There's more to the Colorado College hockey team than just
Jaden Schwartz, but it doesn't seem so judging from Saturday's box score.
In his first game back playing for CC in almost a month, the sophomore left winger factored in on all three goals as the host Tigers rallied to tie No. 13 Cornell 3-3 to conclude their final non-conference series of the season.
Schwartz scored his second of the game with 29.1 seconds left in regulation when he fired a hard-angle shot from the right faceoff circle that went between Cornell goalie Andy Iles' legs to knot the game. It completed a stirring rally that energized the announced crowd of 7,021 and forced overtime at World Arena.
“I wasn't sure how much time was left so I just shot, looking for a rebound in front,” Schwartz said. “It just went in. Anytime you score to tie the game late at home you have the crowd excited and you have the momentum.”
Click here for a
video interview of Schwartz.
The tying goal was one of the few mistakes for Iles, who made 39 saves in a 2-1 victory Friday over CC and 23 more on Saturday. He lifted his stick slightly as he moved over to face Schwartz and the shot slipped through.
“That's as good a goalie as we'll see all year long,” head coach Scott Owens said.
Schwartz missed the previous six games, including Friday's 2-1 loss to Cornell, while leading Canada to a bronze medal at the world junior championships. He recorded three points (two goals) in his first game back after sitting out Friday to rest.
“We've been more than Jaden all season but tonight, Jaden obviously was the show,” Owens said. “He made Rylan (Schwartz) better and (William) Rapuzzi played well.”
The Colorado College power play came to life with the return of the younger Schwartz when he scored his sixth goal of the season during the second period to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead that later evaporated. He earlier set up a man-advantage goal by brother
Rylan Schwartz at 10:58 of the first frame.
Cornell's Joel Lowry scored midway through the middle period to trim the Tigers' lead and Sean Collins knotted it up with 5:13 left to make it 2-2. The Big Red then went ahead with 8:06 left in regulation on a red lighter by Greg Miller.
The tie, the first of the season for sixth-ranked CC (12-7-1, 9-5 WCHA) is bittersweet. The Tigers were hoping for more against the ECAC leaders (9-4-2, 6-1-1).
“Your emotions are all over the map,” Owens said. “After falling behind 3-2 and getting a tie, you feel pretty good. Then you have a power play in overtime and you're thinking you could win it.”
The Tigers outshot Cornell, 3-0, in the extra five minutes with two redirected shots by Rapuzzi on the power play sailing wide of the net. CC missed the net 19 times while finishing with 26 shots on target to the visitors' 22.
Junior goalie
Joe Howe finished with 19 saves in his first start since Dec. 9. His most memorable stop came when he stoned Cornell's Cole Bardreau on a point-blank one-timer with 1:20 left in the first period that preserved a 1-0 lead at the time.