BULLDOGS TRYING FOR ANOTHER SPLIT

Win at home. Split on the road.

With that in mind, how about a win tonight?

Colorado College took advantage of a run-and-gun second period, scoring four goals and holding on to beat UMD 5-3 Friday night.

A few thoughts:

UMD has to slow the game down a bit. You have to skate on the big sheet, but you can't play a wide-open game when that's not your style. UMD got burned after making it a 3-2 game in the second period, as they were pressing for a tying goal that they didn't need to score at the time. Chad Rau got behind them for a breakaway goal that made it 4-2. That wasn't curtains for UMD, but it made things a lot tougher.

The power play is still MIA. They had some chances last night, and let's give some credit to CC goalie Richard Bachman for making a few nice saves. But it would be huge to get a goal, and soon. Last year, the struggle was to score five-on-five, and this year's team won't be a juggernaut in those situations, so they need the power play to produce.

Stalock won't do that again tonight. It wasn't his strongest game. The defense and Al will both be better tonight.

I liked what I saw out of the Fulton-McKnight-Fontaine line last night. Justin Fontaine is going to be a really good player.

Let's hope Jason Garrison is okay. He stayed in the game after taking a nasty hit from behind from CC's Derek Patrosso. Patrosso is suspended for tonight's game, as announced a few minutes ago by the WCHA. I didn't see a replay, but it looked bad live-action. Garrison stayed on the ice for a bit, got up, and did return, but we'll watch that for tonight.

A split is in the cards tonight. I hope.