Tie at DU leaves CC fourth, home to Minnesota-Duluth in playoffs

DENVER - As he has done countless times, Colorado College coach Scott Owens waved his goaltender off the ice in the final minute, choosing to go with an extra skater. That's nothing unusual, although Owens couldn't remember doing it in a tie game before.

In an odd situation Saturday night at Denver, a tie against the Pioneers was meaningless for the Tigers' Western Collegiate Hockey Association playoff seed so CC went for the win. The extra skater didn't score, leaving CC with a dramatic but hollow 1-1 tie at Magness Arena. CC senior center Chad Rau's goal with 1:37 remaining in the third period forced overtime.

CC finishes the regular season 16-10-10 overall and 12-9-7 in the WCHA and will play Minnesota-Duluth in the first round of the playoffs. Denver is 20-10-5 and 16-8-4 in league play.

The Tigers needed a win to get the third seed in the WCHA playoffs, and the top three remaining seeds in the WCHA Final Five get a bye. So Owens decided on the unusual gamble and pulled goalie Richard Bachman with about 30 seconds left.

"You have mixed emotions," Owens said. "It's not the way the game is supposed to be played."

Owens said he also had to consider CC's standing in the U.S. College Hockey Online PairWise rankings, which mimics the NCAA selection committee's rankings. Owens figured a top three seed in the WCHA playoffs was worth risking a loss.

CC is in a four-way tie for 14th in the PairWise rankings. Usually the top 12 or 13 teams get into the NCAA tournament. One of the teams CC is tied with is Duluth, so the Tigers will have a chance to move up when it plays the Bulldogs.

"We're going to have to bring our game," Rau said. "Both our seasons are on the line."

Saturday's game was mostly frustrating for the Tigers. They had 13 shots and many great scoring opportunities in the first period, including a five-on-three power play, but couldn't beat DU goaltender Marc Cheverie.

"We should have been up 2-0," Owens said.

In the second period, DU scored when Kyle Ostrow got a power-play goal. CC had a five-minute power play late in the third period but couldn't score.

Finally, Rau broke through. Rau took a great cross-ice pass from defenseman Ryan Lowery, controlled the puck and whipped a shot into the net to tie the game.

CC had a few chances in overtime but couldn't score. The tie was CC's 10th of the season, a school record, and forcing overtime in dramatic fashion wasn't much consolation.

"At some point we need to start winning," Rau said.

NOTES

Split series

Denver coach George Gwozdecky said he thought splitting the final two games of the season series against Colorado College on the schedule was beneficial to both teams. Although the teams are locked into playing each other twice in the final weekend of next season, CC coach Scott Owens has said he would like to look into moving the final meetings between the rivals to earlier in the season after 2010.

"I don't know if it's conducive to being emotionally and physically ready for the playoffs when you have a big, big series against your arch-rival in the final series of the regular season," Gwozdecky said. "So in many ways, I agree with Scott."

Less at stake

Much of the intrigue for CC's playoff seeding was eliminated Friday when Minnesota, Minnesota-Duluth and St. Cloud State lost, meaning the Tigers were guaranteed to finish either third or fourth in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. Earning the third seed was important to CC because it wanted to avoid the possibility of having to play in the extra game at the WCHA Final Five. The coaching staff received updates on games around the WCHA between periods.

Dineen sits out

The Tigers played without center Nick Dineen, who has missed five straight games because of a shoulder injury. Dineen has been practicing and could return for the first round of the WCHA playoffs.