Box Score Highlights | NCHC Tournament Bracket

For the second straight night, Colorado College spotted St. Cloud State an early 1-0 lead and rallied to take a 2-1 lead over the Huskies in the first period. This time, it stuck.
 
Thanks to first-period goals from Branden Makara and Matt Hansen and stellar goaltending from Alex Leclerc, the Tigers (8-22-4, 4-16-4-1 NCHC) defeated the 19^th-ranked Huskies, 2-1, Saturday night in the regular-season finale at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.
 
"This was a huge win for us," head coach Mike Haviland said. "We competed for 60 minutes tonight. This was a playoff game and the kind of game that gives us confidence and the feeling that we can beat anyone in the country."
 
After CC's Luc Gerdes was called for hooking just 3:20 into the game and the Tigers nailed for too many men on the ice 34 seconds later for a 5-on-3 advantage, Jimmy Schuldt put the Huskies (16-17-1, 10-13-1) ahead 1-0 with a wrister from the high slot that went over the right shoulder of Leclerc.  
 
Makara evened things up at 1-1 at the 15:26 mark of the first. Alex Berardinelli forced a turnover at the red line and got the puck to Makara, who had a 2-on-1 with Sam Rothstein, but Makara kept the puck the entire way and flipped a backhander over SCSU goalie Jeff Smith.
 
Later in the period, Matt Hansen took a pass from Teemu Kivihalme and fired a one-timer from the top of the left circle that deflected off the crossbar and fell into the net behind Smith at the 16:39 mark for CC's first power-play goal of the weekend. Mason Bergh also collected his third point of the weekend on the play.
 
Despite not scoring in the second period, the Tigers arguably played their best 20 minutes of hockey this season during the middle frame. CC kept the offensive pressure on for the first 12 minutes, then killed off a five-minute major penalty called against Ben Israel, including two minutes of a 5-on-3 advantage for SCSU after Hansen was called for boarding.
 
"That penalty kill was crucial for us," Haviland said. "It was a big turning point."
 
Leclerc was brilliant after giving up the first-period goal, including a sprawling save on Daniel Tedesco just before the Huskies' 5-on-3 chance in the second period and stopping a point-blank shot by Judd Peterson with four minutes left in the third. Leclerc finished with 25 saves.
 
"Alex was just outstanding tonight, especially during the 5-on-3 in the second period" Haviland said. "He gave us a ton of confidence as the game went on."
 
St. Cloud outshot the Tigers, 26-20, and was 1-for 4 on the power play. CC, now 5-4 in one-goal games this season, was 1-for 5 with a man advantage.
 
The Tigers will travel north on I-25 to face NCHC regular-season champion and top-ranked Denver next weekend in the best-of-three first round of the league playoffs. Game one is Friday, March 10, beginning at 7:30 p.m.
 
"I have been a number one seed and a number 16 seed in the playoffs," Haviland said. "It is a brand new season and we need to play with the mentality we did tonight."