OXFORD, OHIO — It turns out Brian Williams really likes to play against Miami University.
The sophomore from San Diego scored twice in his first appearance of the season and Alex Leclerc made 29 saves to lead Colorado College to a 6-1 victory Friday over Miami in Oxford, Ohio.
Troy Conzo added a goal and an assist and Erik Middendorf and Ben Copeland each collected a pair of assists as the Tigers snapped a four-game winless streak and improved to 9-12-3 overall and 3-7-2 in the NCHC. With the victory, CC moved into a seventh-place tie in the league standings with Omaha, just one point behind Miami.
Williams, who had two goals in a game against the RedHawks last season, opened the scoring at the 10:02 mark of the first period. Erik Middendorf crashed the net with the puck and his shot was saved by Miami goalie Ryan Larkin, but Williams was right in front for the rebound.
Alex Berardinelli followed at the 12:16 mark, taking a centering pass from Trevor Gooch and heading in all alone on Larkin. Berardinelli beat Larkin on the glove side from the slot for his eighth goal of the season and a 2-0 lead.
Conzo made it 3-0 at the 15:06 mark when he collected the puck after a Larkin save, took a shot that was blocked, then roofed a shot from the left circle as Larkin struggled to get back in the crease.
“We got it going early and I thought we played a great first period,” head coach Mike Haviland said. “We came out ready to play 60 minutes.”
The Tigers kept the pressure on in the second period as Trey Bradley scored on a wraparound just 41 seconds into the frame to make it 4-0. Bradley, who has five goals in his last five games, became the first Tiger to reach double figures with his career-high 10th goal of the season.
Williams, who has four of his five career goals against Miami, scored his second of the game to put the Tigers ahead 5-0 at the 9:37 mark with a rocket from the right circle that beat Jordan Uhelski, who replaced Larkin following Bradley’s goal.
“Brian played very well for us last year and he is one of the favorites in the locker room,” Haviland said. “He works every day, stays positive and now we certainly can’t take him out of the lineup.”
Grant Hutton put Miami (9-12-4, 3-8-2-1 NCHC) on the board with a shot from the point that Leclerc never saw at the 11:08 mark of the middle frame.
Christiano Versich scored with 2:04 remaining in the third period for the game’s final goal and the Tigers had to kill off their only penalty of the game during the final 20 minutes. CC had only one power-play opportunity as well, coming in the second period.
Miami outshot CC, 14-10, in the third period and held a 30-28 advantage for the game. Bradley led the Tigers with four shots, followed by Berardinelli with three. Karch Bachman had a game-high five shots for Miami. Larkin finished with eight saves and Uhelski had 14 in his relief effort.
