The Colorado Mesa University (CMU) hockey team ended their season by dominating their last four games. After a incredible 12-0 win against Western Colorado University (WCU), the squad was able to carry their strong momentum into the following day with another dominating win of 12-1 against WCU, only letting up one goal on 20 shots in the two games.
The Maverick hockey team carried this energy into their last two games of the season against Colorado College (CC)’s Division III team.
In their game Friday, Feb. 10 against the CC Tigers, the Mavericks took home the victory, with an assertive 6-2 showing. Sophomore defenceman Colton Wurzer-Seepers opened up the scoring with his sixth goal of the season, assisted by junior forward Bryson Sutterby at the 6:02 mark in the first period.
Forward Ethan Gotchey then gave CMU an early 2-0 lead by finding the back of the net just three minutes later. This was the sophomore’s seventh goal of the year and he was assisted by freshman forward Ben Pedigo.
The Mavericks would then go on a scoring rampage in the second period, netting three straight before CC was able to finally retaliate.
CMU has excelled in penalty-kill situations all season, and did so again with a short-handed goal by forward Mason Ripley, assisted by freshman defenceman Seth Kurn. In total, the Mavericks killed eight of the nine penalties dished out to them.
Sutterby kept the offensive explosion going, scoring two goals within 30 seconds of each other midway through the period. In total, he notched three points on the night with a combination of goals and assists and increased his goal total to 13.
The Tigers broke the 5-0 CMU run with their first score of the night 13 minutes into the period, courtesy of forward Cole Wagner.
Wagner then scored again, cutting the lead to 5-2 during a Tiger power play at the start of the third period. That would be as much hope as CC would get, however, as senior forward Jared Riley would net CMU’s second short-handed goal of the night, bringing the final score to 6-2.
The next day brought more adversity for the Mavericks, however. Fittingly, CMU was able to maintain their strong defense and goalie-play, ending the year with a dramatic 5-4 victory at home.
In the first period, junior forward Kevin Miller put the first point on the board for his eighth goal of the season, assisted by sophomore Larry Simmons. CC quickly managed to tie it up, however, with a Ryan Brush goal four minutes later near the 13-minute mark.
It was all Mavericks in the second period. CMU scored two goals to push the lead 3-1. Pedigo scored just 39 seconds into the period, followed by another Sutterby goal three minutes later.
The game would then slow down for the rest of the period with neither team able to best each other’s defense. At the start of the third, though, junior defenseman Joey Voyles pushed the lead 4-1 after netting on a CMU power play goal, assisted by Kerns and Pedigo.
The Tigers, however, did not go down without a fight, and outscored the Mavericks 3-1 the rest of the game.
Wagner opened the floodgates with an unassisted goal 5:33 into the period. Voyles responded 20 seconds later with another power play goal, assisted by sophomore forward Ethan Gotchey. CMU then did their best to hold on during a CC offensive entourage, aided by three late CMU penalties.
Forward Jensen Rawlings cut the lead to just two with seven minutes left by scoring his 16th goal of the year. CMU would then be on the penalty-kill the rest of the way. CC, able to keep the puck in the Maverick’s defensive zone for most of the period, fired away at goaltender Chris McElroy. McElroy, however, put the team on his back and only let one more puck slip by him late, with only eight seconds left to play.
The Mavericks ended the season on a high note, winning their last four games to finish 15-10. CMU showed vast improvement from last season where they went 7-12-1.
Wilson and Ripley led the team in goals with 20 each, while Sutterby and Kern were the best distributors recording 24 and 17 assists respectively. In total, Sutterby led the Mavericks with 38 points on the year with Wilson was right behind him with 31.
Goaltender McElroy started in 14 games for CMU, posting an 8-6 win-loss record and recording a 4.36 goals against average with a 0.898 save percentage. Sophomore backup Jacob Bagin posted similar numbers: a 6-4 win-loss record, 3.42 goals against and a 0.900 save percentage.
