Colorado College may have discovered the key to turning Andrew Hamburg loose – team him up with someone else from a warm climate.

Hamburg scored four goals on Friday, propelling CC to an impressive 6-2 victory over Air Force at the Cadet Ice Arena.

For a video interview of Hamburg, click here.

The Tigers, who improved to 3-0 with the non-conference triumph, also got a pair of tallies from senior Scott Winkler. But it was freshman center Cody Bradley who set up three of the red lighters by Hamburg, a product of Phoenix, Ariz., who completed a natural hat trick within a span of less than 12 minutes in the second period. His first two tallies, just 2:04 apart, wiped out a 1-0 Falcons lead.  

“He's shifty,” the senior right winger said of linemate Bradley, a Tampa, Fla., native who skates between Hamburg and freshman left wing Hunter Fejes on the team's third forward unit. “Somehow he's able to sneak through the cracks and get me the puck – something I certainly can't complain about.

“This was a big win for our guys. It's really good for me and my confidence.”

Junior netminder Josh Thorimbert made 19 saves as Colorado College out-shot its in-town rivals by a 41-21 margin and beat them for the 59th time in 69 all-time meetings.

After a slow start that produced just a single shot on goal through the game's first 11 minutes, CC made some adjustments and slowly wrestled the momentum away from Air Force, which delighted its standing-room only crowd of 3,207 with a goal by Jason Fabian just 3:32 into the contest.

The visitors pulled even at 1:42 of the middle stanza when Bradley won a faceoff in the AFA end, followed the play toward the corner and backhanded a goalmouth pass onto the stick of Hamburg, who tipped the puck past Falcons goalie Jason Torf. A couple minutes later, 15 seconds into Colorado College's first power play of the night, Hamburg snuck behind the AFA defense to gather in a long clearing feed from Eamonn McDermott and beat Torf on a breakway.   

He notched his third of the night at 13:34, thanks to some gritty work down deep by Fejes and Bradley. His buried his fourth at 7:08 of the third period, converting another backhand pass from the left corner by Bradley, who downplayed his three assists. “I just saw him (Hamburg) everytime,” said the 167-pound rookie. “And he was there. That's all.”

Winkler sandwiched his goals around Hamburg's fourth, giving CC a 4-2 lead at 1:13 of the final period and converting on another power play to cap the scoring at 9:44.

Ten different Tigers, including sophomore defenseman Aaron Harstad with a pair of assists and Thorimbert with his second in two starts this season, picked up at least a point in the victory.

John Kruse pulled the Falcons to within 3-2 with a goal at 16:49 of the second stanza.