Colorado College Edges 14th-ranked Denver
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- Colorado College took the first step towards reclaiming the Gold Pan with a 4-3 victory over in-state rival and 14th-ranked Denver Friday night at the Broadmoor World Arena.
Hunter McKown scored and added a pair of assists and Troy Conzo chipped in with a pair of helpers as the Tigers (3-4-2) jumped ahead of the Pioneers in the NCHC standings heading into Saturday night’s rematch in Denver.
Josiah Slavin opened the scoring for CC at the 13:21 mark of the first period when he took a pass from Jack Millar and sent a wrister from the right circle past DU goalie Magnus Chrona.
Denver (3-7-1) evened the game at 7:05 of the second frame as Kohen Olischefski beat Dominic Basse, but McKown put the Tigers back in the lead for good midway through the period with a nifty play for his second tally of the season. He took a pass from Conzo and shifted in front of the net before sending a backhander into the open net behind Chrona.
Fellow freshman Nicklas Andrews made it 3-1 at 15:40 of the second with his first career goal, a blast from the slot. McKown and Conzo assisted on the play.
Ryan Barrow cut the lead to 3-2 just 38 seconds into the third period, but CC’s Connor Mayer responded with his first goal of the season 37 seconds later to make it 4-2. Corbin Kaczperski relieved Chrona at that point, then Cole Guttman scored with 3:53 remaining in the third to once again cut CC’s advantage to one.
The Tigers played solid defense in the final two minutes as Kaczperski was on the bench in favor of an extra skater, and Basse made two of his 21 saves during that time to improve his season record to 3-2-1.
Chrona took the loss after making 12 saves and Kaczperski had two. Neither team capitalized on a pair of power-play chances.
Saturday night’s game starts at 7 p.m., at Magness Arena.
