CC: ‘It feels like a loss'

Less than a minute into the third period, Colorado College had control of Friday's game.

Left wing Bill Sweatt had just scored off a St. Cloud State turnover to provide a two-goal advantage.

By the end, the Tigers were probably fortunate not to lose. St. Cloud scored a pair of third-period goals to even the score, and the teams skated a scoreless overtime for a 4-4 tie at World Arena.

Turnovers and penalties plagued CC in the final period and overtime.

"It was a real loss for us," senior right wing Eric Walsky said. "We need to keep playing hockey in the third period and not be so afraid to lose the lead."

CC is 13-8-6, 9-7-3 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. St. Cloud is 12-11-2 and 7-9-1.

Turnovers by the Tigers led to a fluky score that cut the lead to 4-3. The goal, awarded to center Garrett Roe, came when the puck bounced off a defenseman's skate into the Tigers' net. Roe's next goal wasn't fluky. On a power play, he blew a slap shot past sophomore goaltender Richard Bachman.

CC almost gave the game away at the end of regulation. Sweatt took a hooking penalty with 1:03 to go, but the Tigers killed the penalty - one of three they committed in the third period.

Coach Scott Owens said he didn't feel his team let down with a two-goal lead, because it had some good shifts after Sweatt's goal. However, the final result was a disappointment.

"It feels like a loss because we finally score four goals and we don't get a win out of it," Owens said.

CC fell behind 1-0 in the first period, but Walsky, Matt Overman and Brian Connelly scored in the second period as the Tigers took a 3-2 lead.

Sweatt added to the advantage after the Huskies lost the puck in their end, beating goaltender Jase Weslosky only 28 seconds into the third period.

The Huskies answered 4:58 into the third, which Owens called the turning point of the game. St. Cloud then tied the score with 10:15 remaining.

"We needed to make it 5-2, but we didn't take care of the puck," Owens said.

Neither team had a great chance in overtime. Walsky had an open shot in the final minute but, with no traffic in front of the net, it was saved by Weslosky.

The Tigers probably shouldn't have been in overtime after taking a two-goal lead with less than a period to play on their home ice.

"I don't know what it was, but we were really sloppy after that point," Walsky said.

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Contact the Writer: 476-4891 or frank.schwab@gazette.com. Check out our CC hockey blog at gazettecchockey.freedomblogging.com