CC finally gets a 'W' on the road

MANKATO, Minn. • It wasn't pretty, but Colorado College finally figured out how to win a hockey game on the road.

With their 4-3 win over No. 12 Minnesota State-Mankato on Saturday, the Tigers managed to salvage a split and a little bit of pride as well.

"We had a lot of passion," right wing Eric Walsky said. "It was a good character-building type of game for us. Everyone showed up and played hard."

Trailing by a goal after 23 seconds, No. 3 CC took the lead with three power-play goals in the second period only to allow Mankato to tie midway through the third period with two power-play goals in a 1-minute, 45-second span.

But less than 2 minutes later, left wing Bill Sweatt's centering pass ricocheted off defenseman Channing Boe's skate and under goaltender Mike Zacharias for the win.

The goal, which was credited to Walsky, gave the Tigers their first win at Alltel Center since 2005, snapping a three-game skid in Mankato and two consecutive losses to the Mavericks, dating back to February.

CC, which continues its road swing at Alaska-Anchorage next weekend, improved to 7-2-3 and 5-2-1 in the WCHA. Mankato dropped to 5-3-2 and 3-3-2 in the WCHA.

As was the case throughout the game, the Tigers struggled to generate even-strength offense, mustering just six first-period shots. CC hasn't scored an even-strength goal in 131 minutes and 9 seconds of play.

Behind 1-0 after a period, CC got a boost when officials disallowed a Mankato goal on its first shot of the period 1:06 into the second. The reason, according to coach Scott Owens, was a crease violation.

"It was time to take accountability as individuals and play with our linemates well and shift the momentum," Walsky said.

The Tigers went three for three on second-period power plays with goals from center Chad Rau, right wing Scott McCulloch and Sweatt.

"In the second period, I turned to Chad (Rau) and was like, ‘Man, we're a different team out here,'" Sweatt said. "We came out as a veteran team and we didn't let anything bother us or get us down, we just kept coming."

The same was true when CC's two-goal cushion evaporated in the third period.

Defensemen Brian Connelly and Kris Fredheim took consecutive penalties and Mankato cashed in with a power-play goal from Mike Louwerse and a gritty shot by Rylan Galiardi.

But the Tigers, who entered the game with a 0-1-3 road record, capitalized on their fifth power play to earn the win.

Finally.