Milo Bryant Takes a Look at the Win

Anchorage Pushes CC to Limit
Milo Bryant

The Colorado College Tigers hadn't been to St. Paul and the Final Five since a loss to Denver in the finals of the 2005 tournament.

Only this team's seniors and its coaches have tasted that atmosphere.

With a diving shot 2 minutes 58 seconds into overtime, a sophomore, Mike Testwuide, made sure this season's Tigers got their trip.

Testwuide, who scored the game-tying goal against Alaska-Anchorage, got the 3-2 overtime game winner on a shot that zinged over Jon Olthuis' left side and into the net.

"You know, I blacked out to be honest with you," Testwuide said, attempting to describe how he scored the goal. "Bill (Sweatt) made a good play up the boards. I made a nice little play through a guy's legs. And I kind of held the puck. Waited a little bit. A guy dove I think. And I don't really know what happened after that.

"Seriously, I kind of blacked out."

Many sitting in the World Arena had to be wondering what was happening to the Tigers through the first 35 minutes of the game.

The Seawolves appeared to be bent on inflicting punishment. The hits were legal. But there were times it looked as if the Seawolves gave up the smarter play to get the big hit.

Then again, it looked like the big hits were an equally big part of the game plan. And it was working.

Too often during the first period and parts of the second period, the Tigers actually skated as if they were leery of those hits.

"They rattled us a little bit," Testwuide said. "They slowed our game down. Our game is pretty much all speed, and they figured out a way to slow us down."

Saturday's Tigers' team isn't the team the World Arena is used to seeing. Like Friday's game, the Seawolves outworked and outhustled the Tigers.

There have been several teams who have come to World Arena with a passion to hit, to take the fight to the Tigers. Each time though, the Tigers did what good teams are supposed to do. They got punched, took it and punched back with more ferocity.

Down 2-1 in the third period, the crowd waited for the same to happen Saturday.

The fans knew as well as the players what was at stake. Nobody wants to play a Game 3 in a best-of-three series against a cellar dwellers.

The Seawolves had nothing to lose. After all, the Tigers had beaten the Seawolves four consecutive times - by a score of 16-4. Add Friday's victory, and that total increases to 20-5.

Maybe it was the ease of the victories that elicited Saturday's lethargic play.

"There was a lot of continuation," Tigers coach Scott Owens said. "But part of it was them. They were difficult to play against. We didn't step it up and play with the grit that we need in playoff hockey."

The Tigers know they're good. They have no problem playing against teams they think are stellar opponents. It's the cellar dwellers that give the Tigers trouble.

Saturday, it took an Anchorage turnover, or fortunate stick work by the Tigers, to get CC back into the game mentally and physically.

Testwuide took a third-period pass from Chad Rau, back-skated in front of the goal near the right faceoff circle. Biding his time, Testwuide beat Olthuis stick side.

Success must beget success. Either that or it makes a team work harder.

Testwuide's goal infused the Tigers. Had the Tigers skated the first two periods the way they skated the last 15 minutes of the third period, the final score wouldn't have been close.

It wouldn't have been as difficult to get to the next step on this journey.