Tigers sweep things up quickly

Colorado College senior Bill Sweatt and freshman linemate Andrew Hamburg made sure there would be no dramatic finish Saturday night.

The two forwards accounted for all three goals in the first period to spark the No. 7 Tigers past Robert Morris 4-1, a day after CC needed a late power-play goal to pull out a nonconference win. The victory secured a sweep in the first series between the schools.

Hamburg scored his first  goal 40 seconds into the game at World Arena off a pass from Sweatt.

“Unreal,” Hamburg said. “It was a great play by Bill. Bang-bang; just instinct. I don’t think the goalie even saw it.”

Sweatt made it 2-0 when he took a pass from Hamburg near the Colonials’ blue line, skating in alone for a breakaway and the eventual game-winner with 9:55 left. He made it 3-0 less than 4 minutes later.

Hamburg now has three points after going pointless in his first three games. His performance followed a strong Friday outing when his line was on the ice for both even-strength goals.

“He played well Friday so we bumped him up a bit,” coach Scott Owens said. “He’s a big guy who skates well for his size and plays with enthusiasm.”

That enthusiasm was evident throughout the 9-2-1 Tigers lineup.

“We played a lot better as a team,” Sweatt said. “We kept on them and never let them back in the game.”

The nation’s second-best power play (32.3 percent after Friday) recorded a goal for the ninth game in a row when senior Mike Testwuide made it 4-0 with 13:56 left in the second.

CC goalie Tyler O’Brien made 19 saves for his first win. It was the fifth win in a row for CC (6-1-1 Western Collegiate Hockey Association), which is tied with Minnesota-Duluth (9-4-1, 6-3-1) and Denver (8-3-1, 6-1-1) for first in league after the Bulldogs and Pioneers both won 3-2.

NOTES

Officials warn: No head games

The NCAA and Western Collegiate Hockey Association have reminded coaches and players that referees will penalize any hits to the head as severely as the rules allow earlier this week.

Last Friday, St. Cloud State forward Aaron Marvin checked second-ranked North Dakota defenseman Chay Genoway, one of the preseason favorites for league Defensive Player of the Year, into the boards face first. The blow gave Genoway an undisclosed injury, probably a concussion, which kept him out of this weekend’s series at No. 3 Denver. Go to the Eye of the Tigers blog at gazette.com to see a video of the hit.

The penalty drew a one-game suspension from the school.

Marvin told the St. Cloud Times that he agrees with the penalty and suspension and feels bad about the hit and that “there’s no place for checking from behind like that.”

No further action against Marvin by the league is expected.

Tigers coach Scott Owens said the number of checking from behind penalties and blows to the head are not on the rise, but “when they happen they’re bad.”

Knack for the big play

Four of sophomore Tim Hall’s five assists have come on game-winning goals, including on Friday. That’s an important stat that’s been overshadowed by freshman Rylan Schwartz’s role in seven of CC’s nine game-winning goals. Schwartz has three goals and four assists.

Senior defenseman Nate Prosser's career-best seven-game points streak ended Friday. He has nine points through the first 11 games. The power-play goal last week at Minnesota State-Mankato was Prosser’s first game-winner in his college career.