Green Bay, Wis. – Colorado College won’t get one last chance to beat Wisconsin after all.
The Tigers blew an early two-goal lead and fell to Cornell 3-2 in an NCAA Midwest Regional semifinal Saturday, ending their season and any hopes of redemption against their WCHA rivals.
Cornell’s Jon Gleed scored his first goal of the season midway through the third period to break a 2-2 tie, firing a rebound past CC goalie Matt Zaba with 10:40 left.
“We felt good after the first period,” said CC captain Marty Sertich, who had two assists in the opening period. “I don’t know what happened after that. We ran out of gas.”
Cornell advances to today’s regional final to play Wisconsin, which could have faced a fifth meeting with CC this season. The Badgers were 3-0-1 against the Tigers in the regular season.
Instead, CC’s season ends two wins short of the Frozen Four, and in surprising fashion after dominating the first period.
“To have that lead and let it slip away, and to have it end our season, it’s rough,” assistant captain Brett Sterling said. “We played so well in the first period but we couldn’t keep it up the rest of the way. It’s a tough way to go out.”
“It was kind of a microcosm of our season,” CC coach Scott Owens said. “We had a great start, struggled in the middle, still hung in there, and in the end we just wore down completely.”
Less than five minutes into the game, Cornell’s Tyler Mugford and Daniel Pegoraro took consecutive penalties nine seconds apart, giving Colorado College a 5-on-3 advantage.
Just 12 seconds later, Brian Salcido took a pass from Sertich at the right point and beat goalie David McKee with a slap shot for a 1-0 lead.
The Tigers made it 2-0 with 3:11 left in the first on a power-play goal by Jack Hillen. With Cornell’s Mark McCutcheon in the penalty box for high sticking, Sertich fed Hillen between the circles and his wrist shot through traffic eluded McKee.
CC didn’t allow Cornell a single shot on goal until Gleed finally tested Zaba with four minutes left in the first period. His wrist shot was easily kicked aside by Zaba.
But Cornell bounced back to control the second and third periods, taking no penalties and allowing CC just 11 shots on goal.
“We had no power-play chances in the second and third periods, and it wasn’t because of the officiating,” Owens said. “Cornell smartened up and didn’t get themselves in bad position.”
The Tigers did. On Cornell’s third power play of the second period, the Big Red scored when Topher Scott and Matt Moulson worked a perfect give-and-go, with Scott deflecting Moulson’s centering pass past Zaba.
Cornell kept that momentum early in the third and tied the game less than five minutes into the period. Moulson stole the puck from Salcido behind the Colorado net and scored on a quick wraparound, making it 2-2 with 15:10 left.
Cornell then took the lead with 10:40 left. Raymond Sawada’s shot went wide and bounced straight back off the boards to Gleed, whose rebound shot beat Zaba up high.
Colorado College pulled Zaba for the extra attacker with one minute left, but to no avail.
