DURHAM, N.H. — New Hampshire powered past Colorado College 6-2 Saturday night as freshman goaltender Adam Clark made 22 saves for the win and Maxim Gaudreault provided the offense for UNH with a pair of goals.
For Gaudreault, he gave credit to his teammates and deflected any praise thrown his way.
“I think I was just in the right place at the right time,” Gaudreault said. “Casey Thrush did a great job on both those plays getting the puck to the net and looking for the puck, and I was just able to get to the spot at the right time, and it was an open net from there.”
Gaudreault said his on-ice relationship with Thrush makes for a perfect match.
“He has a lot of speed, and he puts the puck to the net,” Gaudreault said. “I try to get to the right spot or feed him when he is moving. Plus, we are really good on the cycle, so we try to get puck possession from that.”
UNH controlled play from the opening drop and was finally rewarded for its dominating play late in the first
After Warren Foegele picked up his second penalty, the Tigers went on the power play with just over three minutes left in the first. A lackadaisical play in the neutral zone led to a UNH shorthanded bid. Colorado College goaltender Tyler Marble kicked away a Thrush try, but Gaudreault followed up the shot and lifted the rebound past Marble for the 1-0 lead.
The Wildcats continued to control play into the second period. Gaudreault tallied his second of the night just 5:06 into the middle frame. Once again, Marble made the first stop, but Gaudreault was there to clean up the rebound.
Colorado College answered back minutes later on Cody Bradley’s fourth goal of the season. A broken play just below the left circle gave Bradley the time he needed to slip the puck through Clark’s towering frame.
UNH broke the game open late in the second with a pair of goals from a pair of freshmen just 12 seconds apart. First, Andrew Poturalski tipped home a right-circle rocket from Richard Boyd for the 3-1 lead. Seconds later, Kyle Smith fed an unattended Shane Eiserman at the top of the crease to extend the lead to 4-1.
“Our focus is to pressure the puck and be tenacious and win the puck battles,” New Hampshire coach Dick Umile said. “We want it down low and out front, and we scored those two goals to send us into the third with a good lead.”
Poor response after allowing a goal has been a problem throughout the early season for the Tigers.
“We came back and got the goal and had some life going,” Tigers’ coach Mike Haviland said. “There was a couple of missed assignments and then it’s in the back of our net. We have to clean that up and if you get one against you, then we have to make sure we go back out and change the momentum. The shift after [UNH scored] they came back out and scored against us, and that’s something we have to get out of our game.”
