The University of Wyoming hockey club won two of three games last weekend at the Clash in the Corn, highlighted by a one-goal victory over the No. 2 team in the Pacific Region of the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA).
After routing Dordt College of Iowa in their tournament opener, the Cowboys edged the University of Colorado, 3-2, on Erik Blomberg's tiebreaking goal in the third period. The win marked UW's second major triumph in a week; the Cowboys beat the Pacific Region's top-ranked team, College of the Canyons, six days earlier at the Laramie Community Ice Arena.
UW (10-5) dropped its tourney finale, 4-2 Saturday against Grand Valley State University, the No. 1 team from the ACHA's North Region.
In a 9-3 win over Dordt College, Dustin Galbreath (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) and Levi Wood (Cheyenne) each scored a pair of goals and Luke Walker (Jackson) had three assists to power the Cowboys.
Michael Leriger (Houston, Texas) added a goal and two assists for UW, and Blomberg and Taylor Freeman (Parker, Colo.), Ryan Allred (Laramie) and Billy Ross (Superior, Colo.) also netted goals.
Blomberg played the hero's role against the Buffaloes, scoring his seventh goal of the season at the 15:37 mark of the third period to break 2-2 tie. Allred and Seth Farrell (Longmont, Colo.) assisted on the goal.
Allred and Elliott Bauder (Douglas) scored the Cowboys' other goals against Colorado.
Playing for the third time in three days, UW squandered a 2-1,
third-period lead against the Lakers, who tallied three goals in a span
of less than three minutes to surge to its 15th win in 16 games this
season.
Galbreath and Mitch Nelson (Sheridan) scored goals in a losing cause for the Cowboys. Nelson, a club rookie, leads UW with nine goals and 16 points.
Robert Kola (Colorado Springs, Colo.), the Cowboys' No. 2 goalkeeper, played splendidly in all three games. After losing three of his first four starts this season, Kola allowed just nine goals on 123 shots.
UW will take Thanksgiving weekend off before returning to the ice Dec. 4-5 against Metro State University. The teams play the opener of their weekend series at the Taco John's Events Center in Cheyenne, then travel west on Interstate 80 for the second game in Laramie. Faceoff is 7 both nights.
Posted on Monday, November 23, 2009