Maryland Heights, MO – The CMCC Men's Ice Hockey team picked up their first win in program history at the ACHA National Championships in St. Louis, knocking off #5 seeded Colby College 5-4 in overtime. The #12 seeded Mustangs never led until Evan Knowlton scored the game-winning goal 3:21 into the extra frame, giving his team the perfect start to group play.
"One of those games where we felt like we were in control the whole game and just couldn't get the lead," said head coach Jordy Knoren. "Their goalie made some great saves. We kept working and saw they were out of gas in the third period. We just wanted to put it away in overtime."
Central Maine improves to 23-7-0 with the victory. The Mustangs will continue their stretch of three games in three days on Wednesday, when they face the #4 Oakland University Golden Grizzlies. Only one team advances out of each of the four groups to play in the semifinals on Friday. CMCC finishes off group play on Thursday against #13 Colorado School of Mines.
The Mules looked like they might pick up exactly where they left off from beating the Mustangs 4-0 in the NECHA conference championship on February 23rd. Colby scored 7:30 into the first period when Falmouth, ME native Mitch Ham won an offensive zone face-off back to Bear Brooks. The winger zipped his shot past a screened Isaac White for a 1-0 early lead.
It was 2-0 less than a minute later. Connor Roach through a backhand shot at the net from a sharp angle, with the puck deflecting off White and behind him into the net. Coach Knoren made the decision to swap his goaltenders at that point, sending in junior Sebastian Couturier to play the remainder of the contest.
The move seemed to snap his team out of its funk. Not quite three minutes later, Brody Keefe leveled Ewan Ward with a hit in the slot to force a turnover. Colby Pawson got it over to Aaron Higgins to start a two-on-two rush. As the 2nd-Team All-American forward cut across the slot, both defensemen went with him, leaving a wide-open Pawson to receive a pass in the left circle and rifle home a wrist shot into the top corner. That made it 2-1 with 8:07 left in the opening frame.
A series of late penalty calls left the Mustangs with a power play in the final minute; one that they would take advantage of. Michael Belleau won the draw back to defenseman Heath McLean who slid a pass across to Knowlton on the right point. The alternate captain out of Lewiston took advantage of the extra space, skating to the top of the circle before uncorking a shot past screened goaltender Cooper Steinborn.
Colby got back on top early in the second period thanks to a powerplay of their own. Pawson was given a five-minute major for slashing with four seconds left in the first, and Andres Ramos and Diego Alonso both had tripping called against them early in the middle frame. With a 4-on-3 advantage to work, Brooks set up Evan White at the left point. The defenseman's low shot beat Couturier through the five-hole to make it 3-2 Mules with 3:09 gone.
CMCC rallied once again. Higgins found Mikita Kalmykov with a stretch pass down the right wing for a two-on-one. The Belarusian forward flipped a pass around a sliding Eli Weinberger, who did his best to block the lane, setting up Pawson for a one-timer in the slot. The sophomore out of Oakland, ME did not miss, burying his 11th goal of the campaign for a 3-3 tie.
The Mules surged back in front down the stretch, retaking the lead only 44 seconds into the third period. Ham one-handed the puck off the boards to center ice for Brooks to charge onto. Defenseman Jonathan Rioux gambled on a poke check in the neutral zone, but the forward from Santa Monica, CA blew past him for a breakaway before beating Couturier over the blocker.
The hockey gods gave Central Maine a little bit of puck luck to even the score. Ramos attempted to clear the defensive zone for Colby, only for the puck to deflect off a forechecking Kalmykov. It bounced back to the left point where Ethan Blue teed up a slap shot that appeared to be heading just wide. However, the puck caromed off Ramos' skate in the slot and between the goaltender's pads, tying the score at 4-4 with 19:43 left to play.
Colby, which iced only 16 skaters, appeared to be running out of steam as the third period went along. Steinborn made several solid saves to keep the score level and force the game into a ten-minute five-on-five overtime.
Three minutes into the extra frame, Knowlton and Belleau combined to take the puck away in the neutral zone. Belleau found Cody Ivey, who floated a pass into the left corner for Knowlton. His centering feed came out to McLean in the high slot, but the Arundel, ME native couldn't get his shot around Colby captain Peter Nelson. The puck caromed towards Knowlton at the side of the net, with the forward stopping it with his left skate before whacking it past the netminder. Knowlton's goal 3:21 into OT was his 13th of the season, completing a 5-4 comeback win and setting off a joyful celebration.
"We forced a turnover and tried to set something up in the offensive zone," Knowlton said by phone after the game. "Heath's shot just took a funny bounce and came right to me. It wasn't the best shot, but it found a way in. Then I got mobbed by everybody. That's something the coaches talked about, getting to the front of the net and looking for rebounds."
It was CMCC's fourth meeting of the season with in-state rival Colby and avenged the NECHA championship loss to the Mules in the team's most recent game. That was also on neutral ice, albeit in New Hampshire, and just so happened to set the stage in the national rankings to bring the two sides back together in Group D at the ACHA tournament.
The Mustangs do not have much time to rest. They face #4 Oakland on Wednesday, March 19th at the Centene Community Ice Center with puck drop scheduled for 9:15 pm ET.
