Montgomery’s OT Goal Leads No. 19 Tigers Past Miami
Drew Montgomery scored 1:49 into overtime to give No. 19 Colorado College a 5-4 victory over Miami University Saturday night at Ed Robson Arena.
The Tigers survived a furious comeback by the RedHawks, who rallied from a pair of three-goal deficits and scored four goals in the third period.
Colorado College (16-13-1, 10-9-1 NCHC) led 3-0 entering the third period, but Miami’s Dylan Moulton scored 4:14 into the frame to cut the lead to 3-1. Tyler Coffey, who now has eight points in his career against the RedHawks, scored on a breakaway at the 9:07 mark following a full ice length pass from Bret Link, to push the lead back to three.
Head coach Kris Mayotte replaced starter Carsen Musser with senior Henry Wilder at the 12:15 mark of the third period. Just 24 seconds later, Link and Klavs Veinbergs were each assessed a penalty and Musser returned to the game. The RedHawks scored three consecutive goals in a span of 3:21, starting with a 5-on-3 tally by Colby Ambrosia at the 13:06 mark. Rihards Simanovics cut the lead to one at 14:39, then Raimonds Vitolins evened the game at the 16:27 mark.
It appeared Miami (3-23-2, 0-18-0) took the lead with 17.5 seconds left, but Ambrosia’s power-play goal was waved off after the referees deemed there was goaltender interference after CC challenged the play.
The Tigers killed off the final 1:05 of Brady Cleveland’s penalty to start the overtime period, then Montgomery, who scored twice in CC’s 6-1 victory on Friday, collected his team-high 10th goal of the year to send Robson Arena into a frenzy.
Max Burkholder took the puck down the right side and a Miami defender poked it away, but it went to Montgomery just to the left of Miami goaltender Ethan Dahlmeier.
Veinbergs opened the scoring at 11:51 of the first period, completing a 3-on-2 rush after crisp passes from Link and Gleb Veremyev.
Gavin Lindberg notched his second of the weekend and fourth of the season with a power-play goal at the 15:11 mark of the opening frame. Lindberg deflected a shot by Burkholder past Dahlmeier.
Link put the Tigers ahead 3-0 at the 17:40 mark of the second period. Veinbergs won a faceoff at the left dot and Veremyev sent a shot towards the net that Link redirected past Dahlmeier. Link collected a career-high three points on Saturday with a goal and two assists.
Dahlmeier finished with 32 saves, while Musser had 18 and each team collected a power-play goal.
The Tigers travel to Minnesota next weekend for a series against St. Cloud State, Feb. 21-22.
