Bulldogs use powerplay prowess to skate to 4-3 victory over Colorado College in series opener.

UMD players Nick Swaney (23), Kobe Roth (10), Noah Cates (21), and Jackson Cates (20) celebrate Jackson’s second period goal against Colorado College Friday Nov. 22. at Amsoil Arena. (Photo courtesy of Drew Smith/UMD Athletics)

DULUTH, MN -- The No. 9 ranked University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs used three powerplay goals, including Cole Koepke’s game winner with 18 seconds remaining, to come away with a 4-3 come-from-behind victory over the visiting Colorado College Tigers Friday night at Amsoil Arena. 

With a strong three for five effort on the night, the Bulldog’s powerplay now sits eight nationally, converting at a 27 percent clip, thanks in large part to “Mr. Powerplay”, defenseman Scott Perunovich. 

The two-time All-American lived up to his name on Friday, adding an assist on each of the three powerplay goals, as well as a fourth assist on Kobe Roth’s even strength tally in the second period. Perunovich has assisted on the last eight Bulldog goals dating back to last Friday’s NCHC contest at Miami. 

The Bulldog’s other All-American, senior goaltender Hunter Shepard, kept the Bulldogs in the game, finishing the night with 22 saves on 25 shots against.

In the first period it was the man opposite Shepard who saw most of the action. Colorado College’s freshman goaltender, Matt Vernon, the son of Stanley Cup champion goalie Mike Vernon, faced 15 UMD shots in the first frame, stopping all of them to help CC escape the period unscathed. 

"He was good," forward Cole Koepke said of Vernon. "We pretty much played the entire period down in their end and he was just diving around making save after save."

The Bulldogs held the Tigers to just five shots, and eight total attempts in the first period, while mustering 35 attempts themselves. 

The momentum swung in CC’s favor just over a minute into the second period. The Tiger’s leading scorer, forward Chris Wilkie, found himself on a breakaway after blocking a Perunovich shot from the point. As he streaked in on Shepard, he sent a quick wrist shot up and over the blocker to open up a 1-0 lead for the Tigers. 

Colorado College used their momentum to seize control of the game, maintaining possession for much of the next thirteen minutes. The Bulldogs found themselves without a shot on goal until nearly seven minutes into the middle frame. 

It wasn’t until a boarding call on CC defenseman Brady Smith with 7:33 left in the period that UMD would get a good look at the net. 

The Bulldogs put their NCHC leading powerplay to work, equalizing the score at one a piece on Jackson Cates’ fourth powerplay, and fifth overall goal of the year. 

Jackson’s younger brother Noah took a Perunovich pass at the point, skated down behind the CC net, and hit him in stride. Jackson made no mistake, powering a shot by Vernon to tie the game. 

With 3:12 left in the period Bulldog sophomore forward Jesse Jacques got himself into some trouble, launching a high hit on CC defenseman Bryan Yoon. The officials initially called it a two minute minor for elbowing, but after further review it was called a five minute major for head contact. Jacques was additionally assessed a game misconduct on the play and was ejected for the remainder of the game.

The Tigers didn’t wait long to take advantage, regaining the lead on a goal by forward Nick Halloran just 59 seconds into the powerplay. 

After two periods of play the Dogs found themselves down 2-1, with 1:48 worth of major penalty still left to kill off. 

UMD came out strong, killing off the penalty, before tying the game once more. Senior captain Nick Wolff found an open moment at the point, sending a slapshot in on net, where Roth tipped it high to low to beat Vernon and tie the game with 15:54 left to go.

With 5:11 left in regulation the Bulldogs got a golden opportunity to take the lead. Tiger’s captain, Grant Cruikshank, hit UMD forward Nick Swaney from behind, sending his head flying into the boards. The officials deemed it a five minute major for checking from behind, additionally assessing Cruikshank a game misconduct as well.

The Bulldogs converted quickly, once again on a redirected shot from the point. This time it was sophomore forward Tanner Laderoute doing the honors to score his third goal of the season. 

UMD looked poised to take the victory, but another costly penalty gave the Tigers a chance late. With 3:13 left Bulldog junior forward Koby Bender took a trip to the box for tripping up a CC defender, negating the powerplay. 

With Vernon pulled in favor of the extra attacker, the Tigers successfully tied the game on Halloran’s second goal of the night. 

"It was pretty detrimental to let them score there to tie it up," Bulldog forward Tanner Laderoute said. "Good teams are going find a way to win those grimy games sometimes so I think we're a pretty good team. We're trying to find our stride here and win games like that."

UMD did just that, again with another powerplay marker setup by nifty passing from Perunovich. Koepke took a silky touch pass from Perunovich and blasted a one-timer past Vernon to give the Bulldogs the lead back with just 18 seconds to go.

The Dogs withstood the waning seconds, coming away with a hard earned 4-3 victory, their first on a Friday since a 5-2 defeat of Minnesota on Oct. 25.

"I liked a lot of things we did," UMD head coach Scott Sandelin said of his teams effort.  "Tomorrow we gotta put a little more of a complete game together."

The Bulldogs look for the sweep of the Tigers tonight at Amsoil Arena. Puck drop is set for 7:07 p.m. The game can be found locally on My9 Sports and on the radio on 610 KDAL AM.