For most of November, CC offense is offensive
MANKATO, Minn. • Eleven games into the season, Colorado College's search for an offensive identity is getting old.
Held scoreless for 57 minutes of Friday's loss at Minnesota State-Mankato, CC has averaged just 1.83 goals in six of their past seven games, the lone exception being their seven-goal outburst last Saturday.
In four road contests, that number drops further to 1.5 goals.
"We're just not converting," coach Scott Owens said. "On the road, sometimes you've got to generate some hard-work goals, especially with an older team, and we're just not doing that."
The Mavericks, on the other hand, scored both goals in blue-collar fashion, beating goaltender Richard Bachman on broken plays in the crease.
"It was just a scrum and I just whacked at it," said Mankato right wing Tyler Thompson, who scored the game-winner on his former junior hockey teammate. "You know what? It's just an honor to get one by him. ... The only way we got pucks in the net was that we were just in front and got them in there."
Bouncy boards
Bachman uses pregame skate to learn the nuances of a foreign rink, so he wasn't surprised when defenseman Kurt Davis' slap shot bounced off the back wall in front of the net, resulting in Thompson's goal.
"It's something I noticed," said Bachman, who is playing his first series in Mankato. "It's just the yellow part, about 6 inches on the bottom. If it hits anything on there about 5 feet inside of the post, it comes straight back in front of the net in a hurry."
