OMAHA, Neb. — In what has been a struggling season, Colorado College has only notched two conference wins, with one coming against Nebraska-Omaha.
Friday night, the Tigers nearly did it again and were still able to edge the Mavericks for NCHC purposes.
After skating to a 2-2 tie, Cody Bradley scored the lone shootout goal to give Colorado College the extra point and shootout win over the Mavericks.
The Tigers got their game-tying goal with just 27 seconds left in the second period. Matt Hansen redirected a pass from Christian Heil for the equalizer on what Mavericks’ coach Dean Blais called a missed assignment.
“That was a simple backcheck, [the] defenseman didn’t sort everything out quick enough and the forward just let it go,” Blais said. “Can’t afford goals like that.”
But Omaha had their chances, peppering Tigers’ goaltender Tyler Marble with 34 shots. The sophomore also shut out the Mavs for the first time in a shootout this season.
“I think in the first period they were really good, he keeps it at 1-0 for us really and he made some saves at key times,” CC coach Mike Haviland said. “He did his job and he’s been very good lately and maybe at the right time for us.”
UNO jumped out to an early lead on a shorthanded goal by Justin Parizek. Joel Messner chipped the puck off the boards to Jake Guentzel, who flew down the ice and got deep in the crease before flinging it to Parizek, who had an open look at 8:31 in the first period. It was just the Mavs’ second shorthanded score all season.
But Colorado College made do on another power play. At 12:54 in the second period, Peter Maric backhanded one from the middle that got past Ryan Massa to even the game at one apiece.
Omaha hopped in front again after another power play when Tyler Vesel found Parizek for his second goal of the game, but the Tigers seized the momentum just before the buzzer sounded at the end of the second period.
“Any goals that you can get in the last minute of periods, it’s a momentum changer and a confidence booster,” Haviland said. “But it gave us a lot of confidence being tied one instead of down one going into the third believing that we could win the hockey game.”
The Tigers are now unbeaten in their last three games. Friday’s result came with more than two points, but confidence in what has been a season filled with close losses.
“It’s huge because you want to play the right way going into the playoffs and right now, we’re three games unbeaten, so you want to keep rolling and playing the right way so when you go in, you give yourself the best chance,” Haviland said. “We can’t move in the standings. We can’t jump anybody or get to another spot. We know who we’re playing and we just want to play the right way going into North Dakota next week with a lot of confidence.”
The Mavericks haven’t earned a win in their last five games, getting swept by St. Cloud State and tying Minnesota-Duluth both games last weekend.
Blais said tonight’s result was due to bad penalties at a point in the season where his team can’t afford them.
“I thought we played okay, but we can’t take undisciplined penalties,” Blais said. “It just tears the bench down when guys are taking bad penalties. And we took three of them. And we talked about that.
“If we’re going to the playoffs, if you take one bad penalty it costs you championships, it costs you NCAA bids and we took three of them.”
Blais said with pressure of potential postseason play on the horizon, the team is battling nerves. But even with a squad as young as UNO, senior captain Brian O’Rourke said there is no excuse.
“I wouldn’t say we’re a young team at this point in the season – that excuse is long gone,” O’Rourke said. “When you get to the third period with a tie game, those are the kinds of games and this time a year, a lot of games are going to be like that.”
Omaha still controls its own destiny Saturday in the quest for home ice. A win will push the Mavericks ahead of UMD, who is one point behind the Mavericks. A win and losses by Denver and Miami could put UNO all the way to second place. Blais is focused on closing out against the Tigers and getting home ice, no matter the standings.
“We want home ice,” Blais said. “You want second place, you want third place, but the ultimate goal, a month ago, was to get home ice.”
