goal,” Owens said. “That was a huge play. I thought he hung in there well, especially on the power-play opportunities.”
The two teams meet again Saturday night at 7:35 p.m. Eastern.
