DENVER — This is one of those moments where, after 65 minutes of sensory overload, I am struggling to compose my thoughts.

Mostly my brain is still trying to grasp the goaltending brilliance I just witnessed in CC’s 2-2 tie with Denver at Magness Arena.

As I said at the beginning of Friday’s third period, even if the game had ended with Denver winning 7-2, Colorado College goaltender Richard Bachman, who finished with 44 saves on 46 shots, would be my choice for MVP (again). The Pioneers, whose offense is as lethal as advertised, threw everything but the kitchen sink at him.

My big question after the game: How much more can the Tigers ask of Bachman, who put together back-to-back career nights (his 40 saves at Clarkson last Saturday were his previous high)?

“That’s the thing,” coach Scott Owens said. “You can’t ask him to do anything more. That being said, two of the goals were odd goals. One went off of a skate (defenseman Jake Gannon‘s) and the other was a play, so. He was on his game. There was no doubt about it.”

The Tigers continued to struggle offensively, especially after taking five penalties in the second period. All told, CC spent nearly 15 minutes on the penalty kill on Friday, making it all that more remarkable that it held Denver scoreless on nine power plays. Again, the credit goes mostly to Bachman, who made 21 of his saves against the Pioneers’ power play (which entered the game on a 20 percent clip).

“We didn’t play very well tonight,” Owens said. “Denver was good. But we made them better by giving them too many power-play opportunities. … Again, if it wasn’t for penalty-killing and Richard Bachman, this thing would have been long gone in the second period.”

CC can’t wait to get back to World Arena for Sunday’s series finale against Denver. It’ll be the Pioneers’ first road game and their first game on the Olympic sheet.

Couple little tidbits that were cut from the story:

–The last time the Tigers went to overtime in three consecutive games was in January 2003, when they tied twice at North Dakota and once at Michigan Tech.

–Defenseman Brian Connelly‘s first-period power-play goal snapped a 0 for 12 scoreless streak by the Tigers on the man-advantage, a span of more than 95 minutes dating back to last Friday’s 1-1 tie at Clarkson.

–Denver’s first goal, the one that deflected off of Gannon’s skate, only was counted after a lengthy review in which referees consulted two different angles to see if Denver left wing Rhett Rakhshani kicked it in.

–After the game, Denver coach George Gwozdecky praised the Pioneers student section, which chanted unbloggable expletives throughout the second and third period, saying: “I don’t get distracted much when I’m on the bench. But tongiht, for the first time in I don’t know how long, our student section was phenomenal.” It’ll be interesting to see what happens if CC students pull similar hijinks on Sunday…

–And lastly, I don’t know what the deal is at Denver, but for the third CC-DU game at Magness in a row, the clock started malfunctioning.

Check out Saturday’s Gazette for more (and Sunday’s, for that matter…).

Colorado College
23 Hall — 14 Rau — 22 Walsky
*21 Sweatt — 19 Vlassopoulos — 25 Testwuide
26 McCulloch — 17 Johnson — 28 Schultz
5 DeBoer — 9 McMillin — 16 Civitarese

*11 Connelly — 15 Prosser
7 Fredheim — 4 Gannon
10 Guentzel — 24 Lowery

*30 Bachman
31 O’Connell

Denver
*12 Colborne — 21 Bozak — 18 Salazar
9 Rakhshani — 15 Ruegsegger — 8 Jackson
16 Maiani — 14 Martin — 19 Ostrow
17 Glasser — 22 Gifford — 37 Dewhurst

28 Wiercioch — 7 Mullen
*11 Testwuide — 6 Nutini
25 Brookwell — 5 Lee

*1 Cheverie
25 Paulgaard
30 Guinn

*starters

Denver 0 1 1 0 2

Colorado College 1 1 0 0 2

First period – 1. CC, Connelly (Guentzel, Rau), 5:34, pp. Penalties – Ostrow, DU (tripping), 4:09; Dewhurst, DU (hooking), 6:25; Fredheim, CC (hooking), 8:38; Rakhshani, DU (slashing), 11:00; Walsky, CC (hooking), 11:52; Prosser, CC (cross-checking), 13:07; Salazar, DU (holding the stick), 14:28.

Second – 2. CC, DeBoer (unassisted), 5:01. 3. DU, Rakhshani (Bozak, Wiercioch), 8:18. Penalties – Prosser, CC (interference), :19; Lowery, CC (interference), 6:09; Vlassopoulos, CC (obstruction-interference), 10:08; Schultz, CC (cross-checking), 13:20; Nutini, DU (hooking), 15:59; McCulloch, CC (holding), 17:27.

Third – 4. DU, Salazar (Bozak), :28. Penalties – Rakhshani, DU (tripping), 5:07; Schultz, CC (), 7:59; Ostrow, DU (obstruction-hooking), 15:26.

Overtime – none. Penalties – none.

Shots on goal – DU 15-11-18-2-46. CC 11-8-7-3-29. Power-play Opportunities – DU 0 of 9, CC 1 of 7. Goalies – DU, Cheverie 10-7-7-3 (29 shots, 27 saves), 4-1-1. CC, Bachman 15-10-17-2 (46 shots, 44 saves), 3-0-3. A – 5,857. T – 2:35. Referees – Marco Hunt, Derek Shepherd. Linesmen – Gary Pedigo, Tim Swiader.