It's sweep dreams for Tigers

One good period Saturday night gave serious life to Colorado College's postseason chances.

Three third-period goals lifted the Tigers to a 5-3 win over Minnesota at World Arena, giving CC its first series sweep since mid-October. The Tigers are 16-9-8 overall and third in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association at 12-8-5. Minnesota is 13-11-6 and 10-10-4.

CC knew it hadn't played well in the first two periods - Minnesota had outshot it 26-11 - but the score was tied.

"The guys, between the second and third period, were a little unsure what to think because it was 2-2, but we weren't really playing well," coach Scott Owens said.

"We just said, ‘Hey, let's put together a final good 20 minutes.'"

The Tigers came out with a few strong shifts to start the third. Then Brian McMillin beat struggling Minnesota goaltender Alex Kangas from a tough angle, putting a shot on net from just inside the goal line to give CC a 3-2 lead.

Minnesota tied the score, but with just less than 10 minutes remaining, Stephen Schultz tipped in a rebound off Brian Connelly's shot for the game-winning goal.

"Coaches preach to go to the net," Schultz said. "I just tapped it in."

After the Tigers killed a late penalty, with goaltender Richard Bachman making some solid saves, Scott McCulloch added an empty-net goal with 1:01 remaining.

"There were times we looked sloppy, but when it came down to crunch time guys were sacrificing their bodies, everybody contributed and it was a team win," Schultz said.

CC had only six shots in the first period and managed to get only five in the second. The Tigers didn't get their second shot on goal in the second period until almost 15 minutes had elapsed. The good news for CC is their first shot in the second period - by Mike Testwuide - went in the net. Defenseman Nate Prosser scored the Tigers' first goal in the first period.

CC scored first in every period and the Gophers answered every time, but the Tigers scored the final two goals for a huge victory.

CC jumped ahead of Wisconsin for third in the league and took a giant step toward having home-ice advantage in the first round of the WCHA playoffs.

"We knew, it's so tight, with four points we can make up some huge ground in this league," McCulloch said.

CC's confidence is rising as well. The Tigers have lost only once in their past eight games, and the first sweep in four months has them feeling like they're on the right track for the final stretch of the season.

"This is when we want to be rolling," Schultz said. "Unfortunately we were down at the beginning of the year, but right now we're on a high. We're going to keep that going as long as we can."

NOTES

Walsky shines

Senior forward Eric Walsky played one of his better games of the season Friday in the series opener against Minnesota. He had a goal and two assists, and would have recorded another assist if not for an exceptional save by the Minnesota goaltender.

"I thought he really moved well and he made a couple of plays," coach Scott Owens said. "He looked very confident out there."

Defensemen production

When Nate Prosser scored Friday on an odd-man rush off a nice pass by Walsky, it was a rare goal for CC's defensemen. Prosser then scored again, on the power play, for the Tigers' first goal Saturday.

Prosser leads CC defensemen with five goals. The eight defensemen on the roster have scored only 13 goals in 32 games.

Gabe Guentzel and Brian Connelly have three goals each.

Lineup change

The Tigers kept most of their lineup the same after Friday's 4-3 win. The only change was the insertion of Brian McMillin, who was the right wing on the third line.

McMillin gave CC a 3-2 lead Saturday with a goal early in the third period.

Freshman Tim Hall was scratched. On Friday, he played his first game since December. He had been out because of mononucleosis.