Noah Laba had a knack for scoring overtime goals last season. After scoring four of them last year, he already has one in the 2024-25 season.
 
Laba scored 21 seconds into the extra frame Friday night to give No. 12 Colorado College a 4-3 victory over Northern Michigan in the '24-25 season opener at Ed Robson Arena.
 
The 2024 second-team All-American collected the puck deep in the CC zone, flew past everyone down the left side and beat NMU goalie Ryan Ouellette to open the brand-new season.
 
The Wildcats forced an extra period when Matthew Romer scored his second goal of the game with just 42.9 seconds remaining in overtime with NMU's net empty.
 
Romer opened the scoring with a power-play goal at the 8:50 mark of the first period, beating CC goalie Kaidan Mbereko.
 
Bret Link evened the score at the 13:43 mark with a beautiful deflection off a pass from Max Burkholder. Gleb Veremyev added an assist on the play, then put the Tigers ahead 2-1 just 40 seconds into the second period with a one-timer off a pass from Laba.
 
The Wildcats tied the game at 2 apiece when Tanner Latsch took a pass from Rasmus Larsson and put the puck past Mbereko.
 
It looked like CC freshman Owen Beckner put the game away with his first career goal with 3:58 remaining in the third period off assists by Zaccharya Wisdom and Ryan Beck. However, Romer evened it up to set up Laba's overtime heroics.
 
Laba, Link and Veremyev each collected a goal and an assist Friday, while Mbereko made 16 saves.
 
Ouellette was outstanding, making 45 saves as the Tigers outshot NMU, 49-19.
 
The two teams will battle Saturday night at Robson Arena, beginning at 6 p.m.