With five different players scoring, a defensive corps foiling all of the opponent’s power-play opportunities, and a goaltender allowing only one goal, the Colorado College Tigers found the combination for a well-rounded 5-1 victory over Alaska-Anchorage on Friday.
The Tigers opened up the scoring when freshman winger Colin Stuart’s shot bounced off Seawolves forward Dan Gilkerson and into the net at 5:46. Junior center Shaun Winkler assisted on the goal to put the Tigers up, 1-0.
Colorado College extended its lead to 2-0 when junior center Mark Cullen received the puck from junior winger Alex Kim, wrapped around the net, and snapped the puck to senior defenseman Brent Voorhees, who one-timed it past Alaska-Anchorage goaltender Chris King at 12:07.
CC capitalized on its first power-play opportunity of the game at 18:25 to seize a 3-0 lead. After a scrum in front of the net which drew King down onto the ice, Cullen popped the puck over him and into the net. Junior forward Chris Hartsburg and freshman forward Peter Sejna assisted to close out the scoring for the stanza.
The two teams skated through a scoreless second period, although the Seawolves were able to tie up the shots on net at 14 by the end of the period.
The Tigers got the third period off to a quick start when sophomore defenseman Tom Preissing took the feed from junior forward Jesse Heerema.
Preissing’s shot drew King off, and sophomore center Noah Clarke grabbed the rebound and sent it high into the net at 1:24 to make the score 4-0. The goal was Clarke’s first since Dec. 8, 2000, a 6-4 victory over North Dakota.
Anchorage got on the board halfway through the third period when freshman forward Pete Talafous, son of head coach Dean Talafous, ended Tiger goalie Colin Zulianello’s potential shutout by slipping the puck between his pads. The Seawolves’ first goal prompted an overly enthusiastic fan to toss a dead fish out onto the ice, a tradition up in Anchorage.
Colorado College was determined not to let the Seawolves gain any momentum.
Less than three minutes later, senior defenseman Mike Colgan received the puck from Cullen and fired it in from just outside the faceoff circle.
Sejna was waiting to redirect it into the net and seal the game at 5-1.
“I thought we played a little sloppy early in the game,” said Colorado College coach Scott Owens. “We got a couple of breaks on those early goals, but everyone was kind of out of sync.
“In the third period, though, everyone got their feet moving and got on the same page. I thought we played much better, and overall it was a good 5-1 win. Our goaltending and our special teams were very strong.”
Colorado College killed off all four of its penalties, while going 1-for-2 on the power play. Zulianello, who shut out the Seawolves for 49:50 before giving up the third-period goal, stopped 19 of 20 shots for the win.
“Tonight I think we let them utilize their speed, and we gave up too many odd-man rushes,” said Owens. “Tomorrow night we want to negate those scoring opportunities.”
