There’s only one unbeaten team left in Colorado Springs and it’s not Colorado College.

The Tigers’ offensive woes finally caught up with them. CC went 0 for 8 on the power play, including a 95-second 5-on-3 opportunity and two other power plays within the first seven minutes of the third period.

CC had never trailed after the first period, but the Tigers can thank a lackluster effort for their first such deficit. Defensemen Gabe Guentzel and Ryan Lowery totally blew coverage on center Darcy Zajac, who wrapped around the net and slammed the puck past goaltender Richard Bachman at 9:53.

Just more than eight minutes into the second, North Dakota scored two goals within 14 seconds to take a commanding 3-0 lead. The Tigers have now trailed 3-0 before the first half of the game in three of their last four losses to the Fighting Sioux. I’d say that’s a trend–an obscure one, perhaps–but a trend.

The biggest thing I noticed was that all three of North Dakota’s goals were “dirty” goals — goals created by will, not skill, and the exact type of scoring CC has lacked thus far.

CC had its chances to get some of those goals on those third-period power plays, but center Andreas Vlassopoulos‘ shot hit the post and, a few plays later, center Chad Rau and Eric Walsky couldn’t find the puck underneath goaltender Brad Eidsness, who was laying on his back.

Scott McCulloch summed it up well: “We’re not working hard enough to get into those tough areas.”

Defenseman Brian Connelly on the power play: “I think we’ve just got to move the puck a little faster and get it set up. A couple of times we had trouble getting into the zone. Once we get it set up, I think we do a good job of containing the puck and moving it around. I think we’ve just got to clip a little faster and keep shooting. … Now we have a 10 percent power play and that’s embarrassing.”

Colorado College
21 Sweatt — 14 Rau — 22 Walsky
23 Hall — 19 Vlassopoulos — 28 Schultz
26 McCulloch — 17 Johnson — 5 DeBoer
18 Overman — 9 McMillin — 20 Dineen

11 Connelly — 15 Prosser
7 Fredheim — 4 Gannon
10 Guentzel — 24 Lowery

30 Bachman
31 O’Connell
1 O’Brien

North Dakota
16 Duncan — 29 VandeVelde — 26 Hextall
10 Kozek — 11 Zajac — 20 Watkins
15 Davidson — 9 Lamoureux — 8 Martens
17 Gregoire — 19 Trupp — 18 Toews

3 LaPoint — 5 Genoway
6 Jones — 25 Marto
24 Blood — 14 Miller

31 Eidsness
30 Walski

North Dakota 1 2 0 3

Colorado College 0 0 1 1

First period – 1. UND, Zajac (Watkins, Kozek), 9:53. Penalties – Prosser, CC (slashing), 5:05; Overman, CC (tripping), 12:56; Kozek, ND (hooking), 16:52.

Second – 2. ND, Davidson (Martens), 8:14. 3. ND, Hextall (Duncan, VandeVelde), 8:28. Penalties – Fredheim, CC (hooking), 1:19; VandeVelde, ND (holding the stick), 3:32; Duncan (interference), 11:12; Duncan, ND (tripping), 16:01; Schultz, CC (charging), 16:36.

Third – 4. CC, Sweatt (Johnson, Connelly), 18:33. Penalties – Marto, ND (tripping), 3:10; Hextall, ND (hooking), 5:43; Zajac, ND (tripping), 6:19; Zajac, ND (holding), 17:18; McMillin, CC (interference), 17:18.

Shots on goal – ND 9-16-4-29. CC 8-8-14-30. Power-play Opportunities – ND 0 of 4, CC 0 of 8. Goalies – ND, Eidsness 8-8-13 (30 shots, 29 saves), 3-2. CC, Bachman 8-14-4 (29 shots, 26 saves), 4-1-3. A – 7,311. T – 2:11. Referees – Don Adam, Pete Friesma. Linesmen – Stephen Stankevich, Scott Staudte.

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Around the horn:

–CC travels to Alaska-Anchorage in a couple of weeks, read more about the Seawolves’ recent surge.

–The Duluth News-Tribune catches up with WCHA commish Bruce McLeod about how the rules changes have gone over. A hint: not so well.

–CC alum Brett Sterling‘s stint with the Atlanta Thrashers has concluded for now. He was sent back down to the AHL after playing three games.

–Former CC forward Mark Cullen leads the Manitoba Moose (AHL) in scoring.

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