Grant Cruikshank posted the first hat trick of his career and Matt Vernon finished with 27 saves to lead Colorado College to a 4-2 victory Monday night in the Faceoff at Falcon Stadium.
 
Cruikshank scored the first two goals of the game, then put the icing on the cake with an empty-netter in the final minute as the Tigers tied their season-long unbeaten streak to three games and completed the weekend sweep of the Falcons.
 
Cruikshank opened the scoring with a power-play goal at the 13:18 mark of the first period. He redirected a pass from Bryan Yoon past Alex Schilling from the slot for his ninth goal of the season. Nick Halloran collected an assist, his 92^nd career point, on the play as well.
 
The sophomore captain posted his second of the game at the 11:49 mark of the middle period for a 2-0 lead. After taking a pass from Yoon, Cruikshank's initial shot from the right circle was saved by Schilling, but the puck went right back to him and he placed a backhander past the Falcon netminder.
 
Vernon did a great job keeping the Falcons off the board for the first 39 minutes and change, including a huge save on a breakaway by Willie Reim with two minutes left in the second. He lost the shutout and the Falcons cut the lead in half with a power-play goal in the final minute of the second period when Brandon Koch found the puck in a scrum in front of the net and poked it past Vernon with 34.5 seconds remaining.
 
The Tigers (10-16-2) regained its two-goal lead when Chris Wilkie scored the eventual game-winner at the 3:21 mark of the third period. He took a drop pass from Josiah Slavin and fired a rocket that beat Schilling top shelf for his NCHC-leading 20^th goal of the season.
 
The two-goal lead didn't last long, however, as Luke Rowe scored at the 4:59 mark of the third to make it 3-2. Air Force (8-17-5) kept the pressure on in the final frame, outshooting the Tigers, 14-6, but Vernon was solid and robbed Reim again with less than three minutes remaining to set up Cruikshank's empty netter.
 
What Head Coach Mike Haviland Said
On playing outdoors
"It just doesn't happen and may not happen (again) if they play 10, 15 years after. I was certainly excited. It brings you back to being a kid. It was cold, it had snow flurries, it had everything. This is something that will last a lifetime."
 
"We played a real good second period. We started to get our groove a little bit, hang onto the puck down low and I think that is when we really started to settle into the game. We found a way to get the empty-netter. It was a good road win for us. Hopefully it's going into the right direction now."
 
"We are learning that we have to continue to fight through adversity in games. We just have to keep playing within our structure. We are doing better at that now."
 
"(Vernon) makes the crucial saves at the right time.  That's what goaltenders have to do to give you a chance to win and he is certainly doing that."
 
"It was an outstanding event that Air Force put on. I cannot thank Frank and the whole athletic department enough to include us in this."
 
Colorado College Notes
The Tigers improved their overall record against Air Force to 63-13-2
Grant Cruikshank posted the first hat trick of his career
It was CC's second hat trick this season (Chris Wilkie vs. St. Lawrence)
Bryan Yoon tied his career high with two assists
Cruikshank led all players with seven shots
Alex Berardinelli tied his season high with five shots
CC outshot the Falcons, 30-29
CC was 1-4 on the power play, Air Force was 1-3
 
Up Next
The Tigers travel to Omaha, Neb., for a two-game series against the Mavericks, Feb. 21-22.