The Tigers were fashionably late.

Freshman Hunter McKown scored the go-ahead goal late in the second period and the shootout winner as Colorado College tied Western Michigan 3-3 in its season opener in Omaha, Neb., then secured the extra standings point.

The Tigers were the last team in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference to begin the 2020-21 season, which was delayed nearly two months. A CC player tested positive for COVID-19 two weeks before the first game in the league’s “pod” and the team and coaching staff went into quarantine.

Since the playoffs were canceled in March due to the pandemic, nine months passed between Colorado College hockey games.

“We just wanted to play some hockey, finally,” sophomore forward Josiah Slavin said. “To get two points is huge.”

Western Michigan didn’t go quietly, however, and Broncos freshman Hugh Larkin countered late in the third period to tie the score at 3.

Tigers goaltender Matt Vernon finished with 33 saves.

Western Michigan lost starting goaltender Brandon Bussi in a season-opening loss before being blown out twice. It didn’t initially force the pace this time around either.

Colorado College settled in during two unsuccessful, uninspiring power plays and got going in the late stages of the first period. With just under two minutes left, Grant Cruikshank opened the scoring for Colorado College, one-timing a feed from Slavin up high and directly in front of Austin Cain.

Ben Copeland widened the lead with 25 seconds left in the period. As the Tigers dug in, he scored from a similar spot.

Western Michigan (0-3-1) captain Paul Washe erased that lead, scoring short-handed and on the power play. First he went to the net and tapped a rebound past Vernon. Then a point shot pinballed around the slot, hitting a Colorado College and Western Michigan player and sneaking past Vernon’s foot.

CC appeared to be reeling after the abrupt change of fortune, but McKown scored a minute later. He won a faceoff, went to the front of the net, waited, turned and fired. He tucked his shot just under the crossbar through traffic.

Cain made several impressive saves to keep the game close and a Tigers 2-on-1 shot glanced off the post.

“We kept finding a way and kept hanging in there and battling back,” coach Mike Haviland said. “That’s a great sign, I believe.”

McKown’s shootout goal wasn’t quite as smooth as his regulation goal, as he wound up on the ice after getting the puck around Cain. But it got the job done. Slavin had two assists and also scored in the shootout.

The result is officially a tie, but the NCHC awards an extra point to the winner of the shootout.