Scott McCulloch and Jimmy Kilpatrick know the drill: After two seasons serving as reinforcements for the Colorado College offense, it's time for them to step forward and assume the sniper position.
So far, so good.
McCulloch and Kilpatrick scored goals Friday night to help Colorado College earn a 2-2 tie with Nebraska-Omaha in the Nye Frontier Classic college hockey tournament at Sullivan Arena.
Nebraska-Omaha won a post-overtime shootout 4-2, but that was strictly for tournament placing. The game goes in the books as a tie for the teams that both made NCAA tournament appearances last season.
McCulloch, who strafed Alabama-Huntsville for four goals in an 8-1 win last week, already has five goals in three games, matching his total in 42 games last season. Kilpatrick already has scored three goals after scoring seven in 35 games last season.
The emergence of McCulloch and Kilpatrick is critical for the 15th-ranked Tigers (2-0-1) of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. They lost a staggering amount of offense when Brett Sterling, former Hobey Baker Memorial Award winner Marty Sertich and Joey Crabb of Anchorage finished their careers last season. The early departure of skilled defenseman Brian Salcido to the NHL combined with the loss of those three forwards drained 71 goals and 188 points from Colorado College's lineup.
"We rode those scorers for a long time, so not only is it the freshman carrying a load, but the guys (like McCulloch and Kilpatrick) who are stepping into new roles,'' said Tigers coach Scott Owens. "There's a lot of guys out there at the end of games who have never been in that position for us before.''
McCulloch said he and his fellow returners realized they would shoulder greater responsibility this season.
"I think all the upperclassmen knew we had to take the bull by the horns,'' he said. "Yes, we lost a lot of scoring. But we've got a lot of great guys in this room.''
McCulloch scored his third-period, power-play goal when Jack Hillen's shot from atop the right circle ricocheted in off his skate. Kilpatrick scored from the right wing dot in the first period, when he caught the Mavericks on a line change, took a long pass from freshman defenseman Nate Prosser and ripped a bullet over the glove of Nebraska-Omaha goaltender Jerad Kauffman, the former Fairbanks Ice Dog.
"One of the reasons I was recruited here was to get the puck to guys and to put the puck away,'' Kilpatrick said.
Nebraska-Omaha (0-0-1) of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association lost a stud too when 27-goal scorer Bill Thomas departed early for the pros. The Mavericks still have senior Scott Parse, a Hobey Baker nominee last season when he scored a school-record 61 points. Parse assisted on Tomas Klempa's goal Friday and scored in the shootout.
Diminutive freshman wing JJ Koehler scored the game-tying goal for Nebraska-Omaha with less than four minutes remaining. The rebound goal from the 5-foot-6 Koehler polished off a sensational rush by defenseman Juha Uotila and marked Koehler's first collegiate goal.
"I guess it's nice to get your first goal in the first game and not have to go through half the year,'' Koehler said. "Hopefully, I'll keep on getting chances and keep on burying them.''
Daily News reporter Doyle Woody can be reached at dwoody@adn.com.
UNO 1 0 1 0 -- 2
CC 1 0 1 0 -- 2
First Period -- 1, CC, Kilpatrick 3 (Prosser), 17;36; 2, UNO, Klempa 1 (Nikiforuk, Parse), 19:29 (pp). Penalties -- Straub, CC (interference), 10:35; Hillen, CC (interference), 18:19.
Second Period -- None. Penalties -- Gannon, CC (interference), :36; Uotila, UNO (holding), 4:53; Patrosso, CC (ob.-tripping), 6:58; Eickman, UNO (holding the stick), 12:37; L. Sweatt, CC (interference), 14:27; Thauwald, CC (hooking), 14:56; Bagron, UNO (holding), 19:50.
Third Period -- 3, CC, McCulloch 5 (Lampl, Hillen), :28 (pp); 4, UNO, Koehler 1 (Uotila), 16:04. Penalties -- Eickman, UNO (interference), 6:04; DoBoer, CC (high-sticking), 12:22.
Overtime -- None. Penalties -- None.
Shootout -- UNO 4 (Bartholomay G, Marshall G, Parse G, Del Grosso NG, Nikiforuk G), CC 2 (Rau G, Brannigan NG, Kilpatrick G, McCulloch NG).
Shots on goal -- UNO 8-12-8-2--30; CC 5-12-7-2--26.
Power-play Opportunities -- UNO 1 of 7; CC 1 of 4.
Goalies -- UNO, Kaufmann, 0-0-1 (26 shots-24 saves); CC, Zaba, 1-0-1 (30-28).
Referee -- Todd Anderson. Assistant referees -- Kent Asplund, Carl Saden.
2006 NYE FRONTIER CLASSIC
At Sullivan Arena
Friday's Results
Colorado College 2, Nebraska-Omaha 2, Colorado wins shootout 4-2
UAA 6, Merrimack 2
Today's Games
4:07 p.m. -- Colorado College vs. Merrimack
7:07 p.m. -- Nebraska-Omaha vs. UAA Radio: Live, AM-550 TV: Tape-delayed 10:30 p.m. GCI (cable Channel 1)
