Bulldogs dominate the Tigers, sweep the series

Minnesota Duluth players chase the puck from Colorado College players. Photo by Drew Smith

Minnesota Duluth was looking for its first eight game win streak since the 2016-17 season. This game could be classified as “over before it even began,” with the game ending in a final score of 5-1.

The Bulldogs came out aggressive on both sides of the puck in the first period. The offense was attacking the net and led in shots-on-goal 20 to 3 after the period.

The defense was turning the Tigers over which led to them creating a lot of shot opportunities.

“We had the puck a lot,” Head Coach Scott Sandelin said, “that’s a good way to defend.”

Sophomore Nick Swaney opened the scoring for the Bulldogs after putting in the rebound off his own wrap-around shot. Swaney almost got his second of the period after he picked Colorado College’s player’s pocket near center ice and hit the top of the crossbar on the breakaway, while on the penalty kill.

The penalty kill was also fantastic in the period, only allowing one shot through four minutes of penalty time.

Near the end of the first period, Sophomore Justin Richards scored a one-timer for his second goal of the series. It came off a slick entry pass from under the net by captain Parker Mackay.

Mackay put the game away a minute into the second period by getting a slap shot passed the Colorado College goalie, Alex Leclerc.

Colorado College would answer midway through the second. Freshman Bryan Yoon scored a one-timer power play goal. He found the soft spot in the Bulldogs formation and put the shot right past Hunter Shepard.

“[After the goal] the bench was good,” Sandelin said. “We just wanted to get back out there.”

But UMD wasn’t done in the period. Swaney scored his second goal of the game after junior Riley Tufte probed the defense from the left wing and found Swaney wide open in front of the net.

“It was a broken play,” Swaney said, “Tufte came down with great patience, an awesome play by him. He made a great play so I just had to bare that one for him.”

Tufte would also get in on the scoring action later in the period by scoring his fourth power play goal of the season after senior Peter Krieger set up Tufte with the one-timer and then zipped it by Leclerc.

“Wherever I can find an open space,” said Tufte, who’s scored all of his goals on the power play. “I saw [Peter] Kriegs walk the line, drew me to pull up and park.”

The third period went by with the Bulldogs sticking to what they do best, suffocating defense. Colorado College wasn’t able to get anything going offensively all game, they finished the game with only 16 shots-on-goal compared to the Bulldogs 38.

Next weekend the Bulldogs will head to Denver to take on the Pioneers. Minnesota Duluth will be looking to end a six game losing streak against the Pioneers. The game will not be televised, but will be broadcasted on KDAL.