Colorado College hockey gave host Augustana a tough battle in the final 30 minutes of Saturday’s game, but ultimately the Tigers could not undo their sluggish start in the first 30.

Augustana earned a weekend sweep of the Tigers with a 4-2 win at Midco Arena in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. In the program’s third season, the Vikings remain undefeated against CC at 5-0. 

The bad period and a half for CC (8-9-3, 2-5-3) began with an uninspiring first period. The Tigers were outshot 10-1 in the first 13 minutes into the period. Despite the lopsided stat, the Vikings only led 1-0 on defenseman Hayden Hennen’s goal at 18:27 of the period. 

Saturday could have been a bad evening for Augustana because of all the penalties it took, but it was worse for CC’s power play. The Vikings scored their second short-handed goal of the weekend 34 seconds into the middle frame. Forward Hunter Bischoff netted the goal while the Vikings were killing off a tripping penalty from the end of the first period. 

“I didn’t think we started with the urgency that we needed to. I thought we let them take control of the first period. We really weren’t hunting, we were slow, we weren’t on pucks, and it took them getting a two-goal lead for us to wake up,” Tigers coach Kris Mayotte told team personnel after the game. “When you’re on a power play, it’s your best players out there, and they have to find a way to step up in those moments, and this weekend it let us down.”  

The holdover power play was one of four CC had in the period. The Tigers failed to score on all of them and went 0-5 on the evening and 0-8 on the weekend. CC tilted the ice thanks in part to the Vikings’ penalties, outshooting Augustana 22-5 in the second period. 

Before the Tigers took control, the Vikings added a third goal from forward Will Howard at the 9:45 mark. 

CC broke through with 4:02 left in the second when freshman center Brayden Schuurman put a shot past Augustana’s Christian Manz from the left circle for his fourth goal of the season.

The Tigers scored their second goal courtesy of sophomore defenseman Philippe Blais-Savoie just 2:41 into the third period. The goal was also his fourth of the season.

The Vikings dashed the Tigers’ hopes at a comeback with an empty-net, power-play goal from Hennen with 47 seconds remaining in the game. 

CC outshot Augustana 33-24, and Tigers senior goalie and captain Kaidan Mbereko finished with 20 saves.

“We have to grow in that area in terms of how we start games, the mentality we start games with, the urgency we start games with because right now we’re just an easy team to beat,” Mayotte said. 

The Tigers return to Ed Robson Arena and National Collegiate Hockey Conference play next week, hosting North Dakota.