Minus injured Boivin, CC blows lead in loss to Bemidji State

BEMIDJI, Minn. – Joe Howe was a bit more mediocre than masterful. Mike Boivin was hurt, confined to the locker room. And even-strength scoring was absolutely nonexistent.

A growing mountain of adversity finally expanded so much Friday that No. 10 Colorado College couldn’t summit it, suffering a hard-to-swallow 4-2 defeat against Bemidji State at Sanford Center after a 2-1 lead vanished with three goals allowed in the third period.

The third consecutive trip to Bemidji State (14-12-3, 8-10-3 Western Collegiate Hockey Association) without a win drops CC (15-10-2, 11-7-1) into fourth place in the WCHA – five points behind No. 2 Minnesota, two points behind No. 3 Minnesota-Duluth and one point in back of No. 14 Denver. The Tigers also slipped three spots to 19th in the PairWise rankings that mimic the selection process in deciding the 16 NCAA Tournament teams.

“We just didn’t finish,” said CC coach Scott Owens, whose team blew a third-period lead for the first time this season. “I didn’t think we had enough bite around the net. I thought we moved well enough. … We just let it get away from us. A couple mistakes here.” He added that Bemidji State “made a play when they had to make a play, and we didn’t.”

In its last series at Bemidji State for the foreseeable future due to conference realignment, CC already was minus six injured players, most notably captain Nick Dineen, goaltender Josh Thorimbert and right wing Scott Winkler – all sidelined with upper-body ailments. Boivin (upper body) was hit into the boards in the first, and when he didn’t return, Gabe Guentzel and Aaron Harstad led the defensive corps with increased ice time, as Guentzel was probably well above 30 minutes again, appearing in his 123rd consecutive game.

On an NHL-size ice sheet, Bemidji State employed a frustrating-to-defend style, typically hammering the puck into the corners, then tracking it down and creating offense. It went ahead 1-0 on a first-period goal by Aaron McLeod, and after CC grabbed a 2-1 lead in the second on Rylan Schwartz’s power-play goal and Tim Hall’s short-handed goal, Bemidji State rallied back in the third, with scores from Brance Orban and Tyler Tosunian, whose goal was the first of his career. Orban marked an empty-net goal with 30 seconds left.

“It’s really disappointing,” Hall said. “Going into the third period with a lead, we really wanted to put this game away and grow as a team. … I hope we didn’t take a step back.” Hall noted that CC “played a really good first period,” enjoying a 15-8 shot advantage, then the Tigers “weren’t hungry enough in front of the net to get a few goals,” he said.

Howe (5-6-1) certainly wasn’t his sharpest coming off a 17-save performance Saturday in a 2-2 tie against Denver, recording 23 saves but struggling to stuff chances from the slot and having difficulty following attempts from the perimeter. The defensemen weren’t as cohesive without Boivin, and Dan Bakala (8-7-2) stopped 29 shots, perhaps his biggest a third-period denial of Archie Skalbeck, who attempted a backhander on a breakaway.

Owens tried everything in his power to reverse the momentum in the third, dropping Jeff Collett to the second line and sending William Rapuzzi into the top group with Jaden and Rylan Schwartz even before ninth-place Bemidji State tied the game. He also sunk down to only two lines in the final three minutes. Simply nothing worked, and despite a 31-27 edge in shots, CC induced Bemidji State into a mere two penalties – none after the first.

“We weren’t putting the puck in the net, and we’ve got to start doing that,” said Rylan Schwartz, who leads CC with 19 goals, including nine on the power play. About the lack of five-on-five offense, Schwartz said, “We had a lot of chances, a lot of shots. We’re just a little too perimeter. We’ve got to start getting to the net, and our second opportunities are pretty weak. We’ve got to start driving hard and knocking some guys around.”

BEMIDJI STATE 4, COLORADO COLLEGE 2

Colorado College       0          2          0 – 2

Bemidji State              1          0          3 – 4

First period – 1. Bemidji State, McLeod 7 (unassisted), 16:27. Penalties – Wacker, Bemidji State (slashing), 16:56. Wacker, Bemidji State (checking from behind), 19:03.

Second – 2. CC, R. Schwartz 19 (J. Schwartz, Guentzel), 1:02 (pp). 3. CC, Hall 3 (Harstad), 13:26 (sh). Penalties – Guentzel, CC (interference), 12:01.

Third – 4. Bemidji State, Orban 6 (Walters), 1:53. 5. Bemidji State, Tosunian 1 (Hunt, MacQueen), 10:11. 6. Bemidji State, Orban 7 (Boehm, McLeod), 19:30 (en). Penalties – None.

Shots on goal – CC 15-9-7-31. Bemidji State 8-11-8-27. Power-play opportunities – CC 1 of 2. Bemidji State 0 of 1. Goalies – CC, Howe  7-11-5 (26 shots-23 saves). Bemidji State, Bakala 15-7-7 (31-29). Attendance – 3,305. Time – 2:20. Referees – Todd Anderson, Brad Shepherd. Linesmen – Andy Dokken, Justin Hills.

Contact Brian Gomez: 719-636-0256 or brian.gomez@gazette.com. Facebook: Brian Gomez. Twitter: @gazettehockey. Google+: Brian Gomez. YouTube: Colorado College Hockey, Covered by The Gazette. For the CC homepage, visit www.gazette.com/sections/sports/cchockey. For the CC blog, visit http://cchockey.freedomblogging.com.