The Colorado College hockey team plays their first game in the Omaha Pod

The Colorado College Tigers waited long enough to get on the ice this season, so it was only fitting that their first game was extended to a shootout.

The Tigers, who joined the NCHC Pod in Omaha a week later than the other seven league teams, skated to a 3-3 draw with Western Michigan Tuesday in the season opener, then outscored the Broncos, 2-1, in a shootout to gain the extra point in the league standings.

CC, which had seven skaters playing their first collegiate game, looked to a couple of veterans to take a 2-0 lead within the first 20 minutes.

Junior team captain Grant Cruikshank broke a scoreless tie with 1:54 remaining in the first period with a power-play goal. He took a pass from Josiah Slavin and sent a one-timer from the high slot that cleanly beat WMU goalie Austin Cain.

Fellow junior Ben Copeland doubled the lead with just 26 seconds left in the opening frame by taking a centering pass from freshman Jackson Jutting and placing a wrist shot past Cain. Freshman Jordan Biro also posted the first point of his career on Copeland’s 14th career tally.

Paul Washe scored a pair of goals in the second period to even the game, but freshman Hunter McKown notched the first goal of his collegiate career for a 3-2 Tiger lead at the 15:36 mark of the middle frame. McKown found the puck in the slot with his back to Cain, twirled and fired a shot that found the back of the net. Slavin gathered his second assist of the game and junior transfer Hugo Blixt notched his first point as a Tiger.

WMU’s Hugh Larkin scored at the 14:06 mark of the third period to even the game at 3-3. The Tigers had a power-play for the first 1:22 of the overtime session but neither team capitalized, so each squad earned its first point of the NCHC season.

Slavin and McKown scored in the shootout, while CC goalie Matt Vernon (33 saves) stopped three shots to give the Tigers the extra point in the NCHC standings.

Colorado College returns to the ice on Wednesday, Dec. 9 against Omaha, beginning at 7:35 (CT).