COLORADO SPRINGS — Colorado College coach Scott Owens had said before that he would need his underclassmen to play well over the final 12 games of the regular season.
They certainly did Friday night. Three freshmen and a sophomore scored in a 4-2 Western Collegiate Hockey Association win over No. 5 North Dakota before a sellout crowd of 7,540 at the World Arena.
North Dakota senior Chay Genoway, who lost most of last season to a concussion, was helped off the ice 18 seconds into the second period with a confirmed lower body injury after he was hit behind the Sioux net. No penalty was called.
The injury seemed to deflate the second-place Sioux (18-8-2, 13-6 WCHA) for a while. CC outshot them 19-7 in the second and scored twice for some important insurance goals for the sixth-place Tigers (15-11-1, 9-8).
In the second, CC freshman Jeff Collett knocked the puck past UND goalie Aaron Dell with 14:04 left for the eventual game-winner. Sophomore William Rapuzzi took a Ryan Lowery pass, spun and fired the puck past Dell for a power-play goal for a 4-0 edge with 2:52 left.
That would prove important, as North Dakota rallied with two goals, including a short-hander with 6:36 left in the game by Jason Gregoire during a 5-on-3 Tigers power play.
CC sophomore goalie Joe Howe was solid at times with 39 saves while his defenders were quick to deflect away rebounds. Howe played an excellent first period. He made a tremendous leg-pad save to rob Sioux forward Evan Trupp, who was wide open by the left post with 4:30 left and a glove save with 1:19 remaining in the first to preserve the early lead.
In the first period, freshman Alexander Krushelnyski wove his way between two North Dakota defenders to fire a high wrist shot past Dell’s glove attempt to make it 2-0 Tigers with 12:05 left.
Freshman Dakota Eveland drilled in a long rebound one second after a power play ended for the opening goal.
CC almost led 3-0 in the first, but Dell stopped Andrew Hamburg down low with 6:22 left.
