Richard Bachman and Addison DeBoer combined to do all that was needed for Colorado College Sunday, as the Tigers earned a split in their weekend series with the Minnesota Golden Gophers with a 1-0 shutout win at Mariucci Arena.
DeBoer scored his third goal of the season, a shorthander, at the 15:02 mark of the first period, and Bachman stopped all 21 Minnesota shots on net to backstop the win. The victory was the first CC shutout at Minnesota since a 2-0 win on Dec. 17, 1955, and the Tigers’ fifth shutout of the Gophers in 244 all-time meetings.
An elbow by the Tigers’ Tim Hall put Minnesota on its third power play of the game late in the first period, but Colorado College immediately turned it into the first and only goal of the game.
Just seconds into the man-advantage, DeBoer stole the puck and passed ahead to Andres Vlassopoulos, who raced up the left side before squeezing a pass behind and beneath at least two Gophers who were racing to get back on defense. The puck rattled off a stick and found its way through the slot to DeBoer, who had the wide-open net for an easy putaway from the edge of the crease.
The CC goal belied early control of the contest by the Gophers, who outshot the Tigers 9-5 in the opening frame and held them without a shot for the first 10 minutes of the game.
A scoreless second period was most notable for Minnesota’s penalty-killing, as Colorado College had four power plays including a pair of five-on-three advantages lasting a total of nearly two minutes. The Gophers limited the Tigers to a total of three shots during those opportunities.
Colorado College put 10 shots on goal in the third period to Minnesota’s seven, and defending WCHA Player of the Year Bachman, who was steady and sometimes spectacular throughout the contest, kept the Gophers off the scoreboard to the end.
The Gophers’ best chance to tie came on an attempt by Ryan Flynn with eight minutes left in the third period. Bachman got a piece of the puck on Flynn’s back-and-forth move, and the shot flipped just past the left post from dead center in the slot.
Bachman’s other highlights included a sequence early in the first period on which Minnesota’s David Fischer and Tony Lucia tested him with consecutive shots from opposite sides. The sophomore made both saves with six minutes left in the first to keep the game scoreless until DeBoer’s goal half a period later put the Tigers ahead for good.
Minnesota pulled netminder Alex Kangas with just over 30 seconds left in regulation, but to no avail as the Tigers cleared the puck to end the game. Kangas had 22 saves for Minnesota.
Minnesota, ranked second in the country entering the weekend, is now 8-3-5 overall and 7-2-3 in the WCHA, while ninth-ranked Colorado College is 10-6-4 overall and 7-5-2 in the league.
The Tigers are in action next weekend in a nonleague series against Atlantic Hockey’s Sacred Heart, while the Gophers enter the holiday break. Minnesota next takes the ice against Brown on Jan. 2 in their opening game at the Dodge Holiday Classic tournament.
