Mission accomplished.

For Colorado College, this one was a sweet payback.

Riding the perfect goaltending of freshman Joe Howe, along with a pair of timely tallies by Mike Testwuide and Tim Hall, CC avenged last season's loss to cross-town rival Air Force with a 2-0 victory over the Falcons on Friday at the World Arena.

Howe's third shutout of the season featured 20 saves, including a spectacular sprawling stop on a Jacques Lamoureux breakaway near the five-minute mark of the third period that preserved a 1-0 lead at the time. Lamoureux also had a would-be goal waved off in the middle frame after the referees ruled that he deflected the puck past Howe with a high stick. 

With the non-conference triumph, the 10th-ranked Tigers improved to 16-10-3 overall and matched their victory total of the entire 2008-09 campaign heading into Saturday's contest against Mercyhurst College at the CSWA.

After a scoreless first period, Testwuide struck for Friday's game winner just 1:06 into the middle frame. The senior team captain took a feed from freshman center Rylan Schwartz, who created a turnover along the left-side boards in the visitors' end, and soloed in to beat Air Force net minder Andrew Volkening high on the glove side.

It was Testwuide's 17th goal of the season, as well as the 17th time in 2009-10 that College College has scored in the opening two minutes of a period.

Schwartz also assisted on the red lighter by sophomore winger Hall, who stickhandled into the slot from behind the net during a Tiger power play before firing a wrist shot past Volkening at 8:57 of the final stanza.

The Falcons failed to capitalize on seven power plays of their own in the game while falling to 12-11-6 for the season. Volkening finished with 26 saves, including one of the sensational variety on CC's Brian McMillin in the first period.