Colorado College’s top line of Scott McCulloch, Chad Rau and Jimmy Kilpatrick scored seven points to help lead the Tigers past Michigan Tech, 4-1, in WCHA action Friday night at World Arena.
Each team scored once in the opening period, with the Tigers striking first at the 11:40 mark. McCulloch netted his eighth goal of the year after converting a great pass from Jimmy Kilpatrick.
Less than a minute later, the Huskies evened the score at 1-1 when Jordan Foote lit up the scoreboard for the second time in his junior campaign. With the puck in the far corner, Foote gained possession and skated to the near-side post, where he surprised CC goaltender Matt Zaba by beating him with a wraparound attempt on the netminder’s glove side. Junior Jimmy Kerr was credited with his fourth assist of the season, while senior Tyler Skworchinski added his third helper of the year on the play.
Foote, however, left the game during the second period and his status for Saturday’s game was unknown.
The home team mustered two goals in the middle stanza, one coming on the power play, and the other with both teams skating at full strength.
Brandon Polich gave Colorado College the lead back at the 8:56 mark with his second tally of the season off an assist from Braydon Cox. Kilpatrick then picked up his second point of the game at 13:32 as he tipped in a shot right in front of the net with his team holding a one-man advantage. Brian Connelly and McCulloch each chipped in assists on the goal.
Rau added one more marker at the 12:17 mark of the final period to stake the Tigers to a 4-1 lead they would not relinquish. Kilpatrick and McCulloch each compiled their third points of the night by providing assists for Rau.
CC finished with a 28-24 shot advantage in the contest.
Only six penalties were called in the game, with each team being whistled for three. CC went 1-for-2 on the power play and held MTU scoreless on one opportunity.
Sophomore Michael-Lee Teslak stopped 24 shots in net for the Huskies. Zaba made 23 saves in a winning cause for the Tigers.
CC improved to 4-4-1 overall and 1-2-1 in the WCHA, while the Huskies saw their record fall to 5-2-0 overall and 2-1-0 in conference play.
Tech and Colorado College square off again Saturday night in the series finale at World Arena. The puck will drop at 9:07 p.m.
