Box Score Facing yet another formidable task in the first round of its conference playoffs next week, Colorado College took a small step in the right direction on Saturday.
 
Yes, the Tigers dropped a 4-1 decision to St. Cloud State University in their regular-season finale at the World Arena. But, after the game, head coach Scott Owens preferred to focus on a third period that saw his troops keep plugging away, spoil SCSU goalkeeper Ryan Faragher's shutout bid and keep the No. 4-ranked Huskies off the scoreboard.
 
"The big thing was that we didn't look as tentative," Owens said of the final frame. "We looked like we just played, enjoyed, finished up the last 20 minutes and tried to use it as a little bit of a springboard going into the post-season. It was nothing flashy, but we won the period."
 
Seventh-place CC, 6-22-6 overall and 6-13-5-1 in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, will meet the University of North Dakota in a best-of-three playoff series in Grand Forks, N.D., starting next Friday. Ninth-ranked UND finished second in the league standings thanks to Saturday's 2-1 loss at home to Western Michigan University.
 
Regular-season champion St. Cloud State, meanwhile, improved to 21-8-5 overall and 15-6-3-0 in the NCHC before celebrating in its locker room with the inaugural Penrose Memorial Cup.
 
The Huskies, who will play host to last-place Miami University to open their post-season next week, built a 4-0 lead after 40 minutes on solo tallies by Kalle Kossila, Jimmy Murray, Nic Dowd and Jonny Brodzinski. Faragher and Colorado College's Courtney Lockwood, a junior making the first start of his collegiate career, each finished with 20 saves in the contest.
 
The only shot to elude Faragher came during a Tiger power play just 63 seconds into the third stanza, when senior forward Archie Skalbeck backhanded a rebound of freshman defenseman Jaccob Slavin's shot from the point past the junior netminder. Freshman center Sam Rothstein also picked up an assist on Skabeck's sixth goal of the season.
 
"I don't think we had a great game tonight, and St. Cloud had something to do with that," said Owens. "But I thought we pushed the pace a little bit in the third. We had a few more scoring chances and opportunities. We were a little more determined. We weren't back on our heels like we were a lot of the game."
 
In addition to resting senior netminder Josh Thorimbert after 33 consecutive starts, Owens also sat out freshman defenseman Gustav Olofsson in preparation for the upcoming playoffs.
 
CC and North Dakota last met in the post-season a year ago, when the Tigers claimed a 4-3 overtime victory at the WCHA Final Five in St. Paul, Minn.

Other first-round matchups next week feature Western Michigan at Minnesota Duluth and Denver at Nebraska Omaha.