Tie is knot good enough as CC blows lead
ST. CLOUD, Minn. • No. 6 Colorado College put on a clinic on how not to win a road college hockey game at St. Cloud State Friday night.
The Tigers and Huskies played a wild Western Collegiate Hockey Association game for 65 minutes as the hosts rallied from down 3-0 and 4-2 to force a 4-4 overtime tie at the National Hockey Center.
“It was great, entertaining hockey with a lot of mistakes,” said Huskies coach Bob Motzko.
The Tigers’ biggest one came with 8:35 left in regulation when Brian Volpei emerged from the penalty box and stole the puck neat the Huskies blue line. The junior later beat CC freshman goalie Joe Howe for the short-handed, tying goal before 6,101 screaming fans.
Howe made 33 saves, including many big ones. None was bigger than the leg-pad save made with 1:51 left in overtime on St. Cloud’s Tony Mosey’s breakaway.
“Even though he gave up four goals, Joe Howe had a good game,” Tigers coach Scott Owens said. “We played much too of an end-to-end game for the road. It got their crowd into it.”
The Tigers (10-4-3, 7-3-3 WCHA) are now 3-0-3 on the road this season.
“It was a good point, but not the way we got it,” Owens said. “I’ve got mixed emotions.”
Tigers captain Mike Testwuide scored 30 seconds into the third period to make it 4-2, CC. The Huskies, feeding off the crowd, made it 4-3, but CC still had a golden opportunity to put the game away.
St. Cloud’s Chris Hepp drew a 5-minute penalty for checking from behind to give the Tigers a long power play with 10:16 left.
“4-2 was a big goal but we didn’t convert on the power play,” Owens said. “We had trouble all night.”
The CC penalty kill struggled as well. The Huskies (8-6-3, 7-4-2) scored two power-play goals in 5 minutes during the second period to make it 3-2 and turn a rout into a thriller.
