CC skates to 2-2 tie at Michigan Tech
Friday victory eludes Tigers again
Athletic Media Relations

Already without three regulars who didn’t even travel with the team this week, Colorado College found itself down two more before completing the first period on Friday.

So, considering the circumstances, its 2-2 tie at Michigan Tech can be viewed positively as an important point on the road.

The Tigers, who started the night tied with Minnesota and Minnesota Duluth for fourth place in the WCHA standings, inched ahead of both as the Gophers and Bulldogs lost at home. After a school-record seventh deadlock of the season, CC is 13-9-7 overall and 9-8-4 in league play.

Second-period goals by Tyler Johnson and Chad Rau wiped out an early Tech lead and staked the visitors to a 2-1 lead heading into the final 20 minutes in the opener of their two-game series during Winter Carnival weekend in Houghton, Mich.

But freshman Brett Olson’s ninth tally of the season with 12:58 left in regulation pulled the last-place Huskies even and extended Colorado College’s winless streak at MacInnes Student Ice Arena to five games (0-2-3) spanning the last three seasons.

Sophomore defenseman Deron Cousens scored a five-on-three power-play goal for MTU at 12:57 of a penalty-filled opening stanza. By that point, Tech’s Alex McLeod and CC’s Nate Prosser already had taken game misconducts resulting from separate five-minute checking-from-behind infractions, and Tiger center Brian McMillin had left the contest with an injury.

Johnson struck just 1:25 into the middle frame, skating into the Huskies zone and firing a shot over the shoulder of net minder Rob Nolan from the right faceoff circle. Rau put the Tigers ahead at 5:37 on a nice feed from Brian Connelly during a Colorado College power play. Richard Bachman, who finished with 27 saves in goal for CC, including four in overtime, also drew an assist on the tally.

Nolan stopped 19 of 21 Tiger shots on goal.