A pair of former NCAA players teamed up late Wednesday night to lift the Colorado Avalanche to a
1-0 victory over the visiting St.
Louis Blues.
Former University
of Michigan defenseman Matt
Hunwick fed Dartmouth
College alumnus
David Jones for a
wrist shot that eluded St. Louis
goaltender
Jarolsav Halak
with 16.4 seconds remaining in sudden death. Colorado
improved to 7-7-1, while St. Louis
fell to 9-7-1.
Hunwick skated across the blue line on the
left side and dropped the puck to Jones, who moved forward and then cut to his
right before letting go from the top of the left circle and beating
Halak on the glove side, just inside the juncture of
the post and crossbar.
“I just went to the middle,” said Jones in a post-game interview with Brian
Engblom of NBC Sports Network afterwards. “I
don’t know if it hit something, but it felt real good.”
The puck may have deflected off the stick of St. Louis
defenseman Kevin
Shattenkirk, a former Boston University
blueliner, but it still lifted the
Avs
to the win and gave Jones his first goal in 10 games.
Jones now has two goals and three assists for five points in 13 games with Colorado this year.
A
ninth round draft choice of the Avalanche in 2003, the Ontario native played
three years at Dartmouth where he collected 44 goals and 48 assists for 92
points in 100 contests from 2004 to 2007, and helped the Big Green to both ECAC and Ivy League titles. In
252 career NHL games, he now has
69-53—122 points, including a pair of 20-goal campaigns.
Hunwick played four years at Michigan, where he posted 24-73—97
points in 163 games from 2003 to 2007, and helped the Wolverines to four NCAA
Tournament berths. He has collected 16-46—62 points in 259 career
NHL contests, while his assist on Jones' goal was his first point in 11 games this
season.