After a slow start, the No. 15 Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs came alive in the last two periods, firing 36 shots and scoring four goals in the last two periods en route to a 5-1 win and weekend sweep of the Colorado College Tigers.
“I really liked our last 40 minutes, obviously, but I thought our guys played much better from the start of the second period on; I liked the third period too,” said Bulldogs coach Scott Sandelin.
The first period was one of special teams, with each team capitalizing on a power-play opportunity, though CC had four power plays to Duluth’s one. CC got on the board first at 7:27 when Mason Bergh got the puck to Westin Michaud in the slot and Michaud buried it. Duluth answered CC’s power-play goal with one at 14:23 when Nick Wolff’s shot from the blue line eluded a screened Alec Calvaruso.
“I wasn’t too pleased after the first goal, the first power play, because they scored the exact same goal, we reviewed it, we went through it on tape, and they executed and we just weren’t good on it, but I thought after that we got more aggressive and I thought our guys did a much better job not allowing some of the things they were trying to do,” said Sandelin.
After so many power plays in the first period, the second period settled down, and the game seemed to be played cautiously. However, Duluth grabbed the lead near the end of the second period when Kobe Roth got the puck near the right post and banged at it until the puck snuck past Calvaruso at 18:28.
“Sometimes it’s the timeliness of goals, right?” said Sandelin. “I was just happy to get the lead, and it was nice in the third period to see our third line and fourth line get some goals, because they played well all weekend.”
Calvaruso was replaced by Alex Leclerc at the start of the third period due to a lower-body injury.
Duluth scored on an own goal at 4:53 on a funny coincidence. Minnesota Duluth’s Parker Mackay, jersey number 39 and an assistant captain for the Bulldogs, threw the puck on net, and CC’s Andrew Farny, also jersey number 39 and an assistant captain for CC, deflected it into the net.
Right after that, the Bulldogs made it 4-1 when Billy Exell whacked at multiple rebounds and ultimately banked the puck in off Leclerc’s left pad from behind the net at 5:33.
“I was not happy with our last 40 (minutes),” CC coach Mike Haviland said. “We did not play to our identity. That is not who we need to be to win a hockey game. We need to play a smart, simple game.”
Roth added his second of the game at 18:08 of the third when he was sprung on a breakaway up the left side and cut toward the net, finishing with a backhand top shelf glove side on Leclerc.
“The points are huge; there’s no question,” said Sandelin. “Points are hard to come by in this league. We’ve been in that position a couple times this year with the wins Friday against Western and Miami and didn’t fine a way to close it out, so hopefully that’s a good step for us.”
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