Nick Swaney scored two goals and Riley Tufte added a goal and two assists to lead top-ranked Minnesota Duluth to a 5-1 victory over Colorado College Saturday night at Amsoil Arena in Duluth, Minn.
Hunter Shepard made 15 saves as the Bulldogs (8-1-1, 2-0-0 NCHC) outshot the Tigers, 38-16, and extended their winning streak to eight. Colorado College (4-5-1, 0-4-0) dropped their fourth consecutive game, all against the top two teams in the nation.
Swaney scored just 2:08 into the contest to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead. He gathered the puck behind the Tiger net, attempted a wraparound shot that was saved by Tiger goalie Alex Leclerc, but Swaney put home his own rebound from the right side of the net.
In the final minutes of the period, CC’s Alex Berardinelli nearly tied the game, but his shot from the slot rang off the post. At the other end, Justin Richards took a pass from Parker Mackay and beat Leclerc from point-blank range to make it 2-0 with one minute left in the frame.
After Mackay scored just 26 seconds into the second period to make it 3-0, Nick Halloran scored on the power play to cut the lead to 3-1 at the 8:16 mark. With the puck in the UMD zone, Bryan Yoon sent the puck along the boards to Trey Bradley, who found Halloran across the ice at the left circle and he sent a one-timer past Shepard.
Swaney notched his second of the game to make it 4-1 at 12:59 of the second by completing a 2-on-1 with Tufte right in front of Leclerc, then Tufte blasted a shot from the top of the right circle on the power play with 1:52 remaining in the middle frame to complete the scoring.
Alec Calvaruso spelled Leclerc at the beginning of the third period and saved all six shots he saw after Leclerc had 27 saves in the first 40 minutes.
The Tigers were 1-for-4 on the power play, while UMD was 1-for-3. Tufte led all players with six shots, while Westin Michaud led the Tigers with four.
Colorado College returns home to face Miami University next weekend, Nov. 16-17, at the Broadmoor World Arena.
