Box Score Jan. 27, 2018 Box Score | PDF Box Score
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - An early goal gave Colorado College a lead it would not relinquish as the Miami hockey team fell in its series opener on the road by a 6-3 score on Friday night.
CC (11-11-3, 5-8-2-1 National Collegiate Hockey) grabbed the series lead while MU (9-12-2, 4-8-1-0 NCHC) dropped its fourth straight.
The Tigers drew first blood on their first shot of the night as Trevor Gooch beat Ryan Larkin on a transition chance to go up 1-0 just 1:29 into the contest.
Neither team generated many shots over the first 10 minutes of play as shots on goal were dead even at 2-2 midway through the opening frame. CC went on the first power play of the night with 7:46 left in the first. That man advantage made it a 2-0 game with 7:14 to go until intermission as Westin Michaud redirected a point shot in.
Miami countered to draw one closer just 38 seconds later. A transition rush started by Ben Lown worked the puck to Kiefer Sherwood, who feed the middle to an onrushing Phil Knies for his eighth goal of the season and his fifth in as many games to pull the Red & White within 2-1.
The Tigers were caught with too many men on the ice shortly after Knies' tally and the RedHawks did get a good opportunity when Karch Bachman cut towards the net with a step on the defense, but Alex Leclerc made a stop as CC killed off the power play and maintained a one-goal lead after 20 mintues.
Another Colorado College power play found the net to regain a two-goal advantage at 3-1 6:14 into the second period as Mason Bergh dug out a rebound and converted on the doorstep. The Tigers grew their lead to 4-1 with 3:38 left in the frame as Brian Williams scored on a rebound during a 3-on-1 rush. That's where the lead stood after 40 minutes with CC holding a 21-9 shot advantage.
A Bergh power play goal put CC up by a 5-1 count 6:40 into the third period. With the clock getting closer to the 10-minute mark, the RedHawks got another opportunity to work with a man advantage thanks to a five-minute major on the Tigers. After struggling with the power play for most of the night, this stretch got cut the MU deficit in half as the trio of Sherwood, Grant Hutton and Alec Mahalak created power play tallies by Hutton and Sherwood to make it a 5-3 game with 8:42 to play.
The RedHawks had a few more looks at the tail end of the extended power play, but Leclerc kept them from chipping away any further. The Tigers held the Red & White without a shot on goal the rest of the way following the power play and Williams added an empty net goal with 1:09 left to seal it.
CC finished with a 26-18 shot advantage and went a perfect 3-for-3 on the power play while MU finished 2-for-7 with the man advantage. Sherwood (1g, 2a), Hutton (1g, 1a) and Mahalak (2a) all posted multiple points. Larkin made 20 saves for Miami while Leclerc turned away 15 shots for Colorado College.
These teams wrap up their series on Saturday with opening faceoff set for 6:07 p.m. ET.
