DENVER — Colorado College coach Kris Mayotte has often said that goals scored in the first and final minutes of a period can be significant, but Fisher Scott’s goal in the waning moments of the first period on Saturday was fool’s gold. 

The sophomore blueliner netted the Tigers’ first goal of the evening with 30 seconds left in the opening frame, but his goal was a blip on the radar of a dominant Denver performance from start to finish. After keeping the Gold Pan trophy on Friday night, No. 8 Denver won 4-1 at Magness Arena on Saturday. 

“I thought for the second straight night, the game looked a little fast for us in terms of our support, our puck decisions. Our ability to connect I thought struggled this weekend,” Mayotte said. “We have to use it and get better.”

The Pioneers (17-11-3, 13-6-1) were up by a two-goal margin before Scott’s score. 

Denver took the lead when right wing Kristian Epperson scored off the rebound of a save from CC senior goalie Kaidan Mbereko at 12:29 of the first period. 

Less than two minutes later, Pioneers defenseman Garrett Brown gave the hosts a 2-0 lead with a shot from the right circle at 14:13. 

Scott’s answer came off a big stop from Mbereko on a shot from Epperson. In the ensuing moments, Tigers sophomore right wing Gavin Lindberg found Scott in the slot for the score at 19:30.

CC (11-13-4, 5-9-4)  went in the first intermission with some momentum, but the hosts made sure it didn’t last. 

The Pios took the first six shots of the second period, one of which was a goal from top-line left wing and assistant captain Rieger Lorenz at 5:11. 

“I really like our first period so it was just building upon the things we did really well. I thought we controlled a lot of the play. We had one miscue on the line change and a backcheck, but other than that it was just reaffirming what we’ve been doing and getting back to work and the guys have really bought into playing the right way all weekend long,” Denver coach David Carle said. 

The Lorenz goal was something of a gut punch on the evening. CC struggled mightily in the offensive zone as Denver outshot the Tigers 29-12 in the final two periods and 39-18 on the evening. 

A bad penalty made the evening worse for the Tigers. Sophomore defenseman Philippe Blais-Savoie was assessed a five-minute major and  game misconduct for spearing at the end of the second period. 

The Pioneers rounded out the scoring in the opening minute of the third period with a goal from left wing Sam Harris at the 50-second mark. 

The goal capped off a tough outing for Mbereko who still stopped 35 shots despite the lopsided final score.  

“We just had to grind him down. Like I said he’s a really good goalie. Just the quality chances I think we got tonight and lucky enough to finish them,” Lorenz said of facing Mbereko. 

Mbereko earned the start over freshman netminder Jackson Unger who stopped 29 for CC on Friday night. Mayotte said he planned for the goaltenders to split starts this weekend. 

“You prepare to win. We played ‘Ungs’ last night. We expected we’d get the win and then it was to have Kaidan get the Gold Pan for us tonight,” Mayotte said. 

CC returns to Colorado Springs without the Gold Pan and will travel to St. Cloud State next week.