Hunter McKown scored three of Colorado College's four third-period goals for his second career hat trick to lead the Tigers to a come from behind 6-4 victory over Omaha Friday night at Robson Arena.
 
The Tigers (7-9-1, 4-4-1 NCHC) notched their first victory of the season when trailing after two periods as Omaha entered the final frame with a 3-2 advantage.
 
McKown evened the score just 48 seconds into the third period with a spectacular individual effort. He stole the puck in the slot, skated in all alone on Omaha goalie Jake Kucharski and made it look like he was moving the puck from his forehand to his backhand. However, he put the puck behind him and with his stick between his legs, slid the puck past Kucharski for his 10^th goal of the season.
 
The junior from San Jose, Calif., didn't waste much time giving the Tigers the lead back as he notched his second of the game at the 4:14 mark of the third. With an Omaha penalty expiring, Bryan Yoon's wrister dinged off the post and right to McKown, who had an open net and just like that it was 4-3.
 
Omaha's Ty Mueller tied things up once again at the 8:19 mark, but Tyler Coffey scored from a nearly impossible angle along the goal line to give CC the lead for good with 4:35 remaining.
 
McKown completed the hat trick with 1:12 left by tipping in the puck after Patrick Cozzi attempted a wraparound with Kucharski on the bench in favor of an extra skater.
 
"We needed a win like this," head coach Kris Mayotte said. "This was big for our group."
 
Connor Mayer opened the scoring with his first goal of the season five minutes into the contest. He took a pass from Noah Prokop and fired a slapshot from the top of the left circle that cleanly beat Kucharski. Freshman Noah Serdachny posted his first career point on the play.
 
Cozzi scored at the 12:38 mark of the openeng frame to double the Tiger lead. He collected the puck along the right boards at the center ice and with an Omaha defender draped on him, placed a wrister over Kucharski's left shoulder for his third of the season.
 
The Mavericks (8-7-2, 4-4-1) cut the lead in half with a power-play goal with 1:13 remaining in the first period. Jonny Tychonick's blast from the point eluded CC goalie Kaidan Mbereko.
 
Omaha took the lead with a pair of goals in the second period. Jack Randl scored off his own rebound a the 4:03 mark, then Jacob Guevin put the puck past Mbereko from the point at 9:19.
 
Mbereko kept it a one-goal game with a big save on Randl during a shorthanded breakaway with 6:47 remaining in the middle frame, setting up McKown's and his teammates big third period.
 
Cozzi, Mayer and Coffey each finished the game with a goal and an assist as the Tigers scored the most goals against an NCHC opponent since an 8-2 victory over Western Michigan on Feb. 23, 2019.
 
Mbereko finished the game with 24 saves, while Kucharski had 26.
 
The Tigers will look for their first league sweep of the season on Saturday, Dec. 10, when the teams battle again at 6 p.m.