The Maverick hockey team improved to 10-7 after splitting a pair of weekend games against Colorado College’s (CC) Division III team on Dec. 16 and 17. The team traveled to Ed Robson Arena in Colorado Springs after a quick turnaround from finals week and still managed to score five goals in each game.
Colorado Mesa University (CMU) dominated the first period of Friday’s game. Senior star forward Eli Wilson notched the night’s first two scores. Wilson scored his first at the 7:50 mark on an assist from junior forward Bryson Sutterby, his eighteenth of the season. Wilson scored his fifteenth goal of the year just two minutes later to put the Mavericks up 2-0.
The Tigers managed to score their first halfway through the period only for sophomore forward Ethan Gotchey to tack on a shorthanded goal two minutes later to put CMU up 3-1 to conclude the first period.
CC flipped the script, however, and outscored CMU 4-1 the next period. The Tigers took advantage of the Mavericks penalty trouble and scored two power-play goals in the second period. In total, CMU racked up nine penalties to only just three from CC.
Sutterby scored the Mavericks lone goal at the 5:21 mark, assisted by junior forward Kevin Miller and Wilson.
CMU managed to tie the game 5-5, four minutes into the third period on a clutch goal from freshman forward Mason Ripley.
Sparks would fly soon after as two Maverick players picked up penalties eight minutes later. Freshman defenseman Seth Kurn earned a game misconduct for checking from behind while sophomore forward Larry Simmons was penalized for abuse of an official. Kurn’s hit was deemed flagrant enough to be ejected from the game. CC scored shortly after on the power-play to secure the win, 6-5.
The Mavericks would find revenge the day after, though, on route to a 5-3 victory.
CC went up 1-0 early before junior Joey Voyles scored 12:45 in on an assist from freshman Ben Pedigo. This was the young defenseman’s third career goal.
The Tigers responded with a goal of their own a minute into the second period. It was all Mavericks after that and CMU went on to score four unanswered. Junior forward Collin Fitzgerald scored on a power-play after a CC tripping call and then found the back of the net again halfway through the second period for his tenth goal of the season. Pedigo then tacked on another during a CMU power-play to make the score 4-2 at the end of the period.
Sutterby kept the scoring coming and registered his third point of the night with a shorthanded goal just a minute and 24 seconds into the third period. CC could feel slightly better after finally ending the scoring spree with one last goal 17:55 into the period.
The 46 ranked Mavericks will get a break before their next showdown against 29 ranked Colorado School of Mines at 7 p.m. on Jan. 26 and 27. Games between the Mavericks and Orediggers always seem to get heated and this matchup should be no different with CMU looking to make a playoff push and upset the 8-6 Orediggers.
