Tigers take WCHA lead, and Howe

MANKATO, Minn. • Colorado College freshman goalie Joe Howe came up big in Saturday’s 3-2 win.

Howe stopped a penalty shot with 14:11 remaining in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association game and then made a desperation save with 13:32 left to preserve a 3-1 lead en route to the No. 13 Tigers' win over Minnesota State-Mankato at the Verizon Wireless Center a night after posting a shutout.

Those saves proved vital after a Mavericks goal with 4:25 left made it 3-2 and jump-started the 4,307 fans and the Mankato players. But the Mavs couldn’t complete the rally.

“The last 9 minutes we were just hanging on,” Tigers coach Scott Owens said. “He was the difference tonight and probably for the weekend.”

With the road sweep – CC’s first since Feb. 22-23, 2008 at Minnesota-Duluth – and North Dakota’s 3-2 loss to St. Cloud State, the Tigers (7-2-1, 6-2-1 WCHA) took sole possession of first place after entering the weekend tied with the Sioux (7-2-1, 5-2-1) and idle Denver (6-3-1, 4-1-1).

With 13:32 left, Howe poke-checked away the penalty shot by Zach Harrison and followed that with a big right pad save. But the play wasn’t over. A subsequent wraparound attempt was snuffed out when he reached over with his glove to grab the shot while on his back.

Howe made 29 saves on 31 shots Saturday for 60 saves in two games.

Rylan Schwartz’s hot hand continued to jump start the Colorado College power play when his hard slap shot was mishandled by Mankato sophomore goalie Austin Lee. The puck bounced off Lee to Tigers senior defenseman Nate Prosser who knocked in the rebound for a 3-1 lead and the eventual game-winner.

“We’d like the power play to look better (2-of-6) but it was the difference again; special teams and goaltending,” Owens said.

The Mavericks’ first goal ended a span of 79 minutes, 54 seconds of shutout hockey by the Tigers freshman this weekend and 84:44 dating back to the final Minnesota-Duluth goal last weekend.

NOTES

Freshmen continue to come up huge

Any doubts about how the Tigers’ freshmen would adapt to the college game should be about gone.

Goalie Joe Howe and center Rylan Schwartz continued their strong play again this weekend.

With a league-best three game-winners, Schwartz has been involved in five of the six game-winning goals for CC, thanks to his two assists.

Schwartz’s 11 points (seven assists) headed into Saturday’s contest puts him in a tie for fifth in the league and well ahead of fellow rookies Steven Seigo and Craig Smith (eight apiece) of Michigan Tech and Wisconsin, respectively.

Howe recorded 64:08 of scoreless hockey Friday for his first shutout, 1-0, at Minnesota State-Mankato.

He wisely credited the penalty killers in front of him.

“They blocked a lot of shots on the penalty kill,” Howe said. “The guys up front made it easy for me in the first period. It got me into a groove. They say I stopped five shots but I don’t think I saw that many.”

He saw more than enough in the final two periods and overtime, stopping all 26 shots in the next 44:08, including some dangerous shots.

Schwartz won a key faceoff in the Mavericks’ end with a minute remaining in overtime.

“You had freshmen making big plays during overtime,” coach Scott Owens said.

Fun atmosphere

The 4,832-seat rink at Verizon Wireless Center may not seat as many as World Arena, but its enthusiastic fans make up for it. About 100 students poured in an hour before Friday’s game (waiting an hour outside beforehand) with about 1,000 soon filling the north end of the arena.

Cheerleaders provided pregame entertainment with a short figure skating show, including the wagon wheel (joining hands and skating in a circle to resemble spokes), performed to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing.”

The buzz Friday didn’t die down until the game suddenly ended with a CC goal in overtime.