Sweep dreams interrupted: CC bows to Mankato

Friday nights were supposed to be Colorado College's problem. Saturday nights had been a breeze.

But after breaking a streak of nine straight losses or ties in series openers Friday, the Tigers offense disappeared again Saturday and Minnesota State- Mankato salvaged a split in the series with a 3-1 victory at World Arena.

CC hasn't swept a series since Oct. 17-18 against Michigan Tech and fell to 12-7-5 with an 8-6-2 record in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. Mankato improved to 10-10-3 and 6-8-2.

"We came out and won yesterday, but this is a game we should have found a way to come out and get it done," senior Chad Rau said.

For most of the night, the Tigers couldn't find a rhythm. Passes were made to open space, quality scoring opportunities were rare and most of those that CC created were stopped by Mankato goaltender Dan Tormey, who was making his second start of the season. And in the second period, Tigers forwards Tyler Johnson and Cody Lampl collided, losing the puck in their own zone.

Mankato scored once in the first period and again in the second. The Mavericks had three penalties in the opening period, but CC couldn't score on the power play, including a 5-on-3 chance late in the period. In the final minute of the first, a CC goal was waved off because of a hand pass.

The Tigers' sluggishness lasted into the second period. They began the period with 87 seconds left on a power play but couldn't get set in the Mankato zone.

CC had a layoff from Dec. 20 to Friday, but seemed a bit slow Saturday.

"We looked mentally and physically tired tonight, and it shouldn't be that way," Owens said. "It's a little bit perplexing. It's very disappointing."

With 7:24 remaining, left wing Stephen Schultz tipped in a power-play goal to cut the Tigers' deficit to 2-1. CC pulled goaltender Richard Bachman with more than a minute to go, and Mankato scored an empty-net goal with 40.2 seconds remaining.

The Tigers suffered a blow when center Andreas Vlassopoulos went down with a lower extremity injury. The timetable for his return is uncertain. CC's top line of Rau, Bill Sweatt and Mike Testwuide was shut out.

"Our top guys tonight weren't real strong," Owens said. "When your top guys aren't really strong and you've got to rely on your secondary guys it's tough, because you're not going to get it from them all the time."