I’d argue Colorado College needed this win more than any of its other Saturday-night victories this November.

After a demoralizing loss to No. 11 Air Force on Friday (the Falcons, in case you missed it, are no longer undefeated after Saturday’s 4-1 loss to Denver), the Tigers not only needed to bounce back, but they needed to pick up another non-conference win.

Remember, CC tied twice at Clarkson earlier this season and missed a chance against Air Force to pick up PairWise points against a team with a great RPI.

With Saturday’s 3-2 win over Colgate, the Tigers have a shot at a winning (5-1-2) non-conference record, which is very important in March. (CC concludes its non-conference schedule against Sacred Heart on Dec. 19-20.)

CC is definitely glad to be done with November, a month in which they split every weekend and ended with a 5-4 record.

For what it’s worth:

**Slightly improved pressure around the crease: “Both of those goals in the second period were the result of us going hard to the net, which is something we’d gotten away from,” coach Scott Owens said. “And it resulted in a goal, especially in the last minute of the period.”

**Defenseman Kris Fredheim stepped up with captain Jake Gannon (finger fracture) out of the lineup: “His penalty killing has really gotten stabilized,” coach Scott Owens said of Fredheim. “His five-on-five play has been good. For a defenseman like ‘Freddy,’ except when he scores the odd goal, he’s playing his best when you don’t notice him much.”

**Center Tyler Johnson scored his first goal of the season playing for a new power-play unit, which featured senior Scott McCulloch, freshman Tim Hall, sophomore Ryan Lowery and junior Nate Prosser.

**Random fact: The short-handed goal by Colgate came on a rush steered by two Dallas Stars draft picks, David McIntyre (5th round, 2006) and Austin Smith (5th round, 2007). Goaltender Richard Bachman (4th round, 2006) said he knows both of them from development camps and was happy to get them back later in the game.

**A last Bachmanism: He said the last time he was pulled from a game was playing for Cedar Rapids (USHL). The culprit? Current teammate right wing Stephen Schultz, a scratch on Saturday. “Schultz lit me up for a hat-trick,” he said.

Check out Sunday’s Gazette for more on the game and also how goaltender Richard Bachman bounced back from Friday’s game.

Colorado College
21 Sweatt — 14 Rau — 22 Walsky
26 McCulloch — 19 Vlassopoulos — 18 Overman
23 Hall — 17 Johnson — 25 Testwuide
5 DeBoer — 20 Dineen — 16 Civitarese

11 Connelly — 15 Prosser
10 Guentzel — 24 Lowery
3 Behrend — 7 Fredheim

30 Bachman
31 O’Connell
1 O’Brien

Colgate
26 McIntyre — 11 Riley — 19 Bogdanich
13 Brisebois — 9 Smith — 21 Williams
14 Prockow — 28 Cox — 22 DeBello
17 Firman — 18 Corrin — 23 Carty

7 St. Pierre — 24 Sloane
6 Poplawski — 4 McPherson
20 Fredricks — 27 Anderson

1 Evin
40 Long
33 Bessette

Colgate 1 0 1 2

Colorado College 0 2 1 3

First period – 1. COL, Smith (McIntyre), 13:53, sh. Penalties – Fredricks, COL (hooking), 6:35; Brisebois, COL (tripping), 12:49; DeBello, COL (slashing), 18:49; Connelly, CC (tripping), 19:52.

Second – 2. CC, Sweatt (Walsky, Rau), 6:11. 3. CC, Fredheim (Dineen, Testwuide), 19:06. Penalties – Civitarese, CC (boarding), 7:55; Fredricks, COL (interference), 8:35; Behrend, CC (hooking), 12:30.

Third – 4. CC, Johnson (McCulloch, Hall), 5:30, pp. 5. COL, Bogdanich (Riley, Anderson), 5:48. Penalties – St. Pierre, COL (tripping), 4:33.

Shots on goal – COL 7-9-10-26. CC 3-13-9-25. Power-play Opportunities – COL 0 of 3; CC 1 of 5. Goalies – COL, Evin 3-11-8 (25 shots-22 saves), 1-1. CC, Bachman 6-9-9 (26-24), 8-3-3. A – 5,971. T – 2:06. Referees – Don Adam, Butch Mousseaux. Linesmen – Scott Staudte, Greg Cook.

Take note, naysayers: Air Force is for real.

Colorado College, which has lost four of its last seven games, continues to struggle.

Offense, defense: nothing is coming easily for the Tigers right now.

The Falcons — who feature the top three scorers in the nation in forwards Brent Olson and Jacques Lamoureux and defenseman Greg Flynn — scored three goals in the second period to dominate the Tigers and earn their first win over CC since 1985, snapping a 25-game skid.

After defenseman Brett Nylander beat goaltender Richard Bachman with power-play goal from the high slot with 2:17 left in the period, the sophomore goaltender was benched for the first time in his career. CC went 0 for 9 on the power play and gave up a short-handed goal to Mike Phillipich just 3:30 into the period, marking the third consecutive game the Tigers have allowed a short-handed score.

“We’re just not in a good place right now on that,” coach Scott Owens said. “Shorties count more than one goal it seems like. They take a lot of wind out of the sail and they break your back a little bit.”

Midway through the first period, left wing Paul Weisgarber made a diving play to tap the rebound from Woodland Park native Sean Bertsch’s shot from the bottom of the right circle.

Coach Scott Owens on Air Force’s penalty kill: “They were just so aggressive. When they saw an opportunity to pounce, they pounced with authority. They were strong on their sticks. We didn’t take care of the puck very well. We were not tape to tape and they just pounced on it. They disrupted us virtually the whole night. We go through games where we have 16 or 21 on shots on the power play. I bet in the end we didn’t have more than six or seven.” (Ed note: CC had nine power-play shots)

Owens on CC’s approach to the game: “We had a good week of practice and we had good preparation coming in. We just didn’t execute, whether it was a Friday night or the fact that they just stormed us or still being a little bit flat… They’re a good team and they have good balance. Team is the best word for them because their fourth line scored the first goal, driving hard to the net and the rebound goes in. Their penalty killing was good. They had a great team effort tonight.”

Left wing Scott McCulloch on the game: “It’s disappointing. Everyone is disappointed. … We’re not battling. We got out-battled tonight, we got out-competed and a credit to them. They worked hard and they got rewarded with it. Yeah, the pucks aren’t going in, but I don’t think we’re working hard enough to get to those spots.”

Colorado College
21 Sweatt — 14 Rau — 22 Walsky
26 McCulloch — 19 Vlassopoulos — 18 Overman
5 DeBoer — 20 Dineen — 25 Testwuide
23 Hall — 9 McMillin — 28 Schultz

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

30 Bachman
31 O’Connell

Air Force
12 Fairchild — 26 Hajner — 17 Burnett
11 Frider — 21 Lamoureux — 13 Olson
22 Page — 8 Kozlak — 19 Phillipich
10 Weisgarber — 15 Bertsch — 16 Burgdoerfer

4 Flynn — 3 Sellers
29 Nylander — 14 Mayra
23 Mathis — 25 Kirby

1 Volkening
37 Caple
30 Krystosek

Air Force 1 3 0 4

Colorado College 0 0 1 1

First period – 1. AFA, Weisgarber (Bertsch, Flynn), 10:13. Penalties – Burnett, AFA (slashing), 12:55; Prosser, CC (interference), 14:39; Flynn, AFA (hooking), 14:51; Nylander AFA (holding), 16:32; Burnett, AFA (unsportsmanlike conduct), 19:25; Vlassopoulos, CC (unsportsmanlike conduct), 19:25.

Second – 2. AFA, Frider (Mathis, Flynn), :36. 3. AFA, Phillipich (unassisted), 3:30, sh. 4. AFA, Nylander (Fairchild, Burnett), 17:43, pp. Penalties – Nylander, AFA (holding), 1:49; Kozlak, AFA (cross-checking), 6:05; Nylander, CC (interference), 9:29; Hajner, AFA (interference), 14:06; Fredheim, CC (hooking), 16:47; Hajner, AFA (tripping), 19:38; Vlassopoulos, CC (intereference), 19:42.

Third – 5. CC, Sweatt (Lowery), 11:48. Penalties – Frider, AFA (checking from behind), 1:22; Olson, AFA (5-cross-checking), 1:22; McCulloch, CC (5-cross-checking), 1:22; Frider, AFA (10-game misconduct), 1:22; Overman, CC (hitting from behind), 7:57; Flynn, AFA (cross-checking), 10:42; DeBoer, CC (roughing), 10:42; Guentzel, CC (slashing), 12:35; Dineen, CC (5-slashing), 15:54; Burnett, AFA (hooking), 18:07.

Shots on goal – AFA 9-8-6-23. CC 12-5-12-29. Power-play Opportunities – AFA 1 of 4; CC 0 of 9. Goalies – AFA, Volkening 12-5-11 (29 shots-28 saves), 13-0. CC, Bachman 8-5-0 (17-13), 7-3-3; O’Connell x-x-6 (6-6). A – 3,063. T – 2:16. Referees – Jason Ellis, Jeff Zelasko. Linesmen – Tom Chmielewski, Seth Mukai.

**Joey Crabb made his NHL debut for the Atlanta Thrashers. Read the Anchorage Daily News’ take.

Colorado College was looking for a boost from its third and fourth lines and it got a big one on Saturday.
At 2:39 of overtime, left wing Addison DeBoer came from behind the net and tucked the puck inside the right post to lift the third-ranked Tigers to a 4-3 win over Alaska-Anchorage at Sullivan Arena.
“First, I was shocked couldn’t believe it went in,” said DeBoer, who was a healthy scratch on Friday. “Then, I was pretty excited. It was a big goal that we needed.”
DeBoer’s goal marked the first 5-on-5 score from a player not named Eric Walsky, Chad Rau or Bill Sweatt since the second period of the Nov. 2 game against Denver.
That’s a span of 389 minutes and four seconds.
“Still the top line did score three of the goals, but it was very nice and it’s good for the team chemistry to have somebody else chip in tonight,” coach Scott Owens said.
CC’s first overtime win — the Tigers had three overtime ties earlier this season — helped them secure their third consecutive split and second win in a five-game road trip that concludes next Friday at undefeated Air Force.
“It was a very hard-fought two points for us tonight and it was very gratifying,” Owens said. “We competed for 63 minutes. They were much better tonight and we were better tonight. I thought our hard work and perseverance helped us get that goal in the end.”
After a scoreless first period, the Tigers took a 1-0 lead with their second power-play goal in 14 chances. Defenseman Gabe Guentzel thought about a shot, but dished the puck to Rau, who unleashed a wrist shot from the left circle.
More than halfway through the second period, Anchorage’s Tommy Grant and Kevin Clark scored just more than four minutes apart to take the lead.
“They have some big strong forwards and they work hard down low,” Guentzel said.
But CC knotted the score just 26 seconds later when Walsky centered the puck off a defenseman’s skate. Sweatt collected it and backhanded it past defenseman Nils Bakstrom goaltender Jon Olthuis.
With less than six minutes left in Saturday’s third period, however, it looked as if CC might leave Alaska with just a point.
The Tigers gave up their second short-handed goal of the weekend when Grant beat goaltender Richard Bachman with a wrist shot from the right circle at 14:41.
“It was pretty deflating,” DeBoer said. “It’s not what you expect when you get a power play with a one-goal lead and less than six minutes to go. We need to get those power-play chances going and put them away.”
CC went 2 for 5 on Saturday to finish 3 for 19 on the weekend.

Colorado College
21 Sweatt — 14 Rau — 22 Walsky
26 McCulloch — 19 Vlassopoulos — 18 Overman
5 DeBoer — 17 Johnson — 25 Testwuide
23 Hall — 9 McMillin — 28 Schultz

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

30 Bachman
31 O’Connell

Alaska-Anchorage
16 Grant — 20 Crowder — 27 Wiles
21 Lunden — 40 Bales — 9 Clark
18 Haddad — 14 Parkinson — 12 Moir
10 Lovdahl — 19 Selby — 6 Smith

11 Leinweber — 23 Vidmar
13 Bakstrom — 33 Robinson
24 Hunt — 22 Tuton

30 Olthuis
38 Sidor

After a promising start, Colorado College dropped its third straight Friday-night game.

The Tigers, who went 1 for 12 on the power play, squandered some prime scoring opportunities down the stretch to lose 4-2 to the Seawolves.

CC will shoot for its third consecutive split on Saturday at Sullivan Arena, where it lost for the first time since Dec. 13, 2003.

CC, which lost to Minnesota State-Mankato last Friday after leading 1-0 after a period, put together a strong first period, holding the Seawolves to just three shots and taking a one-goal lead into the first intermission.

Taking a pass by right wing Eric Walsky from the left half-wall, center Chad Rau’s wrist shot from the slot beat goaltender Jon Olthuis midway through the first period.

After that goal, the Tigers didn’t allow a rush on O’Connell. CC had a 45-second 5-on-3 opportunity and a couple of power plays, but didn’t capitalize, holding the puck too long at times.

Less than three minutes into the third, Anchorage forward Craig Parkinson slammed a rebound hard off goaltender Drew O’Connell’s pads, which flipped over his left shoulder and in. Just 29 seconds later, right wing Paul Crowder scored a short-handed goal, his second of the night, which beat O’Connell gloveside.

Walsky, who also had an assist in the first period, scored a power-play goal midway through the third to tighten Alaska-Anchorage’s lead to 3-2.

But the Tigers’ best opportunities to tie went unfulfilled as left wings Bill Sweatt and Scott McCulloch each squandered breakaways in the final 10 minutes. Anchorage’s Tommy Grant scored an empty-net goal with 24.9 seconds left to seal the win.

In their words:
Scott McCulloch on the 1 of 12 power-play performance: I don’t know how many power plays we had that we didn’t score on. We didn’t get any momentum from our power plays and that’s going to change the feeling of the game. But they got momentum from their kills.

Scott McCulloch on missed opportunities and the frustration: It’s very frustrating, especially for me. I’m supposed to be a leader on this team and step up and put those breakways in with 3 minutes left in the game. We can’t have that from a leader. I need to do a better job when it’s crunch time. … It’s frustrating to lose like that.

Scott McCulloch on CC’s tendency to respond on Saturday: It’s always a wake-up call when you lose games like this on Friday. We get beat up pretty bad and on Saturday everyone has a bitter taste in their mouth. … We need to be ready to go and take advantage of the special teams if we’re going to come out of here with the split.

Eric Walsky on what went wrong, especially on the power play: Tonight we didn’t play with detail. We were sloppy. We weren’t there mentally on the power play, which is when you have to be the sharpest mentally. That’s really where we lacked.

Eric Walsky on his personal performance (1 goal, 1 assist): I didn’t think I played very well tonight. I was in the same position as everyone else, but I got a couple lucky bounces. I didn’t work through it like I should have. … I didn’t push myself like I should have.

Eric Walsky on the sentiment in the locker room after Friday’s game: Everyone is obviously really frustrated and everyone is holding themselves accountable at this point and putting a lot of pressure on themselves to hopefully play the way they should tomorrow.

Coach Scott Owens on the turning point in the game: We had those six power play chances in a row and we couldn’t get anything out of it. We were 9-3 on the shots after a period and had three power plays, including 5-on-3, but we couldn’t get the next goal. Then, we get scored on right there in the middle of the second period when we couldn’t get that second goal. … They got a little bit of confidence. The game should have been over at the 28-minute mark. We’re on the road and we’re letting them hang around.

Coach Scott Owens on Drew O’Connell’s 18-save performance in front of his hometown crowd: I don’t know how it looked, but Drew played well. He didn’t get much help and it was a situation where he didn’t have to be battling. In that situation, we should have been up by two or three, but it got to be a little bit racehorse out there. … It was the ineptness on the offense that set the tone. … Our older forwards should be able to carry this team more than they are. It’s too bad. (O’Connell) comes home and he plays well enough for a win.

Colorado College
21 Sweatt — 14 Rau — 22 Walsky
26 McCulloch — 19 Vlassopoulos — 25 Testwuide
18 Overman — 17 Johnson — 28 Schultz
23 Hall — 9 McMillin — 16 Civitarese

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

31 O’Connell
30 Bachman

(Extra players: 5 DeBoer, 27 Bidwill)

Alaska-Anchorage
16 Grant — 20 Crowder — 27 Wiles
21 Lunden — 40 Bales — 9 Clark
18 Haddad — 14 Parkinson — 12 Moir
10 Lovdahl — 19 Selby — 6 Smith

11 Leinweber — 23 Vidmar
13 Bakstrom — 33 Robinson
24 Hunt — 22 Tuton

30 Olthuis
38 Sidor

Alaska-Anchorage 0 1 3 4

Colorado College 1 0 1 2

First period – 1. CC, Rau (Walsky), 11:08. Penalties – Crowder, UAA (hooking), 1:11; Johnson, CC (interference), 3:47; Lovdahl, UAA (hooking), 13:58; Vidmar, UAA (holding), 15:13.

Second – 2. UAA, Crowder (Grant), 12:26. Penalties – Moir, UAA (tripping), 1:59; Hunt, UAA (slashing), 2:11; Hunt, UAA (interference), 10:14; Lunden, UAA (interference), 14:43; Clark, UAA (slashing), 16:25; Schultz, CC (embellishment), 16:25; Crowder, UAA (hooking),17:21; Testwuide, CC (holding). 19:36.

Third – 3. UAA, Parkinson (Moir), 2:59. 4. UAA, Crowder (Grant), 3:28, sh. 5. UAA, Walsky (Connelly, Rau), 9:58, pp. 6. UAA, Grant (unasssisted), 19:35, en. Penalties – Selby, UAA (interference), 3:12; Bales, UAA (hooking), 8:09; McCulloch, CC (interference), 8:15; Robinson, UAA (interference), 8:35; Lovdahl, UAA (roughing), 11:11; Lowery, CC (slashing), 11:59; Gannon, CC (holding), 13:50.

Shots on goal – UAA 3-4-15-22. CC 9-10-8-27. Power-play Opportunities – UAA 0 of 5, CC 1 of 12. Goalies – UAA, Olthuis 8-10-7 (27 shots, 25 saves), 4-3. CC, O’Connell 3-3-12 (21 shots, 18 saves), 1-1. A – 3,105. T – 2:07. Referees – Craig Welker, Steve Glines. Linesmen – Karl Olm, Scott Sivulich.

MANKATO, Minn. — First road win: check.

Colorado College’s five-on-five offense continues to struggle, but its power play clicked on a season-high four man-advantage opportunities.

After falling behind 1-0 in the first 23 seconds, CC tied the score at 5:36 of the second period when center Chad Rau slung the puck so hard that it hit the back of the net and bounced out to the right face-off circle.

The Tigers took the lead just more than four minutes later when right wing Scott McCulloch’s wrist shot snuck under goaltender Mike Zacharias’ left armpit.

With less than a minute left in the second, left wing Bill Sweatt tipped defenseman Brian Connelly’s slap shot from the high slot under Zacharias.

But the Tigers would have to earn this one. Mankato scored two goals in a 1-minute, 45-second span of the third period to knot the score.

“We just didn’t panic,” Sweatt said. “We battled and we kept going relentlessly.”

But CC got some puck luck on its fifth power play of the game when Sweatt’s centering pass hit off defenseman Channing Boe’s skate and under Zacharias. Right wing Eric Walsky, credited with the goal, earns the game-winner for the second consecutive Saturday.

Said Walsky: “I got a lucky bounce there. We kind of attribute that to just working hard. When you do that, you typically get the bounces.”

[As an aside, I responded-- "Oh, so now when you say, "We didn't get the bounces," I can say, "So, you weren't working hard"? Ever the quick wit, Walsky goes: "Well, maybe I should rephrase that."]

“This one is huge, especially because it is the first one,” Sweatt said. “Going into a long, long trip next weekend against Alaska-Anchorage, it’s good to finally get a win under our belt because we were 0-1-3 on the road so far. When you go up there to Anchorage, it’s a tough place to play, especially with all that travel. So it was good to get some confidence to get it going that way.”

Colorado College

21 Sweatt — 14 Rau — 22 Walsky
26 McCulloch — 19 Vlassopoulos — 25 Testwuide
18 Overman — 20 Dineen — 28 Schultz
5 DeBoer — 17 Johnson — 9 McMillin

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

30 Bachman
31 O’Connell

(23 Hall, 27 Bidwill are scratches)

Minnesota State-Mankato

19 Irwin — 23 Bruess — 21 Berge
20 Wiley — 7 Sackrison — 11 Louwerse
18 Gaulrapp — 10 Harrison — 15 Stewart
24 Mueller — 12 Galiardi — 16 Thompson

22 Davis — 5 Youds
4 Kilburg — 17 Friesen
28 Boe — 2 Canzanello

1 Zacharias
49 Tormey
31 Lee

(Mouillerat out [shoulder injury] after he was cross-checked into the boards in the first period Friday)

Minnesota State-Mankato 1 0 2 3

Colorado College 0 3 1 4

First period – 1. MSM, Stewart (Harrison), :23. Penalties – Testwuide, CC (interference), 9:59; Connelly, CC (slashing), 16:03; Youds, MSM (interference), 17:16.

Second – 2. CC, Rau (Walsky), 5:36, pp. 3. CC, McCulloch (Vlassopoulos, Prosser), 9:39, pp. 4. CC, Sweatt (Connelly, Rau), 19:08, pp. Penalties – Wiley, MSM (tripping), 4:44; Boe, MSM (tripping), 8:48; Walsky, CC (cross-checking), 10:52; Gannon, CC (slashing), 12:20; Harrison, MSM (interference), 18:37.

Third – 5. MSM, Louwerse (Berge, Davis), 7:29, pp. 6. MSM, Galiardi (unassisted), 9:14. 7. CC, Walsky (Sweatt), 11:08, pp. Penalties – Connelly, CC (high-sticking), 5:42; Fredheim, CC (slashing), 6:16; Prosser, CC (10-minute misconduct), 7:29; Irwin, MSM (hooking), 9:57; DeBoer, CC (interference), 14:04; Boe, MSM (tripping), l7:32.

Shots on goal – MSM 8-4-9-21. CC 6-12-5-23. Power-play Opportunities – MSM 1 of 7, CC 4 of 6. Goalies – MSM, Zacharias 6-9-4 (23 shots, 19 saves), 5-3-2. CC, Bachman 7-4-7 (21 shots, 18 saves), 6-2-3. A – 4,797. T – 2:18. Referees – Todd Anderson, Brad Shepherd. Linesmen – Jonathan Morrison, Tony Czech.