Tigers fall flat in 6-3 drubbing by Alaska-Anchorage

Like it or not, life minus Jaden Schwartz begins Saturday for Colorado College. And any concerns about whether the Tigers possess enough depth to atone for his absence remain.

Defensive breakdowns were too numerous to count, penalty after penalty positioned CC in tough spots and goaltender Joe Howe was exposed Friday in a demoralizing 6-3 defeat by the sixth-ranked Tigers against previously woeful Alaska-Anchorage at World Arena.

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No doubt the most skilled player on CC’s roster, Schwartz, who is tied for the team lead with 18 points, will miss five games to join Canada at the world junior championships in Calgary and Edmonton. National college hockey pundits questioned all week if CC (8-5, 6-5 Western Collegiate Hockey Association) can fill the void, and the Tigers did nothing to ease worries, as a 2-1 first-period lead turned into a 4-3 deficit at the end of the second.

A winner for the third time in 13 outings, Alaska-Anchorage (6-9-2, 3-9-1) was without injured forwards Matt Bailey, Alex Gellert and Jade Portwood. And the Seawolves, who are 11th in the 12-team WCHA, rank in the bottom third in the country in averaging 2.53 goals, relinquishing 3.47 goals and hitting at 73.6 percent on the penalty kill, with a now-resurgent power play at 22.5 percent. They had scored 20 goals in 12 WCHA games.

“If we lose to them, we lose to them, but I didn’t like the way we dealt with it,” said CC coach Scott Owens, whose team generated one power play, allowed Alaska-Anchorage to go 4 for 11 with the man advantage and was outshot 30-29, suffering its first home defeat and unable to sustain momentum from an overtime victory last week against Denver.

Howe (5-4) was yanked for Courtney Lockwood, making his college debut, less than four minutes into the third after Brad Gorham and Mitch Bruijsten scored on the power play – the result of a five-minute, checking-from-behind penalty on Charlie Taft in the closing minute of the second that drew a game misconduct. It closed off a hat trick for Bruijsten, who recorded a shorthanded goal in the first and tallied a power-play goal in the second.

Curtis Leinweber and Austin Coldwell (on the power play) marked in the second, erasing a 2-0 lead that CC built 6 ½ minutes into the game on goals by William Rapuzzi, a native of Anchorage, and Alexander Krushelnyski against Rob Gunderson, as well as a 3-2 edge Nick Dineen gave the Tigers three minutes into the second. Rylan Schwartz also was hit with a game misconduct in the third, vaulting CC to 11 penalties that totaled 44 minutes.

“I think those penalties were there,” Owens said. “The majors were there. When it’s that one-sided? These are veteran referees.” Rapuzzi added, “We had our chances. If we can play five on five, we dominate teams. … It ruins the momentum and the rhythm of the game. Guys don’t play for a certain amount of time and kind of get cold.”

ALASKA-ANCHORAGE 6, COLORADO COLLEGE 3

Alaska-Anchorage    1          3          2 – 6

Colorado College       2          1          0 – 3

First period – 1. CC, Rapuzzi 2 (R. Schwartz, J. Schwartz), 6:42. 2. CC, Krushelnyski 5 (Winkler, Marciano), 8:23. 3. Alaska-Anchorage, Bruijsten 3 (unassisted), 17:37 (sh). Penalties – Dineen, CC (interference), 4:00. Crowell, Alaska-Anchorage (checking from behind), 16:40. Cameron, Alaska-Anchorage (slashing), 18:21. McDermott, CC (holding the stick), 18:21.

Second – 4. Alaska-Anchorage, Bruijsten 4 (Leinweber, Docken), 3:00 (pp). 5. CC, Dineen 9 (Krushelnyski, McDermott), 3:16. 6. Alaska-Anchorage, Leinweber 5 (Roy, Currier), 5:14. 7. Alaska-Anchorage, Coldwell 1 (Allen, Kwas), 11:17 (pp). Penalties – Marciano, CC (cross-checking), 1:37. Guentzel, CC (interference), 6:35. Gorham, Alaska-Anchorage (obstruction-holding), 8:14. Dineen, CC (obstruction-tripping), 8:27. McDermott, CC (hooking), 10:59. Taft, CC (checking from behind and game misconduct), 19:59.

Third – 8. Alaska-Anchorage, Gorham 1 (Leinweber), 1:09 (pp). 9. Alaska-Anchorage, Bruijsten 5 (Scheid, Warner), 3:55 (pp). Penalties – Eveland, CC (high-sticking), 7:51. R. Shwartz, CC (slewfoot and game misconduct), 14:56.

Shots on goal – Alaska-Anchorage 7-15-8-30. CC 12-9-8-29. Power-play opportunities – Alaska-Anchorage 4 of 11. CC 0 of 1. Goalies – Alaska-Anchorage, Gunderson 10-8-8 (29 shots-26 saves). CC, Howe 6-12-2 (26-20), Lockwood 0-0-4 (4-4). Attendance – 6,587. Time – 2:22. Referees – Todd Anderson, Brad Shepherd. Linesmen – Scott Staudte, Tim Swiader.

Contact Brian Gomez: 719-636-0256 or brian.gomez@gazette.com. Twitter: @gazettehockey. Facebook: Brian Gomez. For the Colorado College hockey homepage, visit www.gazette.com/cchockey. For the CC hockey blog, visit http://cchockey.freedomblogging.com.