Colorado College Hockey

End of Season Grades

2007-05-12T16:27:00.000-06:00

Since I've been so lazy since the end of the season, I decided to get my act together and get to work. So without further ado, here's my end of season grades for the Tigers:

James Brannigan : D While Brannigan's playing time went down fairly drastically this season, he still did not perform very well at all. In fact, in terms of statistics Brannigan was pretty much non-existant - only four assists in 30 games. Not to mention his -11 +/- (worst on the team).

Brian Connelly : B+ Connelly was a pleasant surprise this year, putting up an impressive 17 points as a freshman (nearly .50 points per game). While there were initially concerns about his defensive play, he stepped it up later in the season and while his scoring declined, he became a very accountable defenseman.

Braydon Cox : B I was impressed with Braydon Cox this season and thought he really stepped up his game. His numbers (7 g, 9 a, 16 pts. in 38 games) were not spectacular, but I think he did a good job of leading the team and also scoring timely goals.

Addison DeBoer : C+ DeBoer had a decent year (5 g, 5a, 10 pts. in 35 games) for a freshman coming straight from high school, but also showed that he probably could have used another year of development. Nevertheless, I like the way he plays and I think his game will improve in the next few years. Size is still a concern.

Kris Fredheim : B Fredheim put up only four points in 23 games, but played excellent defense this year. I think he should have been used more this season. Look for him to be a top WCHA defenseman in years to come. Kris improved noticeably over the course of the season.

Jake Gannon : B- Gannon had a decent season this year despite putting up only two points in 37 games. His improvement from last season was quite evident. Gannon still seems prone to getting a bit overexcited while he's on the ice, and sometimes his effort to lay out huge hits detracts from his overall defensive play.

Jack Hillen : B+Hillen has been improving constantly since he arrived at CC and has become one of the team's top defenseman. He had another excellent year this season, scoring seven goals and tallying eight assists in 38 games. Also played well defensively.

Chris Kawano : Incomplete Tough to give a grade to the third-string goalie considering the limited playing time, but Kawano gets props for his hard work and commitment to the team.

Jimmy Kilpatrick : A- Kilpatrick emerged this year as one of the top players on the team, putting up 32 points in 37 games. He led the team offensively and was a godsend after the departure of so many top-flight players last season. He brings great energy every time he's on the ice.

Cody Lampl : A- Lampl put up only nine points in 37 games, but emerged as a catalyst for this young CC team. The energy that he brings to the game is absolutely unbelievable, and CC always seems to be playing better when he is on the ice. Without a doubt one of the three or four most important players on this team.

Scott McCulloch : B McCulloch got off to such a red-hot start this year that I was afraid he might bolt to the Blackhawks come the end of the season. I'm not so worried anymore. McCulloch's offensive production literally fell off a cliff at the end of the season and he ended up with only 24 points in 39 games. I still expect him to be a big scorer next season.

Brian McMillin : C Like DeBoer, I wasn't expecting a whole lot out of McMillan considering that he came to CC straight from high school. McMillin did not see a whole lot of playing time this year, and scored only two points in 22 games. Nevertheless, he seems like a hard worker and a solid role-player. I think he'll improve next season.

Drew O'Connell : D+ I had high expectations for O'Connell heading into this season and even expected him to compete with Matt Zaba for the starting job, but he ended up being one of the bigger disappointments (to me, at least) this season. Drew compiled a 2.90 GAA and .886 save percentage this season. These numbers just aren't good enough for the WCHA. While I still think that Drew could be solid if he got regular playing time, with Richard Bachman coming in next season it is looking increasingly doubtful that Drew will ever be a regular starter for this team.

Derek Patrosso : C Patrosso still has not played up to his potential. 10 points (3 g, 7 a) in 30 games isn't terrible but it also isn't anything special.

Brandon Polich : B Polich had a nice year, tallying 19 points in 36 games this season. He had good presence of mind on the ice and was good at creating chances. I also thought he was one of the better defensive forwards this season.

Nate Prosser : B- Prosser played pretty well this year for a freshman, but I was still expecting a bit more production offensively after seeing his numbers from the USHL. I think down the road he will be one of CC's best defensemen, and his offensive production should go way up in the next few seasons.

Dan Quilico : C Quilico saw very limited ice time this season and when he was playing, he wasn't doing much (no points in eight games). I think he will be a good role player for CC teams in the next few years but don't count on him being a top line type of player.

Chad Rau : B If you had asked me prior to the season to guess how many points Chad would put up this year, I would have put the over/under at 50. Thus, while he had a decent season with 31 points in 39 games, I still think the best is yet to come. The nice part about this is that these numbers are not likely to impress the Toronto Maple Leafs, who have Rau's NHL rights. I still expect better next season, however. Rau has the skills to be one of the top players in the WCHA and even the country if he plays to his potential.

Brandon Straub : C Straub was a fairly solid player this year and obviously provided leadership. He seemed to become something of a liability on defense this year, however, with an unimpressive minus 9 +/-.

Billy Sweatt : A+ The younger Sweatt was without a doubt the best player on the Tigers this season. Although he missed a few weeks at the beginning of the season due to mono, he emerged as CC's most potent offensive threat at the end of the year and scored several highlight-reel type goals. Sweatt isn't just an offensive force, he has great size and can throw his body around on defense as well. Billy's speed is absolutely insane - he might be the fastest college hockey player I have ever seen. The only concern to be had about Sweatt is that he is going to be a clear flight-risk after the draft. Billy was rated 27th among North American skaters in the draft and is likely to be drafted fairly high - where he ends up should be a good indication as to how many years he will spend at CC.

Lee Sweatt : A Like his kid brother, Lee Sweatt also had an excellent season. As captain, Lee was the obvious leader of this young team and was also very impressive both offensively and defensively. While Lee went undrafted by NHL teams, he has completed his degree and is playing minor league hockey already, so hopefully one day we will see him on the big stage.

Mike Testwuide : B+ When I first saw Testwuide play this season, I was very worried that he wouldn't be able to keep up. He improved constantly throughout the season though, and also scored some important goals against rival DU (home of his brother, JP Testwuide). By the end of the season, Testwuide had proved to me that he belonged. His size is a big asset on a team that has been pretty small across the board the last few years.

Scott Thauwald : B- Scott had a decent season, scoring 13 points in 39 games, but didn't quite produce the way I expected him to. I hope that he improves next season - I think he has potential to be a very good player.

Andreas Vlassopoulos : A- Andreas rebounded in a big way from his shortened freshman season. In only 24 games, he tallied 16 points and displayed obvious chemistry with his linemates. With Vlassopoulos, B. Sweatt, Connelly, Prosser, and Fredheim, CC has a solid core to build around. Look for both Andreas and Billy Sweatt to put up enormous numbers next season.

Matt Zaba : A One of the best surprises of the season for me, although he shouldn't have been. I was expecting Drew O'Connell to start sharing netminding duties with Zaba, but Matt's play this year put an end to that idea. Zaba is probably the graduating player with the best shot of eventually playing in the NHL.

Scott Owens : B- Owens looked like a miracle worker at the beginning of the season with the great (and unpredicted) success of his young team. While he did better with this group than many people would have anticipated, I still had some issues with his decisions down the stretch (largely goaltending choices), and it's also becoming concerning to watch his teams flame out at the end of the season. Obviously, this year was not as big a disappointment as last season, but it's something to consider. Consider teams like Maine and North Dakota - both had roller coaster seasons (Maine started out great, tanked at the end and barely made it into the tournament. North Dakota started out in pathetic fashion before developing into a powerhouse at the end of the year) but played their best hockey at the end of the season, with both squads making it into the Frozen Four. CC has seemed to do the exact opposite the last two seasons. I think Owens should get a pass on this season because of the youth and inexperience of his team, but if a similar late season tailspin happens next year, it will become a concern.

News of the Day

2007-05-10T23:11:00.000-06:00

Well it's been awhile since I last updated, but I figure if the professionals over at USCHO can take weeks and even months off after the national championship is decided, why can't I? In the meantime, I've let a few pieces of hockey news slip by. First, CC picked up a commitment for next season from defenseman Brett Wysopal of Tri-City (USHL). I don't know a whole lot about Wysopal but from what I've heard he's a nice pickup this late in the year. Another piece of news that I missed was CC once again being at the top of the WCHA in the NCAA's Academic Progress Rate. Nice. The most recent news for CC, however, is not so good; apparently forward James Brannigan will pass up his senior year at CC to play in the ECHL. I think Mr. Dilks at WCH is right in saying that the writing was on the wall in this case. Brannigan's playing time has definitely gone down since his freshman year and probably was not going to increase with the amount of young talent that CC has at forward. It's too bad for Brannigan and the team, but I think it's for the best.

That's the big news of the past two months. Now for some less noticed items:

* As usual a few college hockey players have signed professional contracts during the offseason so far. Here's a list off the top of my head:
- Andrew Cogliano (Michigan) : Edmonton Oilers - Not a big surprise since Cogliano is talented and Edmonton is coming off a disappointing season... Remember the Oilers traded away Ryan Smyth earlier this year - they need some help up front.
- Jack Johnson (Michigan) : Los Angeles Kings - I was surprised that Johnson even stuck around this long.
- Erik Johnson (Minnesota) : St. Louis Blues - I was surprised that this Johnson even played college hockey in the first place.
- Teddy Purcell (Maine) : Los Angeles Kings - Another college puck player headed to LA to live the life. If you don't follow NCAA hockey outside the WCHA, you may not have heard about Purcell, but the freshman phenom was a big reason why Maine made it so far this year.
- Ryan Dingle (Denver) : Anaheim Mighty Ducks - CC fans came to know Dingle well - not for good reasons. It'll be nice not having to face him anymore, although Denver still has plenty of firepower at forward.
- Jack Skille (Wisconsin) : Chicago Blackhawks - Skille was one of the top players in the WCHA last season and his presence/absence largely determined how much success the Badgers had. Once again, a player I won't miss facing.
- Mason Raymond (Minnesota-Duluth) : Vancouver Canucks - UMD fans can't be happy about this one. I'm not sure whether or not Raymond was expected to leave but he was without a doubt one of the Bulldogs' (and the WCHA's) top players last year.

It's a shame we don't get to see these guys play for four years, but that's the price you pay to get this caliber of talent in the NCAA.

* The WCHA recently decided to remain at ten teams for the foreseeable future. A lot of people had been speculating that Bemidji State might be invited to join the league due to the woes of the CHA. The problem is, the WCHA is at a healthy ten teams and is in no hurry to make it eleven. I agree with the WCHA on this one - I don't think letting in Bemidji State is a good solution to this problem. It would make more sense to me to tinker with a league that is already waaaay too big, the CCHA, in looking to accomodate teams that need leagues. I could go on for hours about this issue, but what's the point? You can read everything there is to be written about this issue over at the USCHO forums.

Pairwhat?

2007-03-21T15:33:00.000-06:00

NCAA scientist hard at work determining tournament seeding.

I'm sure that I'm not the only one left scratching my head trying to figure out how only three WCHA teams made it into the NCAA tournament last week, while Hockey East and the CCHA got in five and four, respectively. Does this make any sense whatsoever? The numbers confirm that the WCHA, as usual, was the best conference this season, so how in the world did western teams fare so badly in the Pairwise Rankings? How can the CCHA on the whole go 6-16-5 against the WCHA and still get more teams into the tournament? Most frustrating of all, had the NCAA used the KRACH formula (which just about everyone agrees is better than the Pairwise) to determine the tournament field, the WCHA would have had a whopping seven teams in the tournament (Minnesota, St. Cloud State, North Dakota, Denver, Wisconsin, Michigan Tech, and Colorado College).

I'm not trying to be a homer and imply that I think CC should have made the tournament, because frankly, I don't. Tournament teams don't lose opening round home playoff series. However, something is seriously wrong when such a strong conference can get jobbed so badly come selection time. I mean, does anyone really think that St. Lawrence and Miami are better than Denver? Of course, the comeback to that is that if Denver wanted to get in, they shouldn't have laid an egg against Wisconsin in their first round series. At the same time, however, when you look at Denver's season on the whole and take into account strength of schedule, there is no way in hell they should be getting passed over in favor of teams from the CCHA and ECAC.

I would hope that a travesty like this would be the straw that breaks the camels back and forces the NCAA to adopt a new way of seeding teams, but I doubt it will happen. If there's one thing that could make matters even worse for the WCHA, it's that Minnesota and North Dakota ended up in the same region, meaning that one of those two will definitely be out of the Frozen Four (I'd be surprised if they didn't play each other to determine who goes).

Notes

* How worried is the NCAA about attendance in Denver? Not only are three of the biggest name teams in the country (Minnesota, North Dakota, Michigan) being sent there, but the NCAA even managed to sneak a local team (Air Force) in there as well.

* The NCAA must have been grimacing watching DU and CC's seasons end. DU, which had been as high as 5th in the Pairwise Rankings looked like an absolute lock to make the tourney with just a few weeks left, but fell apart spectacularly down the stretch. CC, even, remained on the bubble as well right up until the end before falling short. When both teams lost their opening playoff series, there must have been some sort of panic going on. At least Air Force managed to give them some consolation.

* How happy is Maine that there's an OOC bonus involved in the Pairwise? Without it, they'd be way on the wrong side of the bubble; with it, they managed to get in. Shows once again the importance of early season non-conference wins - Maine racked up three against Minnesota and North Dakota.

Nice Season, Tigers

2007-03-12T23:05:00.000-06:00

Tigers Win Gold Pan But Can't Hang On For Season Sweep

2007-03-05T02:52:00.000-07:00

Tiger fans were excited last night as CC reclaimed the Gold Pan for the first time in three years, but that excitement faded when the Tigers coughed up a late two-goal lead and lost a chance to sweep the season series against their archrival. With just four seconds left to play, Denver's senior sniper Ryan Dingle completed the improbable comeback as the World Arena went silent. Five minutes later the game was in the books - a 5-5 tie. Disappointing and surprising, to say the least after taking a quick 3-0 lead and holding onto a two goal lead until the final seconds. Not to mention missing an open net in the final minute by just inches that would have put the game well out of reach. But such was the case on Saturday and the Tigers finished the regular season at 5th in the WCHA for the second straight year after a series that was fairly similar to last year's between the two teams. Last year Denver went 3-0-1 against CC after an early season sweep, a win at CC in March, and then a late and somewhat improbable come-from-behind tie in the final matchup. This year, the Tigers went 3-0-1 against the Pioneers after an early season sweep, a win at DU in March, and an enormously improbable come-from-behind tie in the final game.

Chad Rau had another big series against DU, scoring a goal on Friday night and then two on Saturday. Bill Sweatt and Andreas Vlassapoulos kept up their stellar play of late as well with each tallying three assists on Saturday, and Sweatt scoring a nice goal on Friday. Lee Sweatt also continued to lead the Tigers' defense in scoring with a goal and an assist on the weekend. Mike Testwuide tallied yet another goal against his brother's team. Lastly, Matt Zaba had his second shutout of the season with a great effort on Friday.

Overall, the weekend was a good one- but Tiger fans still wanted more after dominating the Pioneers for most of the game on Saturday and squandering a late lead. The weekend results combined with the results around college hockey dropped CC to 16th in the Pairwise Rankings - out of the tournament, for the time being. The one bright spot on the weekend, in my opinion, are the matchups for the first round of the WCHA playoffs. Denver, which finishes the season one point ahead of CC at 4th in the WCHA, will face No. 7 Wisconsin, while the Tigers will host No. 6 Michigan Tech. Technically, of course, Michigan Tech is the better team since they finished ahead of the Badgers, but I still like the Tigers chances more against the Huskies than I would against last year's champs. Michigan Tech is a much improved team this year and is currently on the bubble for NCAA postseason play, but the Tigers record against Tech at the World Arena is impeccable. Add to that the fact that Wisconsin, defending champs of the whole shabang, are desperate to advance and sneak into the tourney, and they have one of the best goalies in the country, and I think they could be a dangerous team late in the season. Wisconsin has already won one at Magness this season - I wouldn't be surprised to see them steal one or even two from DU in the coming series. Michigan Tech, however, is no slouch. The Huskies took three points from CC in Houghton last month and finished the season with an impressive win at Minnesota, which moved them to a tie for 17th in the Pairwise - right on the Tigers' heels. Both teams are playing to extend their season and get an NCAA bid. The Huskies also have one of the country's top goalies - sophomore Michael-Lee Teslak comes into this series with a .913 save percentage and 2.08 GAA. So, I may be wrong to want to face the Huskies, but I have vivid memories of Wisconsin coming to the World Arena last season and putting on a clinic, and I don't think I'd like to see them in a three game series next week.

I like the Tigers chances for next weekend - the boys should be hungry after the debacle at the end of the game on Saturday, and have a great history against Michigan Tech at the World Arena. I'm sure the veteran players on the team remember last year's disappointing playoff loss to St. Cloud State that kept the Tigers out of the Final Five and will be looking to reverse that trend this season. CC could also be playing for another shot at the Pioneers, if they can beat Wisconsin, as the two would play in the Final Five play-in game if they were to advance.

Tigers Done For?

2007-02-26T19:31:00.000-07:00

It sure looks like it after a truly pathetic weekend in Mankato.

Tigers Fail to Gain Points Against Minnesota

2007-02-19T13:03:00.000-07:00

The Tigers fought hard in two close games this weekend, but in the end came out with nothing to show for it as Minnesota handed CC back to back 3-2 losses. If there is any good news to come out of the weekend, it's that the Tigers played fairly evenly with a superbly talented Minnesota team. That is little consolation however after a weekend that could very likely keep the Tigers out of the NCAA tournament. A tournament berth does remain a possibility, but it will require some great play from the Tigers down the stretch and also a bit of luck. The Tigers now sit at 14th in the Pairwise rankings - which could be either in or out of the tournament depending on the results of league tournaments. Wins against Mankato and DU are a must, and the Tigers probably need to make it all the way to the WCHA championship to really assure themselves of a spot.

A number of things contribute to the "luck" factor:

* Will top teams win their conference tournaments? If there are upsets then autobids could keep CC and other bubble teams out of the mix.

* Will Wisconsin, Michigan Tech, and Mankato remain TUCs? All of these teams are under .500 and if they do not end up in the top 25, wins against them will no longer be of any significant help to the Tigers. Mankato is already out of the top 25 and if CC beats them this weekend (which we have to if we want to remain in the tournament picture) they will continue to fall.

* Will Michigan State, Miami, St. Lawrence, and Boston College finish the season strong, or fade down the stretch? These teams are all close to the Tigers in the standings and have the potential to keep CC in or out.

* The ECAC, as usual, is terrible this year. Could a sleeper (AKA not Clarkson) win their conference tournament this year and grab an additional spot in the tournament? Certainly a possibility.

Anyway, those are just a few scenarios that will have to be played out before selection time, and it's easy to see that CC is in dangerous territory. But hey, it was supposed to be a rebuilding year anyway, wasn't it?

Speaking of rebuilding, this weekend's series has gotten me thinking about next year's team. One thing that was frustrating to see this weekend was how close CC was to Minnesota, without getting any points to show for it. The Tigers pretty much dominated on Saturday night but just couldn't hold it together after a huge tying goal by Mike Testwuide. Well, the silver lining is that the Tigers are going to improve big time next season, while the Gophers will surely "reload" but at the same time, lose most of their top players from a really astounding group. Erik Johnson and Kyle Okposo are almost certainly gone next season. Ryan Stoa and Alex Goligoski could be gone too. Meanwhile, us Tiger fans can look forward to seeing a vast majority of our players back next season.

This CC team has only three current NHL draft picks that are not seniors - Chad Rau, Scott McCulloch, and Kris Fredheim. None of these three should be real flight risks this offseason, although you never know. Billy Sweatt, undoubtedly the top NHL prospect on this current squad, will likely be drafted in a few months and we'll know his situation better once we know where he goes. What I'm getting at is that CC has a lot to look forward to next year, especially with the recruits that we have coming in. So, if you're feeling down about the recent sweep or our tournament chances, take comfort in the fact that next year should be a good one.

Anyway, I don't mean to get ahead of myself on that tangent, because there is still hockey to play this season. The Tigers may not have come away with many points in the last few games, but they have shown that they can play with some of the WCHA's top teams. What am I getting at? The WCHA tournament. It's only weeks away and could present CC's best opportunity to regain a spot in the field. Nevermind winning the Broadmoor Trophy and getting the autobid - just a couple wins against solid WCHA teams could be exactly what the Tigers need to regain their pairwise footing. The next few games (Mankato, Denver) will be very important for determining seeding. Right now CC is tied for 4th in the league along with North Dakota. If we can jump ahead of Denver and get to the 3rd spot, CC could avoid the dreaded play-in game to the Final Five. The Tigers may not have demonstrated the ability to win lately, but they have certainly shown an ability to play hard and compete against top teams - and with persistence, we should get to enjoy some results, and maybe even a tournament berth.

Tigers On Bubble Entering Home Stretch

2007-02-13T20:28:00.000-07:00

With just six regular season games left to play, Colorado College sits at No. 11 in the latest Pairwise Rankings - still sitting on the bubble, but not looking so bad considering that all six of the Tigers remaining games are against TUC's (although that may not be the case for long as Minnesota State sits at 26th with barely better than a .400 winning percentage). A lot of people consider the weekend games against St. Cloud State a disappointment since CC had such a great chance to win game two, but I see it differently. The Huskies have proved that they're one of the top teams this year as evidenced by their Pairwise rank, and I found it very encouraging that CC was able to hang with them in their own barn. It would have been nice to get a few more WCHA points and possibly pass Denver in the standings, sure - but that can wait for later. Right now, what's really important is securing a spot in the NCAA tournament. The Tigers remain in a precarious Pairwise position mainly because three teams that they have wins against (Wisconsin, Michigan Tech, Mankato) are dangerously close to the TUC cutoff.

This makes the games this weekend very important for the Tigers. Wins against Minnesota would really solidify CC in the Pairwise standings and in terms of RPI. So what will have to click this weekend for the Tigers to take some points from the Gophers? Just about everything. Minnesota remains one of the top teams in the country and has incredible talent from top to bottom. CC scored only three goals on the weekend against St. Cloud State, and will almost surely need more than that just to get one win against the Gophers. Minnesota remains the top scoring team in the WCHA, and yes, they still have three first round draft picks in their freshman class. Because of this, winning will also require a mammoth effort from the defense this weekend. Matt Zaba will have to keep up his great play in net as well. I'd like to say that goaltending is one area where CC will have the advantage this weekend - but even Minnesota's goalies are among the tops in the country - yes, both of them. Kellen Briggs has a dandy .922 save percentage and a 2.08 GAA, while Jeff Frazee has a .910 save percentage and similarly impressive 2.09 GAA - Frazee also has just one loss in 14 games this season.

CC does have one advantage this weekend though and that is the fact that the pressure really seems to be on Minnesota. The Gophers exploded out of the gate this year and have been 1st in the WCHA all season, yet as of today they sit just four points ahead of a hot St. Cloud State team, meaning that a Tiger sweep this weekend could lead to a real battle for the top spot with the Huskies (coincidentally, SCSU and Minnesota play a home-and-home after this weekend). The Tigers, on the other hand, have defied most everyone's expectations for this season and with some wins down the stretch could even challenge Denver for the third spot in the WCHA standings. CC still has two games in hand on the Pioneers, as well as the annual home-and-home series to end the season. Denver is off this weekend and then has a tough series against a red hot North Dakota team before ending the regular season against CC. Just one win this weekend would move the Tigers at least one point ahead of DU in the standings.

One Point Weekend in St. Cloud Drops CC Back to The Bubble

2007-02-10T21:43:00.000-07:00

I'll do a more thorough write up in the next few days. In the meantime, check out this new blog, and get ready for an absolutely huge series next weekend against Minnesota.

Sweet Revenge: Tigers Sweep Defending Champs

2007-02-05T19:49:00.000-07:00

After suffering one of the worst losses the World Arena has ever seen last year against the University of Wisconsin Badgers, people were expecting the Tigers to come out blazing this weekend. After two periods of play on Friday night, however, one had to wonder if Brian Elliott and his friendly crossbars could possibly be solved. Dre Vlassopoulos answered that question with a little less than seven minutes remaining in the game, and in the process got CC back on the winning track. Vlassopoulos went on to assist Mike Testwuide's game winner in overtime along with Bill Sweatt, who also notched a helper on the first Tigers' goal. The Tigers narrowly missed finishing off Wisconsin in regulation, with Chad Rau putting one off the crossbar with just under two minutes to go. On Saturday, the Tigers had to wait considerably less time to put their first past Brian Elliott - Cody Lampl did it just 21 seconds into the game. Lampl, Chad Rau, and Braydon Cox all had two points on the night as CC finished the sweep with a 4-2 victory.

This series was literally a must-win for the Tigers, as a single loss would have severely hurt CC's tournament chances. The Tigers now sit tied for 8th in the Pairwise Rankings, with what could be the most important series of the year coming up this weekend when the team travels to St. Cloud State for two games. After that the Tigers face another stiff test in Minnesota before facing off against Minnesota State-Mankato and Denver to finish the season. Wins against St. Cloud State, Minnesota, or Denver would strengthen CC's tournament chances in a big way.

In terms of the WCHA, CC remains in 4th, albeit with two games in hand on Minnesota and Denver, who are #1 and T-#2, respectively. St. Cloud State has played the same amount of league games as CC and sits one point ahead of the Tigers. The team to watch out for right now, however, is North Dakota. The Fighting Sioux seem to finally be living up to their potential, and haven't lost a game since they dropped a 1-0 decision right here in Colorado Springs. UND looks to pick up some big WCHA points in their next two series, at home against Mankato and Minnesota-Duluth, but ends the season with two tough away series at Denver and St. Cloud State. Add to that the fact that some of their top players have been getting busted for various legal infractions up in Grand Forks (Let's Go DU has got the coverage), and things could get interesting for the Sioux.

Notes:

* Matt Zaba is playing spectacular. I was worried going into the third period on Friday that he was becoming the Roger Clemens of college hockey - a guy that keeps his team in games that they still don't win - but thankfully the offense took care of business down the stretch. If he keeps this up the Tigers may just have the right team to make a late run.

* Cody Lampl has really stepped up his game as well. Even when he doesn't appear on the box score, his big hits and overall energy were a big part of the Tigers success this weekend.

* Chad Rau and Dre Vlassopoulos are creating a lot of great scoring chances, and the offense in general is looking better right now than they have at points this season. Once Scott McCulloch gets out of his scoring slump (which I assume that he will), the Tigers should not have many offensive concerns.

* The frosh defensemen have been impressive lately. Kris Fredheim is quietly having a great first season and Brian Connelly, while his offensive numbers may be down lately, has been much more reliable on defense.

Garbage Goals Get It Done

2007-02-03T13:07:00.000-07:00

Tigers Get Only One Point From Tech

2007-01-28T23:11:00.000-07:00

For the second straight year, the Tigers are struggling to start off the second half of the season - taking only one point from a team that CC has dominated in recent years. This time around, the Tigers' pairwise ranking may not be solid enough to withstand the hit. The one point weekend has dropped the Tigers to 14th in the pairwise rankings - the tournament bubble, and with a tough road remaining. The Tigers failed to get a win on the weekend despite allowing only three goals, and CC's normally potent power play was held to 1-8 in the series. The disappointing weekend leaves CC at 4th in the WCHA standings, one point ahead of surging North Dakota.

The Tigers still have not swept a series since taking on Denver in early December, despite not having played any top teams in the time since. The next three series for CC will be key not only for determining WCHA standing but also determining just how good this team really is. The Tigers next three opponents are:

Wisconsin
Wisconsin
@ St. Cloud State
@ St. Cloud State
Minnesota
Minnesota

Wisconsin went .500 in January but did notch impressive shutout wins over Minnesota and Denver. St. Cloud State kept up their impressive run this month with the exception of a one point series at Minnesota State-Mankato. Minnesota has really been struggling after getting off to a remarkable start. They opened the month of January with a sweep of Mankato before dropping their first game in months at Wisconsin. That led to them going 2-4 in their last six games, and recently suffering a home sweep at the hands of North Dakota. All three of these teams have proven to be beatable, but all three present big challenges for CC in the coming weeks. The Tigers need wins - and lots of them - to maintain their spot in the NCAA tournament.

Notes:

* Here's an interesting discussion of CC's PWR possibilities down the road.

* The Tigers picked up another recruit recently. This time it's Mr. Rylan Schwartz, a recruit for either the 2008 or 2009 season, coming from Notre Dame of the SJHL (same team as freshman Kris Fredheim).

* A look at the new pairwise rankings. Denver and North Dakota are really coming on strong all of a sudden, while Maine and Minnesota seem to be stumbling.

Tigers Split At UMD

2007-01-16T16:53:00.000-07:00

The old saying among WCHA fans is "split on the road, sweep at home", and this weekend the Tigers lived up to one half of that, rebounding on Saturday night for a split with the Bulldogs of Minnesota-Duluth. After suffering a comeback loss on Friday night, CC turned the table on Saturday and won a game that the Tigers were trailing in for two periods with four third period goals. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see or listen to the games this weekend so I can't really say much firsthand about how the Tigers looked. Feel free to comment on this post with your opinions if you did get to see the games.

The result moved CC into a three-way tie for second place in the WCHA, along with Denver and St. Cloud State, both of whom the Tigers will face again this season. The Huskies had a disappointing weekend, snapping their long win streak with a loss and a tie to Minnesota State-Mankato. Another team that had an even bigger streak snapped was Minnesota, who lost their first game since the season opener, 2-1 at rival Wisconsin. Denver didn't play any WCHA games but had a nice sweep of Niagara, solidifying their ranking in the Pairwise. Speaking of the Pairwise, the Tigers are still looking okay, although they will need wins over the second half to keep it that way. CC is currently at 9th, and will have plenty of opportunities to pick up additional quality wins during the second half of the season. One such oppurtunity will be the next WCHA series, when CC travels to Houghton for a series with Michigan Tech, who are low in the Pairwise, but still considered a TUC. After that series, the Tigers face a murderer's row of (the seemingly rejuvenated) Wisconsin, (at) St. Cloud State, and Minnesota.

Notes:

* Bill Sweatt is now listed as a "limited viewing" player by the NHL's Central Scouting Bureau. This is presumably due to time missed this season.

* As much as I'm expecting CC to be a top team next year, I'm getting concerned about goaltending. Drew O'Connell apparently did not have a great game this weekend, and Richard Bachman is really struggling in the USHL. I believe that both these guys will eventually be really good goalies, but I still need some convincing. Neither currently have a save percentage above .900.

* Andreas Vlassopoulos is off to a heck of a start so far this season, with six points in nine games. I haven't had a chance to see him play all that much so far this year, but I'm looking forward to it.

* Despite limited action so far, Billy Sweatt is now second on the team in points per game with .87, behind Jimmy Kilpatrick who has 1.05 per game. Scott McCulloch and Chad Rau are both scoring .83 points per game.

* Is USCHO ever going to update their PWR and KRACH rankings? Really fellas, it's getting embarrassing.

* Minnesota, Denver, CC, and St. Cloud State have all emerged as the top of the WCHA so far, and it should be an interesting fight to the finish as all four of these teams will be playing each other again before the season is over. Denver in particular is about to begin a tough stretch of league play, as they travel to Minnesota and then take on SCSU at home in the next few weeks. Minnesota currently has a commanding seven point lead in the standings, but some stumbles down the stretch could certainly open the door for any of these four teams to take the conference regular season title.

Tigers Shut Down By "Hostile and Abusive" Sioux Defense

2007-01-08T12:43:00.000-07:00

After shutting out North Dakota on Friday night, CC got a taste of its own medicine on Saturday as the Sioux defense held them to just one goal, and only two shots in the second period. Jack Hillen and Scott McCulloch provided the Tigers' only goals on the weekend, and Matt Zaba was stellar in net with 60 saves on 62 shots. North Dakota's win on Saturday moves them into a tie for 5th in the WCHA with Wisconsin, who took Denver to the woodshed on Saturday after losing on Friday. CC has dropped to 4th behind Minnesota, Denver, and St. Cloud State, although each of these teams has two games in hand on Denver. Next week the Tigers travel to Minnesota Duluth to take on the cellar dwelling Bulldogs. UMD is 4-10-2 in the WCHA and is tied for last place with Minnesota State. Nevertheless, UMD typically plays the Tigers tough and a much needed sweep may be hard to come by.

Denver and Michigan Tech are not playing WCHA games next weekend, instead taking on Niagara and Bemidji State respectively. There are some league matchups to keep an eye on however. Minnesota takes on rival Wisconsin in Madison. Could the winning streak come to an end? Not all that likely, but with Elliott in net you never know. Another interesting matchup will be UAA playing at UND. UND has been terrible at home this year and UAA is fighting for home ice in the WCHA playoffs. St. Cloud State will be playing at Minnesota State, and I would expect a Huskies sweep but you never know. The level of play in general should be much higher next weekend in the WCHA with the return of players from the World Junior Championships in Sweden. About half the Team USA roster seemed to come from the Gophers, and a number of other WCHA schools, including CC, sent players as well.

The Tigers split with North Dakota was not particularly helpful in the quest for an NCAA tournament berth. CC has dropped to 9th in the pairwise rankings, and probably won't be able to get any quality wins next weekend. In the next three weeks, the only TUC that CC will be seeing is Wisconsin, and they are just barely on the bubble. This will make CC's later games against St. Cloud State, Minnesota and Denver all the more important. And unlike last year, don't expect OOC bonus points to help CC at the end of the season. With OOC losses to New Hampshire and Bemidji State, the bonus will not do anything but hurt the Tigers' chances.

One last piece of news: CC recently got a commitment from Steve Schultz, who's been putting up some impressive numbers in the USHL.

Tigers PWR Takes Hit With Home Split Against Bemidji State

2007-01-02T23:08:00.000-07:00

The brawl with UAA came back to haunt the Tigers last Friday as a depleted CC squad fell to Bemidji State 3-2. Thankfully the Tigers were able to rebound on Saturday night to the tune of a 5-3 win. CC was handicapped on Friday night by the loss of five players due to suspension, including captains Lee Sweatt and Brandon Straub. Bill Sweatt was also absent as he remains in Sweden with the suddenly rejuvenated Team USA. Despite that, the Tigers outshot the Beavers by a large margin, but still had trouble finishing. The weekend split dropped CC to 10th in the Pairwise Rankings. Bemidji State ran their record against the WCHA to a surprising 5-1-0.

The split was not a great way to start the second half of a season that includes some key matchups - especially at home. In the second half, the Tigers will face talented North Dakota, underachieving-but-still-defending-champs Wisconsin, and juggernaught Minnesota at home. Throw in a game against archrival DU and that's a pretty tough home schedule - but also one that could earn great standing in the rankings if CC is successful in the second half. The Tigers will also face St. Cloud State for the first time on the road.

CC's next series is against North Dakota at home, and is probably even more important to the Sioux than it is to the Tigers. UND badly needs wins to stay in contention for the tournament. The Sioux came into the season highly ranked and expected to compete for a national title this season, but have faltered badly in the first half to the tune of a sub-.500 record. A CC sweep this weekend would likely doom UND to a bottom half finish in the WCHA, while a Sioux sweep would pull them to within one game of .500 in league play.

Some more notes:

* CC's top recruit for next year, Tyler Johnson, has observers raving. His most recent accomplishment was a five point game (two goals, three assists) in a 5-0 win. Thanks to gmf1a of cctigerhockey.net for finding this.

* Kate Crandall of the Gazette writes about Chris Kawano's tough start on Friday night, and also mentions another potential CC recruit. Jeff Foss, of Moorhead High School, is also considering Maine, Boston University, and UMD.

* Potential recruit Rob Bordson, who recently visited CC, has decided to attend UMD instead.

* You can keep up with Bill Sweatt and Team USA at the Tiger Den section of the Gazette, which has really been impressive so far with their coverage of CC hockey. Kudos to Kate Crandall, who's doing a great job.

* CC's freshmen are really doing well so far. Looking at the stats, there's a few who jump out in particular. Brian Connelly (2-11-13) has really exceeded expectations - and with the loss of Brian Salcido before the season, it's a good thing. Billy Sweatt (4-7-11) has also been doing well, although that's in a smaller sample size. I was a little worried about Addison DeBoer coming straight from high school, but he's doing well too with four goals and three assists on the year. Lastly, Dre Vlassopoulos has played only five games so far, but has three points, including his first collegiate goal, which he scored this weekend against Bemidji State. Brian McMillin also notched his first in the same game.

* Brett Sterling is second in the AHL in points, and first in goals.

* Lastly, it's not much of a surprise, but it's great to see Jimmy Kilpatrick, Scott McCulloch, and Chad Rau doing so well after the departures of Marty Sertich, Brett Sterling, and Joey Crabb last year. We needed that. Having defensemen Lee Sweatt and Brian Connelly producing points is a nice bonus as well.

Tigers Prepare for OOC Showdown

2006-12-28T22:54:00.000-07:00

Tommorrow night the Tigers will take on the Bemidji State Beavers in their second real non-conference series of the season. Their last, against now #2 New Hampshire, didn't go so well, with CC getting swept at home. That series sparked a four game losing streak for the Tigers, who had to travel to Minnesota the week afterwards. Bemidji State should not present as much of a challenge for the Tigers, but could still provide a tough series - especially since the Tigers will be missing star freshman Bill Sweatt, who's at the World Junior Championships in Sweden. The series could have important implications when it comes time to make NCAA tournament selections. Out-of-conference games are always important, and a loss in this series could hit the Tigers hard in the pairwise rankings. On the other hand, if Bemidji State ends the season as a TUC (team under consideration), some wins this weekend could give the Tigers a nice boost come selection time.

Speaking of the World Juniors, the US team isn't doing so great. They dropped a heartbreaker in their first game, 2-1 to Germany. In the second, the US was beaten by Canada 6-3. CC's lone representative at the tournament, Bill Sweatt, however, is doing fairly well - notching two points in the first two games. He'll have to keep playing well if the US wants to redeem their medal hopes in the following days.

I haven't updated in awhile because there hasn't really been much going on in the college hockey world. Aside from a bunch of PC crybabies at Dartmouth whining about their upcoming game against North Dakota, things have been quiet. One link of note is INCH's midway all-WCHA team, which includes our own Scott McCulloch. There's some other notes about CC in that article, including a nice mention of McCulloch's emergence with the graduation of Marty Sertich and Brett Sterling, and also a little buildup for CC's home series for Minnesota that's coming up in a month or two. Lastly, there's a nice article on USA Hockey's website about Bill Sweatt.

CC Scores '08 Recruit

2006-12-13T13:13:00.000-07:00

Western College Hockey, one of my favorite sports sites out there, reports that CC has picked up another recruit for the class of '08. David Civitarese, currently a member of the Okotoks Oilers of the AJHL, has thus far put up 19 points in 32 games, and is considered by the NHL's scouting bureau to be a possible late round pick in this year's draft. Civitarese joins Andrew Hamburg, Ryan Lowery, and possibly Nick Dineen among the Tiger's '08 recruit class.

Speaking of Ryan Lowery, news concerning him popped up in the college hockey world earlier this week. Apparently Lowery was involved in an altercation with a teammate during practice and he seemed to get the worst of it. Lowery ended up with a separated shoulder and a broken jaw, and is expected to miss significant time. A strange story indeed.

One last piece of news - the NCAA has rejected both CC and UAA's requests to stagger their suspensions from last Saturday's brawl, so all five suspended CC players will be forced to sit on Friday night of this week. Billy Sweatt will be absent too, as he'll be playing with Team USA at the World Juniors.

Wild Weekend Ends With Brawl For The Ages

2006-12-10T20:41:00.000-07:00

After a weekend that saw both teams come away with one overtime win, the Tigers and the Seawolves decided to settle things with a bench clearing brawl for the ages on Saturday night. The video has yet to be found, but if the pictures tell the story, it'll be an instant classic. What could lead to such an epic struggle? A great weekend of hard fought hockey, filled with late comebacks, plenty of penalties, and dramatic overtime wins. Adding to the obvious frustration that led to the brawl was the fact that both teams had their turn at dramatic third period comebacks, only to lose games in overtime. On Friday, it was the Tigers coming back from 4-0 down to tie it up before falling in overtime. On Saturday, the Seawolves rallied from a 3-1 deficit to send the game to extra time, before getting killed by penalties in the extra session.

Matt Zaba, who had been a rock in net for the past few weeks, was shaky from the start in Friday's game and was pulled after giving up four quick goals. Seawolves freshman Jon Olthuis, who was starting in goal after a terrible performance last week from regular starter Nathan Lawson, was able to finally lead Alaska-Anchorage to a long awaited victory in the World Arena. Lawson and Zaba were back in on Saturday, this time with Zaba coming out on top. Chad Rau and Scott McCulloch led the way offensively for CC, with Rau tallying a goal and two helpers on Saturday, and McCulloch putting in two. Brandon Polich set up two goals on Friday, and Andreas Vlassopoulos also netted his first career point with an assist.

All in all it wasn't a bad weekend for the Tigers, although it would have been nice to keep up the winning streak over UAA at home. The Seawolves have proven so far that they're for real this year in the WCHA, however, so the Friday night loss is not the end of the world. With St. Cloud State playing nonconference games against Colgate over the weekend, the Tigers have clawed their way into second place in the WCHA standings. They are followed in the standings by St. Cloud State, Denver, and Alaska-Anchorage.

The Tigers certainly seemed to have some early letdowns after an hard fought sweep of Denver last week. The Seawolves were able to come out on Friday and put in four goals in the first period. The Tigers seemed to settle in, however, and battle back nicely before dropping the contest in overtime. The Tigers could have sealed the win late in the third on Friday if it was not for a late goal being called back by the officials. CC players also hit a number of pipes throughout the game. On Saturday, it was CC who was able to come out on top after a late scare, with Scott McCulloch finding the back of the net in overtime to seal the win and secure a split for the Tigers.

The Tigers' next series will be at home against nonconference opponent Bemidji State. While the Beavers come from the CHA and may not help the Tigers tournament resume, they have proven themselves a worthy contender, recently sweeping a home and home series with Minnesota-Duluth. In fact, Bemidji State is 4-0-0 so far this year against WCHA competition, as they also swept Minnesota State earlier this year. All things considered, this could end up being a tough series for CC - especially since five players (DeBoer, Testwuide, Straub, L. Sweatt, Gannon) were handed game disqualifications as a result of the fracas in Saturday's game.

Notes

* Minnesota continues to pace the WCHA with a weekend sweep of Michigan Tech.

* Either Wisconsin is back on track, or North Dakota is heading into a tailspin. The Badgers swept this weekend in Grand Forks.

* This has already become obvious, but if you haven't been paying attention, Notre Dame is for real this year. This weekend they swept Michigan.

* The Tigers had a recruiting visit this weekend. Wish it could have been a week earlier!

Sweep!

2006-12-03T11:53:00.000-07:00

After a dominating win on Friday night, Colorado College was able to buckle down and steal game two on Saturday for the sweep over the hated University of Denver Pioneers. The sweep puts CC at 3rd in the WCHA with 14 points, and drops Denver to a tie for 4th, at 11 points. The Tigers overall record is now 10-5-1. And while CC is playing such great team hockey right now that it's hard to attribute their success to individuals, but here's some players who had particularly impressive weekends:

#1 Star : Matt Zaba - I always like to give props to the goalie because when they play solid but not spectacular, they rarely get attention. Well, this weekend Zaba was borderline spectacular. On Friday night, he consistently made big saves while the offense pounded away and finished off the Pioneers. On Saturday, he held the Tigers in the game with some huge saves when DU had all the momentum. Just a stellar all-around performance.

#2 Star : Lee Sweatt - Sweatt was not only laying guys out with big hits, but he also put the puck in the net on both nights. On Saturday, he opened the scoring for CC on the powerplay. On Friday, he solidified a 1-0 lead. He's looking sharp out there and playing physical - a real thrill to watch.

#3 Star : Chad Rau - Another big weekend for Rau, as he puts one in on Friday and then scores yet another huge goal in Magness.

Honorable mentions:

Mike Testwuide - Comes flying on Friday and puts in two goals against big-bro's team.

Denver's youngsters - Gotta give some love to Denver's younger players, who were more impressive than the scores of the games would indicate. Ruegsegger, Rhakshani, Trotter - these guys are all for real. Very impressive. Chris Butler (soph) accounted for DU's only goal on Friday, with Ruegsegger netting the assist. On Saturday, Trotter put up a goal and an assist, while two other freshmen (Ruegsegger and Seabrook) had assists. There could be some really good games between these two teams down the road if most of these guys stick around.

This was a huge weekend for CC for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that the Tigers have put themself in great position in the WCHA standings. I mentioned earlier that the Tigers are in 3rd behind St. Cloud State by one point; remember, though, that CC has two games in hand and could potentially move three points ahead of the Huskies with two wins. Thus, the Tigers have put themselves in great position in the WCHA, especially after what looked like a crippling sweep at the hands of Minnesota early in the season. Don't discount St. Cloud State though, they're on a roll of their own. They're currently on a six game win streak (four in the WCHA), and have their next six WCHA games against bottom-half teams, although they end their season with a fairly brutal stretch of league games.

The wins also put the Tigers in position to take back the apparently new and improved Gold Pan trophy. While not necessarily important in the big picture, it would be nice to see CC win back the trophy that DU has had a stranglehold on for the past few seasons.

All in all, a fantastic weekend for the Tigers and their fans. This was just good, solid, team hockey. Everyone looked sharp; players were finishing checks, forechecking effectively, crashing the net, and wearing down the opponent. If CC keeps up this type of play they should be able to win a lot of games down the road. Speaking of which, the Tigers are about to start a six game stretch at home, starting with two games against Alaska-Anchorage. The Seawolves come to town at 5-5 in the WCHA. Their most recent series was a split with Minnesota-Duluth. Before that, however, they managed an impressive series sweep of North Dakota. I'm confident that if the Tigers keep up the good team play, they can take some points in this series and further solidify their standing in the WCHA.

A couple more random thoughts:

* Great to see Andre Vlassopoulos playing again for CC - and looking solid.

* Best wishes to DU's Adrian Veideman, whose head hit the ice hard with no helmet on in Saturday's game, leading to a concussion. Also to teammate Ryan Helgason, who broke his hand in the same game.

* Ditto to Minnesota State goaltender Dan Tormey, whose hand was cut up pretty bad on Friday night by an opponent's skate. He suffered a severed tendon - ouch.

News and Notes

2006-11-29T19:25:00.000-07:00

Two pieces of news before we get to the Denver series this weekend.

The first, Scott Owens appeared yesterday on CSTV's Tuesdays at the Rink. You can read the interview here.

The second is an unfortunate bit of recruiting news. Wahs Stacey, last year's SJHL rookie of the year, has committed to Vermont. He had been a target for CC, as well as St. Cloud State. Stacey lives in Quebec, apparently fairly close to Vermont, and opted to remain close to home to play his college hockey.

Also, Let's Go DU reports that CC-DU trash talking is getting "too hot" for many in anticipation of Friday's game.

It's Official: Tigers Back on the Right Track

2006-11-26T13:18:00.000-07:00

Before I get to the substance of this post I'd like to address a couple things. It's obvious that my posting has slowed down this year, and I'm sure most readers have noticed. I hate to make excuses, but I have had an awful lot going on lately, which always makes it harder to keep up with side interests such as this one. Please keep in mind that this blog is a hobby of mine, it's not a job - I write here for two reasons: 1. I like to write, and 2. I love college hockey. At the same time, like everyone else who runs blogs around the league, I have a personal life that I have to attend to. There will always be periods of time where I miss an update or two. I would love to have more time and energy to commit to this blog, but sometimes circumstances dictate otherwise. So, in terms of things that I want to make clear:

Will I try to update more frequently?
Absolutely. The last month has been one of the busiest and most stressful for me in recent memory, and moving forward I anticipate having more free time to update.

Do I plan on "hanging it up?"
This question refers to a comment made in response to a post of mine a few weeks ago. The answer is certainly not. Like I said, this blog is a hobby of mine, and I do it because I enjoy it. I don't plan on quitting any time soon. For the foreseeable future, I plan to continue with this whether I'm posting once every three days or once every month.

With that said, I want to add one more thing. I'd like to extend an invitation to anyone who might want to contribute to this blog. With more people contributing, there will always be more, and better, content. So if any followers of CC hockey are interested in helping me post more updates, feel free to email me (link on the right), and I'd be glad to have you on the team. With that said, let's move on to the update.

After a four game losing streak that had many questioning whether the Tigers could contend this season, Colorado College extended its season-high winning streak to five games with a 4-3 win before falling to North Dakota 5-2 in the Saturday night contest. While a sweep would have been tremendous, stealing a single win at the hostile and abusive Ralph Engelstad arena against a very good North Dakota team shows how far this CC team has come in the past few weeks. Friday night's win over the Fighting Sioux also marked what could be the Tigers' first "TUC" win of the season.

The usual suspects once again accounted for most of CC's scoring; Jimmy Kilpatrick, Scott McCulloch, Jack Hillen, Billy Sweatt, and Chad Rau all had nice weekends points-wise. Derek Patrosso had some solid production as well. The Friday night win is important because it keeps CC right in the thick of things in the WCHA standings. The Tigers now sit at 5th in the conference standings behind Minnesota (1st), and Denver, North Dakota, and St. Cloud State, all tied for second. The Tigers have two games in hand on North Dakota and St. Cloud State, and face Denver this coming weekend.

As for other WCHA teams, what is there to say? Minnesota is just sick - that's a given. They're sitting at 12-1-2 on the season and are riding a 14 game unbeaten streak. After that, however, things get murky. Last year's champ Wisconsin still has time to turn things around, but things are looking pretty ugly in Madison. The Badgers recently endured a six game losing streak before finally notching a 2-0 win over Michigan State at the College Hockey Showcase. Regardless, they have two non-conference wins (Northern Michigan and Michigan State) that could potentially help them come tournament time - if they can start winning some games. Denver has racked up an impressive 9-4-1 record thus far, but with very few quality wins. St. Cloud State, like Denver, has a solid record - but the Huskies also are lacking in quality wins. So two things seem clear at this point in the WCHA - 1. Minnesota is the class of the league thus far in the season, and 2. CC, DU, UND, and SCSU are the remaining top teams at this point, although each team needs to prove themselves with some quality wins. Who's the best out of those four? Right now, I'd probably go with St. Cloud - they're a solid all around team with a top-tier goaltender, and they managed two ties against Minnesota - that's better than just about anyone else has done. There are still teams in the bottom half of the WCHA that could challenge, as well. While it's unlikely, Alaska-Anchorage's recent sweep of UND has left them at 4-4-0 and just outside the top five - if they can keep winning, don't count them out. Michigan Tech also had been off to an impressive start, but has fallen to 3-3-2 in the league. They could still be considered a sleeper. One team that has underperformed drastically is Minnesota-Duluth, who many thought would be a top five team this year, but so far has accumulated a dismal 1-7-2 record in WCHA play.

Outside of the WCHA, things have gotten even stranger. Maine, who had been off to a fantastic start to the season, is sitting at 6th in the Hockey East standings, while New Hampshire, who indeed looked great out here in the Springs, is at 7-1-1 and 1st in the league. And in the ECAC, people who were expecting big things from Harvard this season have to be disapointed with their pathetic 2-7-0 start. Things are certainly a mess right now in college hockey, and other than Minnesota no team has proven themselves to be a contender, in my opinion. We'll see how things play out in the coming weeks and find out which teams can find their groove and separate themselves from the pack.

Tigers Take Care of Business, Earn Sweep of Mankato

2006-11-19T15:03:00.000-07:00

After a lackluster few weeks that included a four game losing streak for CC, the Tigers seem to have found their stride once more, and are now riding a four game winning streak. I had the great misfortune of missing the two games this weekend, so I'll have to write this entry based only on box scores, recaps, and fan's impressions of the games.

It sounds to me like CC recovered after playing a horrendous first period on Friday night, and eventually went through a progression that had the boys playing great hockey by the end of the game on Saturday. The Saturday night game sounds like it was a doozy for CC - great defense, abundance of scoring, solid play in net - just good hockey all around.

Some notes:

Billy Sweatt Boy is it nice to have this guy back. Two goals and an assist on Satuday and all of a sudden "The Billy" is scoring at a point per game this season.

Matt Zaba and Drew O'Connell Matt Zaba seems to have stepped up his game to a whole new level in the last few weeks. I heard from some that he didn't have his best game on Friday, but he's still playing great. Drew played nicely in game two, as well.

Scott McCulloch and Jimmy Kilpatrick These guys are doing everything that we knew they would have to going into the season. The two both have 13 points so far this year and seem to have successfully stepped into their new offensive roles.

Cody Lampl Cody has been all over the ice recently, and in my opinion his play has vastly improved since last season. He's playing aggressive: skating hard and finishing his checks, and now looks like one of CC's top forwards.

Cody Lampl and Mike Testwuide Congrats to both on their first goals in the NCAA on Saturday.

The wins this weekend put CC in a three-way tie for fourth in the WCHA along with Alaska and Michigan Tech. The three squads are all one point behind North Dakota for third, with CC having two games in hand. One of the biggest surprises in this young season is the disapointing play of defending champ Wisconsin. Wisconsin has already played 10 WCHA games, and sits in 7th place with a 3-6-1 record. A few weeks ago they were swept at home by DU, and this weekend they were swept on the road by Minnesota. North Dakota, who the Tigers will take on next weekend, suffered a surprising sweep of their own, at the hands of Alaska. In the WCHA thus far, it seems like there is Minnesota, and then there's everyone else. North Dakota and Wisconsin were both supposed to be very good and both seem to have stumbled out of the gate.

Out East, things have been interesting as well. Maine finally lost, getting destroyed by New Hampshire at Alfond. Then, last night, they lost another home game, this time in overtime to Boston College, who is quickly being reduced to "pretender" status after an embarrassing loss to Harvard and a tie against Northeastern. The story of the season so far has come not from Hockey East but from the CCHA, where traditional bottom dweller Notre Dame seems to have improved by leaps and bounds. They sit at 5th in the USCHO poll and are coming off a split against Michigan State. The problem is the Fighting Irish haven't really played any good teams yet, and they did drop an early game to Minnesota State, so let's not declare them a Frozen Four team just yet.

Tigers Back On Track?

2006-11-08T21:13:00.000-07:00

Gosh, it's been awhile. Sorry for the lack of posting lately, life's been busy. I'll try to get back to posting with more regularity.

If you haven't been keeping up, here's what's been going on the past two weeks:

Week 1: Tigers travel to Minnesota and get outplayed by an extraordinarily talented Gopher squad. Matt Zaba plays great in the Friday game, holding an impressive Gopher offense to two goals.

Week 2: Tigers keep up the almost annual tradition of beating up on Michigan Tech at the World Arena. Not a bad result considering that Tech is better than they have been in recent years and came in to the series ranked fairly highly.

It was nice to see the Tigers get back to their winning ways last weekend against Michigan Tech. A lot of people were thinking this was finally the year that the Huskies would win one in the Springs, so it was great to see CC prevail. Some notes from the series:

* Matt Zaba is playing spectacular. Not just in this series, but also in the game at Minnesota. If he keeps playing this well I would definitely expect to see him starting regularly.

* Good to see Chad Rau score some goals.

* Cody Lampl is all over the place, and is fitting right in on the offensive side of things.

* Addison DeBoer is looking great, and there's been a lot of improvement in general from the freshmen.

* The team in general is looking more confident and playing more smoothly. Each line has seemed to improve to a degree. I'm looking forward to seeing how the team looks with more players healthy.

Other notes in general:

* My God, Minnesota looked good in that series. I'm glad FSN carried those games because that Gopher team was a pleasure to watch.

* There seems to be a lot of parity in the WCHA so far this season. North Dakota and Minnesota right now look a step above the rest, but aside from that there is a big jumble for the middle spots in the league. Even Alaska-Anchorage, normally a bottom dweller the past few years, has a win over highly touted Wisconsin.

* Minnesota-Duluth, who I was expecting to improve a great deal this year, has gotten off to a disappointing 1-4-1 start in league play.

Wildcats Crush Tigers in Battle of the Felines

2006-10-21T21:47:00.000-06:00

On Friday night, New Hampshire had to gut it out and hold off a furious late charge by the Tigers to secure a 4-3 win. On Saturday, the Wildcats had no such trouble. After staking themselves to a 2-1 lead in the first period, UNH basically continued to dominate the rest of the game, eventually taking the game 7-2. It's tough to pin down exactly what went wrong for the Tigers, because just about every aspect of the game for CC was terrible. A lack of finishing, both on plays and on checks; stupid penalties; screwy line pairings; bad goaltending - all these things contributed to the Tigers pathetic performance on Saturday night.

For starters, what is going on with this roster? Kris Fredheim and Billy Sweatt are clearly our top recruits - why aren't they playing?* Fredheim was scratched on Friday, with Sweatt sitting out on Saturday (after notching two assists on Friday). Where is the logic here? Is it really so important to keep the "frosh line" of DeBoer, McMillan, and Quilico/Testwuide out there? Moreover, what is captain Brandon Straub doing sitting out the night after a one goal loss? We've seen in the past that Scott Owens likes to tinker with lines, but I would like to hear some explanation for these pairings. For Saturday's game, the Tigers should have had their best and most experienced out there. Is there really any doubt that a line of DeBoer, Quilico, and McMillan is going to get shut down by a larger and more experienced New Hampshire team? Two of these guys were playing high school hockey last year. It's time to play the guys that perform and sit the ones that don't. If it were up to me, we'd see lines like this:

McCulloch - Rau - Patrosso
Sweatt - Polich - Kilpatrick
Cox - Thauwald - Brannigan

We're left with Testwuide, McMillan, DeBoer, Quilico, and eventually Vlassopoulos and Overman. Work these guys into games, but don't sit impact players to keep their lines together.

Another thing that I think Scott Owens must address is the stupid penalties that the Tigers take. This problem has to be solved if we want to have any success in WCHA play. Saturday night was not necessarily so bad, but Friday night was vintage boneheaded hockey from the Tigers. First we're stuck killing a five minute major penalty early on in the game (always good to keep the team rested), then we have our captains punching players in the face and dropping opposing players during faceoffs. This is not good; it's the same type of garbage that lost games for CC last year and will surely result in more losses this year. One more note - if the strange scratches on Saturday night had anything to do with dumb penalties the night before, then I have to agree with them. I didn't see Billy Sweatt take any stupid penalties, but Straub trying to go Jackie Chan on a UNH guy right in front of the ref was not my idea of smart hockey. These guys have to be punished for hurting the team. New Hampshire's power play struggled this weekend, Minnesota's and Denver's will not - so it's time to nip this problem in the butt before it costs us more than two out of conference games (which is going to hurt come selection time anyhow).

Moving on - Now I've been a Drew O'Connell advocate for a long time. He came in as a highly touted goalie and although he struggled a bit his freshman year, he seems to be gaining confidence and poise out there this season. After the game Friday night, I was pretty much expecting to see O'Connell in there on Saturday... and he was - only problem? He didn't come in until halfway through the game, when Matt Zaba had already allowed five goals on 21 shots. Matt Zaba is a solid goalie with a lot of WCHA experience, but he has not been playing up to his potential. Is it time to try out O'Connell more and see if he can be that goalie? I really think that Scott Owens has to consider giving O'Connell more time, perhaps going with a two goalie rotation like Denver uses. A 76% save percentage ain't gonna cut it next weekend in Minnesota against one of the more offensively talented teams we'll see this year.

Another issue with the Tigers is that they tend to be a walking disaster in the third period of games. Ever since the epic comeback win over Michigan in the NCAAs two years ago, I'm not sure that I can even remember one more real comeback win by the Tigers. More often it's other teams coming back to win as CC fades in the third period. We saw this on Friday, as the Tigers gave themselves a nice 2-0 lead before allowing four straight UNH goals in the second and third periods. Last year I attributed this phenomenon to lack of size and lack of physical play. When we played bigger teams (like Cornell for example) they would tend to tire us out by wearing us down with physical play. Now overall this year's Tiger team is bigger than last year's, but still we see them falling apart late in games. I don't know if this is a mental problem, a coaching problem, or what, but one thing I'd like to see to combat this issue is for CC to play more physical and actually finish checks. Don't let the defenseman skate in behind their own net and clear the puck out without getting a body on them. Start wearing down the other team and maybe they won't be skating circles around us in the third period.

That's about all I have to say about CC's weekend - if you want to leave your thoughts, feel free to do so in the comments section. Let's hope we can turn it around and prove something next weekend at Mariucci.

Since the polls are coming out tomorrow, and I'm usually bitching about and disagreeing with those polls, I thought I'd put together my own little top ten list based on the season thus far. Feel free to comment on this as well since I'd like to see what others think.

So without further ado, CC Hockey Blog's National Top Ten:

1. Maine - Off to an incredible start with a road win at Minnesota and road sweep at everyone's preseason favorite; North Dakota. Everything seems to be clicking for the Black Bears, and while Wisconsin and St. Cloud State fans might hate me for saying it, they may have the best goaltender in the country. If that's not enough to get Maine fans excited, freshman Teddy Purcell has put up seven points in his first five games.

2. Wisconsin - The defending champs are off to a decent start, with their only loss being in overtime against a very strong North Dakota team. Brian Elliott is playing well in net and the team seems solid all around, although not quite as dominant as last year's squad.

3. Minnesota - Got off to a rocky start with the loss to Maine, but the Golden Gophers nonetheless are overflowing with talent. With three first round draft picks among their freshman, the Gophers should look forward to improving as the young'uns get more accustomed to the college game.

4. North Dakota - The Sioux have had a somewhat disappointing start to a very promising season. Like Minnesota, they are teeming with talent, yet the Sioux are off to just a 3-3 start. Their wins came against Wisconsin and Quinnipiac, before dropping their last two games to Maine (at home). If that's not enough, they may have also lost star forward Jonathan Toews as well. The #3 NHL draft pick was taken out of Friday's game with an injury and wasn't back for the second.

5. Miami - It was tough to decide between Miami and Michigan for this spot in the top ten, so I gave it to Miami based on the fact that both teams have identical records, but the Redhawks managed to split with the Wolverines at Yost.

6. Michigan - The CCHA has been so pathetic the last few years that I'm hesitant to rank two of their teams this high, but Michigan seems pretty solid. Their only loss came at the hands of last year's regular season CCHA champ, Miami. If they perform to their potential, the Wolverines could be a scary team down the stretch.

7. New Hampshire - This is almost the ballsiest pick of the bunch, as UNH has played only two real games so far. Like CC, the Wildcats started the season with a disheartening exhibition loss. The next week, they came back and crushed the US Under-18 team. We all know what happened this weekend.

8. Boston College - The Eagles have been an early season favorite up until their inexplicable 7-1 loss at the hands of Notre Dame. If they can forget about that loss and take care of business down the stretch, they'll be a top team. If the loss to the Irish is any indication of things to come, though, it could be an ugly year in Chestnut Hill.

9. Michigan Tech - Yeah, yeah, laugh it up (Tech did get only one vote in the most recent USCHO poll), but the Huskies are off to a hot start this year. Tech is coming off a road sweep of Vermont, who had been doing well (USCHO #10). They started things off with a split with Northern Michigan, a team that tied Wisconsin early on and recently beat Nebraska, Omaha. Could this be a long awaited up year for the boys in Houghton?

10. Boston University - The Terriers were expected to be a top ten team this year, and have gotten off to a nice 2-0-1 record. The problem is that BU has not really beaten any quality teams yet. They started the season with a 4-4 tie against Rensselaer before cruising to easy wins over Northeastern and Merrimack; not exactly national powerhouses.

* Edit - Bill Sweatt has been diagnosed with mono and this is the reason for his absence on Saturday.

Mixed Results At Nye Classic

2006-10-17T21:13:00.000-06:00

After blowing a chance to pick up an important PWR win on Friday, CC came back and dominated on Satuday night to go 1-0-1 on the weekend. The junior class was at it again, with Scott McCulloch and Jimmy Kilpatrick scoring CC's goals on Friday, and Jack Hillen and Derek Patrosso finding the back of the net on Saturday. Brian Connelly also showcased his offensive talent with three assists on the weekend.

The failure to get a win against Nebraska-Omaha is not the end of the world, but it could come back to haunt the Tigers at tournament selection time if both teams end up being Teams Under Consideration. The last few years, out of conference wins have paid huge dividends to CC at tournament time, and the Tigers will likely need some OOC wins further down the road if they want to play in the postseason this year.

Regardless of the shootout loss on Friday, there are bright spots for the Tigers. Newcomers Brian McMillin, Addison DeBoer, Brian Connelly, Billy Sweatt, and Nate Prosser all had points over the weekend. Drew O'Connell kept up his stellar play in net with an 18-save shutout on Satuday night. And veteran seniors Brandon Polich and Braydon Cox both scored goals on Saturday. CC thus far has demonstrated a much more balanced attack, with most everybody contributing on offense.

The offense is going to have to keep rolling, as the Tigers take on #12 New Hampshire in a two game series this weekend at the World Arena in their first true test of the season.

Tigers Crush Huntsville, Move to 2-0

2006-10-11T17:13:00.000-06:00

After the close contest between CC and Air Force on Friday, many Tiger fans were probably feeling a little apprehensive about the upcoming season. Saturday, though gave CC fans reason to be hopeful, as the Tigers dominated all aspects of play and throttled the Chargers 8-1.

Everything seemed to click Saturday as Scott McCulloch took after Jimmy Kilpatrick the night before and stepped up to a new offensive role. His four goals, along with tallies from the Sweatt brothers, Jake Gannon and Scott Thauwald, powered the Tigers, who also received stellar play in net from sophomore goalie Drew O'Connell. Although the results are great for a young Tiger team just a week into the season, CC should get their first true test when they play Nebraska-Omaha this weekend at the Nye Classic in Anchorage.

Here are some of my thoughts from the weekend, and the Alabama-Huntsville game in particular:

* Loved to see Drew O'Connell getting a start on Satuday, and was even happier about the way he played. He seemed confident and poised in net, and probably should have had a shutout.

* The forwards from the junior class had an excellent weekend. Great to see Jimmy Kilpatrick and Scott McCulloch stepping up the production already. Also, all these guys (Kilpatrick, McCulloch, Derek Patrosso, James Brannigan) seemed to be playing physical in the offensive zone and tiring out the Chargers defense. Every junior (including defenseman Jack Hillen) recorded a point on Saturday night. Every one but Brannigan and Patrosso actually had two or more.

* Billy Sweatt - Man, this kid can fly. Great to see him get his first goal as a Tiger - he's going to be the real deal.

* This Tigers defense is solid - Kris Fredheim in particular looks like he's in control out there.

* Saw some freshman mistakes from some of the young guys. Connelly, DeBoer, Testwuide and McMillan all looked solid but still have some adjusting to do to the college game.

* Mike Testwuide and Billy Sweatt bring some needed size to the offense.

* Congrats to Jake Gannon - first college goal.

CC Holds On Against Air Force

2006-10-07T15:18:00.000-06:00

If you needed any proof that hockey is a game of inches, take a look at last night. Air Force's last second, tying goal should have resulted in elation for the 3rd largest hockey crowd in AFA school history. The game ended in heartbreak for Falcons fans however, as the goal was waved off due to a high stick, and CC went on to win yet again, 2-1.

Jimmy Kilpatrick stepped up to his new offensive role, scoring two goals for the Tigers, and Chad Rau tallied an assist. Matt Zaba was solid in net, making 25 saves on 26 shots.

The Tigers take on the Chargers of Alabama Huntsville tonight in their home opener at the World Arena.

Season Preview '06

2006-10-04T18:34:00.000-06:00

With just hours until Colorado College faces off against Air Force in their season opener, I thought we should take a look at what to expect this season. The loss of a stellar senior class has generally left CC fans with lower expectations than in the past few years, but the Tigers surely have the talent to surprise this year. For this post I thought I'd take a look at how each aspect of the team might shape up. I'll try to provide some more analysis after the games this weekend.

Offense

The Tigers lost a majority of last season's top notch offensive corps, leaving many questions about how CC will go about replacing the scoring. Three things are obvious to me - if CC is to be strong offensively this year...

1. Chad Rau has to continue getting better and develop into an elite player.

2. Billy Sweatt must make a smooth transition to the college game.

3. The supporting cast, particularly this year's juniors, must step up and get more involved in the scoring.

I'm not particularly worried about #1. Chad Rau is a potential All-WCHA player who I think could score 50+ points this year. Things get murky as we delve deeper though. Billy Sweatt, one of the most highly touted freshmen in the country, will almost certainly become an elite college hockey player - but can he make an impact this season? I'd be satisfied if Sweatt could imitate Rau's freshman year and put up around 30 points. Anything beyond that is gravy, but don't be surprised if you see Billy Sweatt among the top point scorers in the WCHA this season. As for #3... for the past two years CC has had a number of capable offensive players who have been overshadowed by the Sertich and Sterling show. Look in particular at this year's junior class, with Derek Patrosso, Jimmy Kilpatrick, James Brannigan, and Scott McCulloch. Any one of these players has the potential to score 25+ points in a season. Look for Kilpatrick and McCulloch to have an increased role in the offense. Both of these guys should see significant time on the power play.

In addition to these veterans, the Tigers have an extremely talented freshman class that has the potential to put up solid numbers. Billy Sweatt is a given, having been ranked as the #4 incoming forward by Inside College Hockey, and #2 incoming forward by Chris Heisenburg and the Western College Hockey Blog. But don't forget about some of the other new players we'll be seeing this weekend. Dan Quilico (5'9"/170) put up 46 points in 62 games last season for Trail of the BCHL. Matt Overman (5'10"/165) put up gaudy numbers in high school before spending a season on the injured reserve for Sioux Falls of the USHL. Mike Testwuide (6'3"/205), brother of Denver defenseman J.P. Testwuide, scored 31 points last year for Waterloo of the USHL. Also, Addison DeBoer and Brian McMillin, both coming straight from high school, have the potential to put up numbers if they can smoothly transition to the new challenges of the college game.

Also important to note is that the Tigers should get a nice boost from the return of Andreas Vlassopoulos and Scott Thauwald, both of whom spent nearly all of last season injured. If both are fully recovered, they could make a big difference on offense.

Scott Owens loves to tinker with the lines, so I don't want to try and guess what combinations he might use, although once the season gets going I could certainly see some possible line combos emerging. Chad Rau and Billy Sweatt could team up to put up fantastic numbers. Larger players like Mike Testwuide and Scott McCulloch could play together and bring a more physical presence to the offensive zone. Owens should have plenty of options, with enough forwards to roll five lines if desired. One of the more interesting things to watch for will be DeBoer's and McMillin's transition to the college game - if they can make the jump smoothly, CC will be very deep on offense.

Defense

CC's defense this year should be very, very strong. In addition to returning players Lee Sweatt, Jack Hillen, Brandon Straub, Jake Gannon, and Cody Lampl, the Tigers have picked up some top tier defenders in Kris Fredheim, Brian Connelly, and Nate Prosser. Fredheim (6'2"/183) was the most sought after of the bunch; a 2005 NHL draft pick (sixth round), he scored 46 points in 63 games last year for Notre Dame of the SJHL, and was named defenseman of the year. Brian Connelly (5'11"/175) spent last season with the Tri-City Storm of the USHL, scoring 28 points in 59 games. Nate Prosser (6'2"/203), another highly ranked recruit, had 35 points in 72 games last year for Sioux Falls, and was a second team all-star.

I would envision defensive pairings looking something like this:

Sweatt / Fredheim
Hillen / Connelly
Straub / Prosser
Gannon / Lampl

These combinations would at least initially give the new players a chance to play with a veteran blueliner.

Goal

Matt Zaba may be the player most important to CC's hopes this year. If he can reach his potential and become a gamechanging goalie, watch out. If he plays like he did last year - meh. If he goes downhill at all, it's time to give O'Connell some looks. In my opinion, Zaba has all the potential to be an All-WCHA goalie - he just needs to put it all together. You can pretty much count on him to make the saves that he should make, but unlike two years ago with Curtis McElhinney, don't expect Zaba to be stealing games for the Tigers. If CC starts out strong and keeps it going, I'd trust Zaba with the starting job. If the Tigers stumble early and post season aspirations are looking like a longshot, I think Scott Owens should give serious thought to giving Drew O'Connell some playing time. One good situation, if CC's season was looking lost, would be to go with a two man rotation of Zaba and O'Connell. Why, you ask? Because O'Connell is a sophomore this year and our two other goalies (Zaba and Kawano) are on the way out. If this season is a bust, at least get ready for next. In addition, I'd feel like O'Connell would be getting a bum deal if he had to compete for the starting job with top recruit Richard Bachman next year, having played in hardly any games over the past two seasons. Give the kid a chance, I say. I don't want to leave Chris Kawano out of the discussion either. He played quite a bit at the end of last season and had some very impressive games. While I think Kawano would currently be considered #2 in the pecking order after Zaba, since he graduates at the end of the year, I'd rather see O'Connell get the playing time. Nevertheless I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him start a game or two here and there.

News and Notes

2006-09-07T14:49:00.000-06:00

Well, a busy summer has finally come to an end and it's time to get back into hockey mode.

With less than a month until the puck drops, CC has had another tough personnel loss; this time not due to graduation or defection to the pros. J.P. Brunkhorst, a solid player and hard worker, will forgo his senior season with the Tigers to focus on his studies. Definitely a tough loss for the Tigers, but we all wish J.P. the best and hope he will go on to be successful at medical school.

A few other notes since I've been a bit too busy this summer to get to everything:

* CC games will now be broadcast on 103.9 - The Eagle.

* The Tigers' two home games against the University of Denver will be televised nationally on ESPNU.

* The New York Rangers lost their rights to Joey Crabb, which allowed him to sign a two year deal with the Atlanta Thrashers, joining CC teammate Brett Sterling.

* Trevor Frischmon has signed a contract with the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL.

* Weston Tardy and Aaron Slattengren have signed with the Phoenix Roadrunners of the ECHL.

* Marty Sertich signed a two year deal with the Dallas Stars.

* The Western College Hockey Blog picked the Tigers to finish 7th in the WCHA.

* Former CC star Tom Preissing won't be suiting up with DU alum Matt Carle anymore, as he was traded from the San Jose Sharks to the Ottawa Senators.

* Apparenly Andreas Vlassopoulous has started skating again this summer, although it's unclear whether he'll be ready to be playing at the beginning of the season.

Salcido Signs with Anaheim

2006-08-03T21:13:00.000-06:00

Let's hope Connelly, Prosser, and Fredheim are the real deal...

Been Awhile

2006-07-20T20:21:00.000-06:00

Well it's been awhile since this site has seen any updates, mostly because not much has been going on. There have been two important news items for CC fans of late though. For one, CC star Marty Sertich is now a Dallas Star. He signed a contract a short time ago as an undrafted free agent, and hopefully we'll get to see him make an impact at the NHL level soon. The other piece of news is that top Alaska-Anchorage forward Eric Walsky is leaving UAA and could be heading for CC. If so, it'd be a nice pickup for our 2007 incoming class, which is looking a bit thin. This article comes from the Anchorage Daily News:

By DOYLE WOODY
Anchorage Daily News

Eric Walsky just returned from a month-long trip to Italy and Switzerland, but he's not done traveling.

Walsky has left the UAA program and intends to transfer to another school in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, the powerful league in which UAA plays.

NCAA transfer rules require the Anchorage native, who was the Seawolves' best forward as last season came to a close, to sit out one season before he is eligible to play for a new team.

Walsky, 21, who has two seasons of eligibility remaining, said he will transfer because he believes UAA coach Dave Shyiak's system is too conservative and won't allow him to flourish. Walsky said he didn't harbor any animosity toward Shyiak. They just disagreed philosophically, he said.

"Simply, I don't feel I'll develop into the player I deserve to be,'' Walsky said. "I don't have the opportunity to do that here. I butted heads with the coach a little bit, and I didn't see that changing.

"I take this decision very seriously. I take my hockey very seriously, and I want to have a career.''

Shyiak said he gave Walsky his best wishes the last time they talked.

"I told him, 'I wish you the best of luck. You have a future in the game,' '' Shyiak said.

Walsky would not say where he intends to transfer, but it won't be to Minnesota. UAA athletic director Steve Cobb refused to grant Walsky a release to join the Gophers because Minnesota assistant John Hill, the former Seawolves head coach, recruited Walsky to UAA on UAA's dime.

"I'm not going to allow someone who worked for us, and used school resources to develop a relationship with the kid, to benefit from that with another school,'' Cobb said. "I agreed to waive him to 57 (other Division I hockey) schools, so I'm not limiting the kid.

"I don't have any bad feelings toward Eric.''

Cobb said Colorado College was the only school he granted a waiver to pursue Walsky. If Walsky chose to transfer to Colorado College, that waiver would, under NCAA rules, allow him to receive scholarship aid while sitting out his transfer season.

After Cobb refused to grant Walsky a waiver to pursue a transfer to Minnesota, Walsky appealed the decision, as allowed by NCAA rules. A UAA appeals committee upheld Cobb's decision.

"The rules are there to protect the institution, not the student-athlete,'' Walsky said.

Walsky became the second Seawolves forward to transfer in the offseason. Winger Shea Hamilton, who will have two seasons of eligibility remaining after sitting out a transfer season, left the program earlier and signed with North Dakota of the WCHA.

Also, Shyiak said recruit Erik Felde of Anchorage, a forward/defenseman of astonishing speed who tore up the British Columbia Hockey League last season, won't join the Seawolves as planned his fall because he did not meet academic qualifications.

The Tri-City (Wash.) Americans of the Western Hockey League -- a major-junior circuit that produces scores of NHL players -- have Felde, 18, on their list of 50 protected players. That gives them exclusive rights to Felde in the WHL.

Elite young players in North America generally play either major-junior hockey or U.S. college hockey.

Despite those personnel losses, Shyiak said he is looking forward to his second season behind the Seawolves' bench. He has recruited four forwards, three defensemen and one goaltender for 2006-07.

"I'm excited about the guys we have coming in here,'' Shyiak said.

Shyiak, whose team went 6-27-3 last season, also will be joined by two new assistant coaches. Damon Whitten, a former Michigan State skater who previously was an assistant at Division I Wayne (Mich.) State, was hired last month. UAA expects to announce the hiring of the other assistant later this month.

Walsky's numbers last season as a sophomore weren't particularly eye-popping -- three goals, 12 assists and 15 points in 35 games -- but he led the team in assists and tied for the team lead in points.

On a team that produced just 1.89 goals per game, the second fewest in Division I, Walsky was clearly the team's most dangerous player in the postseason, when UAA was swept out of the first round of the WCHA playoffs by Minnesota. Walsky registered two assists in UAA's 7-4 loss in Game 1 and scored one goal in the Seawolves' 6-2 loss in Game 2.

Walsky was UAA's best stick-handler, even after a 2005 surgery that left him with two screws and limited range of motion in his right wrist, and he literally played keep-away with the Gophers in that series.

Walsky, a former state player of the year at East High and a standout with the Alaska All Stars competition program, was a prized recruit when he came to UAA in the fall of 2004.

But a high ankle sprain suffered on the first day of practice caused him to miss the opening 12 games of the season. He later sat out a two-game series at Denver with asthma. And after playing just 16 games, he suffered a broken and dislocated wrist against North Dakota and required surgery.

Between his freshman and sophomore seasons, Walsky underwent surgery to have his tonsils and adenoids removed and his septum straightened. Post-surgery complications caused him to lose 50 of his 195 pounds and landed him in the hospital for two days.

Walsky, who last weekend returned from traveling in Europe, said the physical travails of 2004 and 2005 might actually help him emotionally while sitting out a transfer season.

"I think I'm more prepared with all my injuries,'' he said. "I know what it takes, how depressing it can be. I'm going to force myself to be optimistic.''

Walsky said his decision to transfer involved mixed emotions, but ultimately he thinks it is his best recourse.

"It's tough in some ways, and not in other ways,'' he said. "It's tough to leave my team and my teammates, and I got along with them really well. And it's tough to leave the hockey community, because it's been supportive of me and supportive of this hockey program.

"But I need to do what's best for me and best for my career.''

Yet Another Recruit For '06

2006-05-30T20:42:00.000-06:00

The Tigers have picked up another commitment for the upcoming season, according to Chris Heisenberg's list of 2006 recruits. Brian McMillin, out of Roseau High School, scored 57 points in 30 games this season for the Rams with 27 goals and 30 assists. He also had an impressive +/- rating of 31. The addition will add even more depth to CC's offense for the 2006-07 season, and brings the total number of new recruits for next season to nine.

Anyone else starting to think that this incoming class is looking increasingly like the class that just graduated (except with some defense)?

Troy Mattila To Wait On College

2006-05-25T00:34:00.000-06:00

According to the Colorado Springs Gazette, potential CC recruit Troy Mattila has decided to reject a partial scholarship offer from the school and play a year of juniors. Apparently he is hoping a year in juniors will help him attain a larger scholarship down the road, particularly important considering that Colorado College tuition is now over $40,000 a year. Mattila is 18 and can afford to spend a year playing juniors; he was selected 20th overall in the recent USHL draft, by the Des Moines Buccaneers. It's likely he'll end up playing NCAA hockey next year - hopefully for the Tigers.

On a brighter note, the same article mentions that season ticket sales for Tiger games are up for next season. Assistant AD Scott Lowenberg claims CC is "well above" 6,000 season ticket holders at this point. Not great news for those looking for tickets, but excellent news for a program already among the top in average attendance.

DeBoer Commits To CC

2006-05-11T12:21:00.000-06:00

There's more good news concerning next year's recruiting class as Addison DeBoer has verbally committed to join CC next season. A 6'1", 185 pound forward, DeBoer recently broke David Backes' scoring record at Spring Lake Park High School, with 187 career points. As a senior this past season, DeBoer had 37 goals and 38 assists, and his scoring touch is sure to help the Tigers recover from the loss of dynamic duo Marty Sertich and Brett Sterling.

Another Recruit On The Way For CC?

2006-05-08T17:05:00.000-06:00

Apparently there have been rumors swirling about the Tigers picking up another recruit. Addison Deboer, a 6'1", 190 pound forward, played for Spring Lake Park this past season and is the third highest scoring senior in Minnesota high school hockey, with an impressive 70 points. If the rumors are confirmed, it would be a nice pickup for the Tigers, who desperately need some help on offense after losing top three scorers Marty Sertich, Brett Sterling, and Joey Crabb.

Stafford Signs With The Sabres

2006-05-03T13:59:00.000-06:00

University of North Dakota forward Drew Stafford has become the most recent WCHA player to bolt to the NHL ranks. He joins teammate Matt Smaby, Denver's Matt Carle, Minnesota's Ryan Potulny and Danny Irmen, Minnesota State's David Backes, and Wisconsin's Robbie Earl as college players signing professional contracts in the offseason. Stafford was a first round pick of the Sabres. While the loss of Stafford will certainly hurt the Sioux next season, it wasn't a surprise, and UND still returns an exceptional crop of young stars for next season.

Doobie Brothers Ready To Rock CC

2006-04-29T19:14:00.000-06:00

The Doobie Brothers play at 9:00 tonight on CC's campus. The stage is set in the middle of CC's campus on Cascade Ave. CC ID or alumni ID needed to attend, I believe. (But it's easy enough to sneak in!)

Another Recruit For The Tigers

2006-04-29T14:56:00.000-06:00

The Tigers have picked up another recruit for the 2008 season according to college hockey recruiting guru Chris Heisenberg. Andrew Hamburg, a 6'2", 175 lb. forward of the Dallas Stars Midget AAA program, joins two other former Stars players on the CC roster: Chris Kawano and Cody Lampl. With two years to bulk up, Hamburg could bring some great size to the Tigers' offense. Hamburg is the second player to commit to CC for the 2008 season, joining defenseman Ryan Lowery, who will be playing for Lincoln of the USHL next season.

North Dakota Loses Appeal; "Walker, Texas Ranger®" Mascot in UND's Future?

2006-04-28T23:29:00.000-06:00

It might not be the "Fighting Sioux" for much longer. Friday, the NCAA denied North Dakota's appeal concerning their allegedly offensive mascot. North Dakota has threatened to take legal action against the NCAA if the decision stands. I have to say I've heard both sides of the argument in this one and I still don't really care either way. Personally I don't really see the mascot as being offensive, but I can also understand that some do. With the future of the Fighting Sioux looking grim, I thought I'd help get North Dakota fans started with some brainstorming for new mascot ideas:

North Dakota Fighting Raptors * Weren't there a lot of dinosaur fossils found up in the badlands? A North Dakota tradition for 65 million years.

North Dakota Fighting Irish * The jerseys are already green anyways, and no doubt there's an awful lot of drinking going on up in Grand Forks.

North Dakota Fighting Snoopies * Red Baron's arch-enemy. With a mascot as unique as this one, they won't be confused with North Dakota State anymore.

North Dakota Fighting Ethnic Minorities * Nothin' offensive about this one.

North Dakota Fighting Canadians * With ten Canadians on the roster, this might not be such a bad name. Minnesota is basically a Canadian province, and there's 11 Minnesotans on the roster to boot. Maybe this isn't such a bad name after all.

North Dakota Fighting Gamblers * Rather than offending Native Americans, encourage gambling at their casinos!

North Dakota Fighting Seagals * Here's a great solution to UND's problems. Steven Seagal always seems to be pretending to be a Native American in his movies. Using a white man's name to represent an Indian people? Brilliant.

Or...

North Dakota Fighting Texas Rangers * Like Seagal, action star Chuck Norris pretends to be a half Indian crime fighter in this entertaining TV series. The Texas Ranger badge design would look spectacular on UND jerseys. As an added bonus, less courageous squads may be afraid to suit up against a team who's mascot is so proficient in the martial arts.

2006-2007 Schedule Released

2006-04-18T16:34:00.000-06:00

The 2006-2007 Tiger Hockey schedule is now available on CC's website.

The notables:

October 20th/21st - University of New Hampshire (home) * The last time these teams faced each other was 2001 (CC lost 6-2). UNH will probably be CC's strongest out of conference opponent in the regular season.

October 27th/28th - University of Minnesota (away) * The Tigers start their WCHA schedule with a trial by fire series in Mariucci.

November 24th/25th - University of North Dakota (away) * UND figures to be one of, if not the top team next year. This series should be an extremely tough one for the Tigers.

December 1st/2nd - University of Denver (home and away) * Self explanatory.

February 2nd/3rd - University of Wisconsin (home) * The defending champs come to town again and the Tigers will be looking for some revenge after the Badgers laid the smack down 9-1 in their last contest.

March 2nd/3rd - University of Denver (home and away) * Self explanatory again.

The Tigers will also be playing out of conference games against Bemidji State (CHA), Air Force (CHA), Alabama - Huntsville (CHA), and Merrimack College (Hockey East). CC also faces the University of Calgary and US Under-18 national team in exhibition games.

Awards Dished Out; Sterling MVP

2006-04-18T00:11:00.000-06:00

Brett Sterling was recognized as team MVP on Saturday at the annual Colorado College hockey awards banquet. Sterling was given the Thayer Tutt Award in recognition of his leadership and his team leading 55 points. Fellow seniors Marty Sertich, Joey Crabb, and Trevor Frischmon were also honored with the following awards:

Marty Sertich - Rodman Award Given to the player most representing leadership and sportsmanship.

Joey Crabb - Shout Award Given to the "grittiest" player.

Trevor Frischmon - Steve Ebert Award Given to the player displaying "dedication, desire, ability and sportsmanship."

Other awards given out included:

Chad Rau - Bob Johnson Award Rookie of the year.

Matt Zaba - Tony Frasca Award Given to playoff MVP. Weren't a whole lot of options on this one.

Chris Kawano - Dave Peterson Award Most improved player.

J.P. Brunkhorst and Lee Sweatt - Paul Markovich Award Given to the Tigers' best student-athletes.

Visit the Tigers' official website for a full writeup of the awards along with descriptions of each one.

Colorado College 2005-2006: Season Review

2006-04-16T17:55:00.000-06:00

With the Tigers' season having ended last month with a loss to Cornell in the NCAA tournament, it's time to take a look back on the ups and downs of another Colorado College hockey season. The Tigers were ranked 13th in the preseason polls, but most people knew that with returning seniors like Marty Sertich, Brett Sterling, and Joey Crabb, CC would soon be within the top ten. It didn't take long, as CC got off to another fast start this season. The Tigers opened the season with a 6-1 win over Union in the Icebreaker Tournament. Three of the six CC goals in that game came from sophomore Derek Patrosso, and Chad Rau also added his first in a Tiger uniform. The next night, CC took on a very strong Maine team and once again Derek Patrosso was the hero as he scored in overtime to give the Tigers their second win of the season. Chad Rau was impressive again, scoring his second goal in two games. Returning Hobey Baker finalist Brett Sterling also had two goals on the weekend.

The next weekend the Tigers experienced their first loss of the season at the hands of Ohio State. The next night, CC won despite being outshot 34-23, on the strength of a Marty Sertich goal and stellar play from Matt Zaba. The win over Ohio State started a seven game winning streak for the Tigers, as they ran off consecutive wins over Notre Dame and Air Force at home, Minnesota State, Mankato on the road, and then St. Cloud State at home. CC's record at this point was a stellar 9-1-0 and the Tigers were now the #1 ranked team in the country.

It was not to last, however, as CC's next series sent them on the road to Madison to face the #5 ranked Badgers. Things looked good on Friday night as CC took a 2-0 lead in the first period. The Badgers came back, however, and managed to tie the game. The next night, Brian Elliott backstopped the Badgers to a 3-0 shutout victory, and the Tigers run at #1 was over as soon as it had started. CC needed to get back on track, and the next weekend presented the perfect oppurtunity as Michigan Tech came to town. The Tigers held Tech scoreless on the weekend, winning 5-0 and 3-0 as team captain Marty Sertich scored two goals to go with two assists.

The next week, the Tigers were back on the road for games against Massachusetts and Boston University. On Friday night, CC outshot the Minutemen 45-24 but couldn't capitalize on oppurtunities and lost the game 4-3. Massachusetts goalie Gabe Winer was stellar in net, with 42 saves, including 17 in the third period. The next night, the Tigers headed to Boston University's beautiful Agganis Arena with hopes of turning things around. It looked good early for CC, as Chad Rau and Brett Sterling both found the back of the net in the first period, and the Tigers outshot the Terriers 15-4. Jack Hillen scored another one for CC in the second period before the Terriers finally got on the board, striking for two goals of their own before the period was over. With the score at 3-2 heading into the final frame, the Tigers quickly regained control as Brett Sterling scored another one less than two minutes into the third period. 90 Seconds later Scott McCulloch rang up another one for CC thanks to a 5 on 3 oppurtunity due to a bench minor on Boston University. It looked like CC was cruising to an easy victory until the Terriers started an amazing rally late in the period. Down 5-3, Boston University struck for two extra attacker goals in the final 90 seconds to send the game into overtime. The Tigers weren't ready to squander another one, however, as Brett Sterling buried a gorgeous feed from Chad Rau less than a minute into overtime, quieting the Boston University crowd that had been ecstatic after the late comeback. Both teams finished the game with 33 shots on net.

Next up for CC was the hated Denver Pioneers. Denver entered the series with just one win in their last six games and hopes were high that the Tigers would have a good oppurtunity to reclaim the Gold Pan. It looked like the Tigers were on their way to victory halfway through the game, as they led 2-0 on goals from Joey Crabb and Jack Hillen. Paul Stastny, Ryan Dingle, and Matt Carle had other ideas though, and the Pioneers came back to make it 3-2 before adding an empty netter at the end of the game. Stastny had two assists, Carle had three assists, and Dingle scored two goals. The next night, the Pioneers cruised to an easy 5-1 victory at Magness. Drew O'Connell had the start in net and struggled, allowing 5 goals on 30 shots.

The Tigers' next series was against Minnesota Duluth at home, and despite a 7-2 beatdown on Friday, CC could not get the sweep as the Bulldogs took the Saturday contest 4-3. The Tigers then travelled to Anchorage, winning 5-4 and 2-1 (ot) before heading to Michigan for the Great Lakes Invitational over Christmas break. CC put on probably their most impressive performance at the GLI, dominating #6 Michigan 6-1 and then cruising to an easy win over Michigan State, 6-3. Senior Joey Crabb had an impressive seven points on the weekend (four goals, three assists). Marty Sertich set up four goals against the Spartans.

The good times did not last though, as the Tigers got off to a truly atrocious start in 2006. CC's first series of the new year was at home against Wisconsin, and hopes were high that the Tigers would fare better than they did in Madison. It was not to be though, as the Tigers fell 3-2 on Friday before being humiliated 9-1 on Saturday night. The losing streak was just getting started at this point. Next up was the Golden Gophers of Minnesota, and once again CC could not collect any points on the weekend. The Tigers dropped both games, 4-2 and 3-2. With CC basically out of the running for the WCHA title, the focus became on home ice for the playoffs. With that in mind, the Tigers next series was a critical one, with North Dakota coming to town for a series with WCHA standings implications. On Friday night, the Tigers' win streak was extended to five as North Dakota won 4-2. North Dakota freshmen TJ Oshie, Ryan Duncan, and Jonathan Toews each scored a goal in the win. On Saturday, CC finally snapped its longest losing streak since the 90's with a 3-2 comeback win.

Next up for CC were the red-hot Huskies of St. Cloud State. The Huskies entered the series on a six game winning streak, but Bobby Goepfert did not show up for Friday's game and the Tigers scored five goals on 17 shots before Goepfert was finally pulled. The next night, Goepfert was back to his usual self, stopping 40 of 41 CC shots on net and backstopping St. Cloud State to a 2-1 win. After the St. Cloud State series the Tigers had a chance to score some valuable WCHA points with series against the league's two worst teams, Alaska-Anchorage and Minnesota-Duluth. CC took advantage, winning all four games. The Tigers scored 19 goals in the four wins and allowed only five. Things were looking good again going into the final series of the regular season, against Denver.

CC had the chance to get some important WCHA points and solidify NCAA tournament positioning in the series with Denver, but could not get it done. On Friday, the Tigers took a 4-3 lead into the third period before allowing Denver to come back in the third period and eventually win in overtime. Things weren't looking good. The Pioneers had shot up in the Pairwise Rankings, and CC was slipping close to the bubble. Furthermore, Brett Sterling had left the ice halfway through the Friday game with a leg injury and was not expected to play in game two. A road playoff series wasn't looking so unlikely. The next night, the Tigers once again took the lead early thanks to goals from Joey Crabb and Chad Rau. Once again the lead did not last, as Denver scored three straight goals in the third period and took their 3-2 lead into the final minute before Chad Rau scored an acrobatic goal to tie the game with only 47 seconds remaining. Neither team could score in overtime, and CC prevented what would have been an embarrassing season sweep by Denver. The Tigers finished fifth in the WCHA standings and secured home ice for their playoff series against St. Cloud State.

CC entered the playoff series with St. Cloud having won three out of four against the Huskies, but could not solve Bobby Goepfert in game one of the series, and fell by a score of 2-1. CC fell behind 2-0 in game two but was able to come back and even the series at 1-1 thanks largely to Brett Sterling's two goals. In game three, however, Bobby Goepfert shut down the Tigers once again as the Huskies cruised to a 3-1 victory and to the WCHA Final Five play-in game. CC now had to let the NCAA decide if their season would continue.

When the dust had settled and each conference had a champion, the Tigers were awarded an NCAA tournament berth as a three seed. CC was sent off to Green Bay to face Cornell in their tournament opener, with a rematch against Wisconsin likely on the line. Once again the Tigers jumped out to an early lead, and once again they could not hang on. CC was up 2-0 after the first period, in which they outshot the Big Red 11-1, but could not put anything else past David McKee for the remainder of the game as Cornell scored one goal in the second period and two more in the third. The loss capped a disappointing season for the Tigers, who had one of the strongest senior classes in the country and performed well below expectations.

WCHA Stars Leaving Left and Right

2006-04-14T21:06:00.000-06:00

Colorado College's hockey team seems to be improving by default this offseason thanks to early departures around the league. The first to go was Denver defenseman and Hobey Baker winner Matt Carle. Carle bolted after the Pioneers were left out of the NCAA tournament. He signed with the San Jose Sharks and has been contributing quite a bit to their strong playoff push. The next victim was the Minnesota Golden Gophers, who lost leading scorer Ryan Potulny to the Philadelphia Flyers. Shortly after they lost another one of their top players, Danny Irmen, who signed with the Minnesota Wild. North Dakota also got hit with a double-whammy as sophomore forward Travis Zajac signed with New Jersey and junior defenseman and team captain Matt Smaby agreed to a deal with Tampa Bay. Minnesota State, Mankato lost their team captain and best player, David Backes to the St. Louis Blues, who desperately need all the help that they can get.The latest big loss in the WCHA is Wisconsin's Robbie Earl, who recently came to terms with the Toronto Maple Leafs and will start playing for their AHL affiliate. There's also cause for concern in St. Cloud due to the fact that, as Western College Hockey writes, the Pittsburgh Penguins will lose Bobby Goepfert's rights if they don't sign him before this summer.

So what does all this mean for CC? It makes the outlook for next year a little better, but not much. Defending champion Wisconsin will likely return all their underclassmen but Earl, and if Denver can hang onto Paul Stastny, which remains to be seen, they'll have the top returning scorer for next season. Not to mention North Dakota, who will have two of the best sophomores in the country next year if they can hang onto Jonathan Toews and T.J. Oshie. Many other teams will return solid cores of players despite some early departures. The good news is that no early departures are expected for CC, although they're always possible. Players to watch for CC this offseason would be rising seniors Brian Salcido and Matt Zaba and rising sophomore Chad Rau, although none are all too likely to bolt for the NHL.

The losses haven't just affected WCHA teams - some big names from other conferences, such as Cornell's David McKee, Bowling Green's Alex Foster, and Nebraska-Omaha's Bill Thomas have also signed pro contracts.

Stuart Scores First NHL Goal

2006-04-10T19:10:00.000-06:00

What a nice surprise to turn on OLN just in time to see former Tiger Mark Stuart score his first NHL goal. Stuart's goal came halfway through the third period in tonight's game against the Washington Capitals. Shawn McEachern and Glenn Murray set up the tally, which knotted the score at 1-1. Last year Stuart was the Tigers' captain and led the team to the Frozen Four. He was named last year's WCHA defensive player of the year and was a first team All-American for the West. Stuart has looked strong on defense for the Bruins so far and should be a regular in the lineup next season. Stuart, the 23rd overall draft pick in the 2003 draft, has a "great chance to play with the Bruins all of next season", according to GM Jeff Gorton.

Wisconsin Tops Boston College, Claims Title

2006-04-09T11:18:00.000-06:00

The Wisconsin Badgers won their sixth national title last night in what was a better game than I had been expecting. Coming into the game, I was pretty much expecting Wisconsin to steamroll Boston College, but the Eagles really made it a hell of a game to the bitter end, hitting a post on a potentially game-tying shot with one second left. So, the Badgers end their year on a high note after what had been an up and down season (basically, up when Brian Elliott was playing, down when he wasn't). Robbie Earl was named MVP of the Frozen Four in recognition of his three goals. For some CC fans, Wisconsin wasn't exactly a likeable team this year, with characters like the oft-diving Earl, and Adam "Thug Life" Burish, along with their dunderheaded coach Mike Eaves (we all remember the post-Burish press conference), but anyone can see that this was one very talented team. Not only were the Badgers supremely skilled, but unlike our own Tigers, they didn't have any one or two particular people they turned to for goals - they had a balanced attack with everyone contributing and it paid off. With the win, Wisconsin now has six national titles under their belt, just one behind Denver and North Dakota.

Also, I haven't mentioned yet that my pick for Hobey, Matt Carle, turned out to be correct. Check out LetsGoDU for plenty of coverage on that. Congrats Matt.

Wisconsin Powers Past Maine

2006-04-06T20:46:00.000-06:00

The national championship is set, and it's going to be a battle between East and West. Wisconsin, the lone WCHA team left in the tournament, beat Maine 5-2 to advance to the final for the first time since 1992. The Badgers got solid play once again from goaltender Brian Elliott, who saw his impressive shutout streak snapped in the first period. The game went pretty much how one would have expected it, with Wisconsin's solid all-around offense and spectacular defense smothering Maine and eliminating the Black Bears' hopes for their first national title since 1999.

I had doubted that Wisconsin would score so much on Maine, but their persistent offense, along with a few breaks, caught the Black Bears off guard for five goals (one an empty netter). With the Badger win, college hockey is back to the usual WCHA/Hockey East matchup for the national title. Prior to last year (Denver vs. North Dakota), the national championship game had been between WCHA and HE opponents for six years in a row. The two teams will face off on Saturday at 7 o'clock Eastern time before what promises to be a largely Badger crowd in Milwaukee.

North Dakota Falls To Boston College

2006-04-06T18:22:00.000-06:00

Hopes for another all-WCHA championship were dashed this afternoon as the Boston College Eagles downed the North Dakota Fighting Sioux by a score of 6-5. Hobey Baker Finalist Chris Collins scored three goals for Boston College. Jordan Parise was disappointing in net for North Dakota, allowing six goals on 31 shots, including three goals on five shots in the first period. North Dakota outshot Boston College 41-31 in the game.

This game could have gone either way. The Sioux were resilient, coming back from 3-0 to get within one in the second period, but it was not to be for North Dakota, as Boston College struck back for two more before the period was over. I think the Sioux could have had this game if Parise had just made stops on a few shots he should have saved. Then again, Boston College's Cory Schneider was letting in some ugly ones as well by the time the game was over. This game wasn't really what I was expecting, but nevertheless it was a lot of fun to watch. I hadn't seen a whole lot of Chris Collins before today and man, is he a sniper. He's certainly making the Hobey debate interesting (despite the fact that the voting is done). Boston College is a big, tough, and fast team and I'm expecting them to do well against whoever they end up playing on Saturday.

As for North Dakota, there isn't really much reason to be disappointed with this finish. With the Sioux relying so heavily on their freshman stars, it's very impressive that they made it this far to begin with. If a few of these guys (Oshie, Toews, Duncan) stick around, North Dakota will be a scary team for the next few years. Their great run through the WCHA tournament and NCAA regional is reason to be proud of this young squad.

The Eagles advance to the championship game, which will be played on Saturday against either Maine or Wisconsin.

Frozen Four Ramblings

2006-04-01T17:56:00.000-07:00

The WCHA is well represented in the Frozen Four this year, with Wisconsin and North Dakota set to take on Maine and Boston College. Not unexpectedly, CCHA teams fared quite poorly in the tournament, with just one team making it beyond the first round. I wouldn't normally wouldn't root against any particular conference, but it was nice to see some of these teams and their fans put in their places after a season of hearing about how the CCHA was the best conference in the country. Newsflash for those who insisted throughout the season that the CCHA was better than the WCHA: Beating up on Michigan Tech and Alaska-Anchorage (1-7-0 against CCHA teams) does not make your conference better. There's a reason that Wisconsin, CC, Denver, North Dakota, and Minnesota went 12-4-2 against CCHA teams this year (with an awful lot of those games against top CCHA teams like Miami, Michigan, and Michigan State). How does the Pairwise ranking system get fooled by stuff like this? Was there a CCHA scheduling conspiracy where they planned out how they would schedule games against WCHA bottom feeders to trick the computers into thinking they have the best conference? Anyway, the CCHA team that came the closest to the Frozen Four was Michigan State, who beat New Hampshire 1-0 in their first game but couldn't get by Maine in game two.

It's nice to see some Hockey East teams in the Frozen Four - brings me back to the 1990's when the balance of power throughout the country was a lot different. Boston College making it was the big surprise for me - at the end of the season it looked like they were ready to pack it in, and then they beat Miami and Boston University with ease? What's going on here? Did they sneak Brian Gionta back onto their team for the playoffs? While it was also surprising to see Maine make it as a three seed, the Black Bears were a very hot team in the second half of the season, and they've also got tournament experience. The older players on the team were there for the championship against Denver two years ago, and coach Tim Whitehead has done well in the playoffs. Maine is looking really good if you ask me: they have a balanced attack, they hit hard, they play tight defense, and they have a good goalie. Don't be surprised if they upset Wisconsin. If Brian Elliott can keep up his stellar play, however, Wisconsin will be very tough to beat.

While I think that Maine is looking good going into the FF weekend, the hottest team in the country has to be North Dakota. The Fighting Sioux walked through the WCHA tournament, manhandled Michigan, and then beat Holy Cross (that sounds funny) to advance to their second straight Frozen Four. Their star freshmen are looking spectacular, and the experience of last year's tournament has to help. I would have expected the Sioux to beat Boston College easily, but with BC's impressive run through their regional, it's tough to call. I'd still pick North Dakota, but I'm sure BC will make it interesting.

Stastny Announces Transfer to CC

2006-04-01T17:23:00.000-07:00

Denver forward Paul Stastny announced today that he has decided to transfer to Colorado College. Last season, Stastny was tied with Matt Carle for sixth in the nation with 53 points (19 goals, 34 assists). When asked for a reason for the change of heart, Stastny reportedly said, "I want the chance to play for a NCAA tournament team, and this last season Denver just didn't give me that oppurtunity." Tigers coach Scott Owens said he was thrilled with the addition; "With three of our top guns (Marty Sertich, Brett Sterling, Joey Crabb) leaving this season, we could really use some new firepower for our top lines. Paul has shown steady improvement and should be one of the top players in the country next year. We look forward to welcoming him to the CC community." Denver head coach George Gwozdecky was disapointed to learn of the news, saying that Stastny had made too hasty a decision. "Listen, I know our team choked in the WCHA playoffs this season," he said, "but CC really didn't do much better. This is a huge loss for our team and it's a shame that (Paul) didn't put more time into this decision."

CC Picks Up Another Recruit

2006-03-28T21:45:00.000-07:00

Chris Heisenberg's Recruiting Page reports that the Tigers have signed another recruit for either the 2007 or 2008 season. The addition is Nick Dineen of the Sioux Falls Stampede of the USHL. Last season Dineen, a right wing, had six goals and eleven assists in 53 games. At 5'10", 175 pounds, Dineen should bring some good size to CC's offense, especially with a year or two to develop. I'll add some more to this update when I find out more about Nick, so stay tuned.

Tigers End Season With Loss to Cornell

2006-03-26T14:48:00.000-07:00

Despite dominating the first period of play, Colorado College allowed a two goal lead to slip away and saw their season ended by the tenacious Big Red of Cornell. The Tigers scored two goals in the first period, courtesy of Brian Salcido and Jack Hillen, and allowed the Big Red only one shot on net. But Cornell rallied in the final two frames, scoring three unanswered goals and earning the chance to play Wisconsin tonight, with a trip to the Frozen Four on the line.

Marty Sertich had two assists for CC and Brett Sterling and Scott McCulloch each had one. McCulloch also had a shot hit the post in the first period that would have put CC up by three. While the Tigers and their fans are surely disapointed about the loss, it wasn't exactly surprising. CC finished the season 1-4-1 in their final six games. While Cornell could muster no offense in the first period, they did play a solid physical game that eventually wore down on the smaller CC players and allowed Cornell to control the final two periods.

Cornell and Wisconsin will play today, with the winner heading to the Frozen Four along with Boston College, Maine, and North Dakota.

David Slays Goliath

2006-03-25T10:20:00.000-07:00

Holy Cross pulled off probably the biggest upset in tournament history last night, downing the overall No. 2 seed Minnesota 4-3 in overtime. Tyler MacGregor scored only 53 seconds into overtime for the Crusaders, who also received stellar play in goal from Tony Quesada. Some Gopher players looked as though they may have been out at Blarney's before the game, including goalie Kellen Briggs, who allowed one of his four goals against after giving up on the play thinking it had been blown dead. Holy Cross will now have a shot at North Dakota, who downed Michigan 5-1 last night, with a trip to the Frozen Four on the line.

In other games, Boston College surprised many with a 5-0 win over Miami. Enrico Blasi also surprised many in this game by pulling his goalie with almost half a period left to play. The Eagles added two empty net goals. Boston College will move on to play Boston University, who crushed Nebraska-Omaha 9-2. It was not a good night for the CCHA, who's three teams (Michigan, Miami, UNO) went 0-3 against teams from the WCHA and Hockey East. The last surviving team, Michigan State, will play New Hampshire tonight in Albany.

The Tigers make their tournament debut tonight against Cornell of the ECAC. This game should be similar to the games that Colorado College played against St. Cloud State in the WCHA playoffs - Cornell's offense is somewhat lacking, but the defense has kept them in games this year. In net for the Big Red will be David McKee, who had a stellar season last year, but has seemingly fallen off a cliff this year in terms of stats. While his .904 save percentage and 2.16 GAA are not bad numbers, they aren't close to his numbers of last season: a .947 save percentage and 1.24 GAA. CC has yet to play a game since their 3-1 loss to St. Cloud State in the playoffs and few know what to expect from the Tigers. The dynamic duo of Marty Sertich and Brett Sterling, along with the rest of a very strong senior class have their last chance to bring a national championship back to Colorado Springs. The game being in Green Bay will undoubtedly help CC, who should receive support from the hometown Badger fans against Cornell. I'd love to do more analysis of this matchup, but if I've learned anything from watching college hockey, it's that statistics and percentages are all thrown out the window come game time - the game is played on the ice, not on computers. So this game, which should be close, will probably just come down to which team is hot and which team is not. Let's hope the Tigers are hot coming off their two week break.

There are some other notable games worth watching tonight as well. First, the rematch between Maine and Harvard. Maine spoiled Harvard's tournament chances two years ago with a 5-4 comeback win over the Crimson, who had been up 4-1 in the third period. Another interesting game will be between familiar foes Boston University and Boston College (in Worcester). The Terriers look unstoppable after their 9-2 drubbing of Nebraska-Omaha last night, but the Eagles silenced many doubters with their 5-0 win over a very highly ranked Miami team. I think it will also be very interesting to see what Holy Cross can do against a Fighting Sioux team that has the entire arena behind them. Could get ugly. Hopefully Holy Cross can keep the game close and maybe even steal one (don't hold your breath) - everyone would love to see an AHA team in the Frozen Four.

Tigers Headin' To Green Bay

2006-03-19T17:38:00.000-07:00

The NCAA tournament brackets came out today and Colorado College has been given a three seed in the Green Bay regional. CC will open with a game against Cornell, while top seed Wisconsin will face Bemidji State. Cornell has played only one game against a WCHA opponent this season - a 1-1 tie (which they won in a shootout) against Minnesota-Duluth. The Big Red also split a series against tough opponent Michigan State early in the season. Their most recent game was a 6-2 loss to Harvard in the ECAC championship. Cornell goaltender David McKee should be a familiar face to CC stars Marty Sertich and Brett Sterling, who joined him at the Hobey Baker award ceremony last year in Columbus.

The other brackets look like this:

Midwest Regional
No. 1 Wisconsin vs. No. 4 Bemidji State
No. 2 Cornell vs. No. 3 Colorado College

West Regional
No. 1 Minnesota vs. No. 4 Holy Cross
No. 2 North Dakota vs. No. 3 Michigan

East Regional
No. 1 Michigan State vs. No. 4 New Hampshire
No. 2 Harvard vs. No. 3 Maine

Northeast Regional
No. 1 Boston U. vs. No. 4 Nebraska-Omaha
No. 2 Miami vs. No. 3 Boston College

You'll notice that the possibility of another all-WCHA frozen four has been squashed this year, with the four WCHA teams that made the tourney being placed in only two brackets. Minnesota, the overall number two seed, seemed to get the shortest end of the stick, being placed in the Grand Forks Regional with the hometown Fighting Sioux of North Dakota. The East Regional also has an intriguing rematch between Harvard and Maine. Some might remember the Black Bears epic third period comeback against Harvard two years ago, where Maine stormed back from a 4-1 deficit in the third period to win 5-4 and eventually advance to the national championship against Denver. The Northeast Regional, with hometown teams Boston University and Boston College, will be an interesting test for the two CCHA teams that they will face, Miami and Nebraska-Omaha.

As I've said before, CC would probably be in better shape being in a bracket with Boston University or Michigan State, both of whom they have already beat, but the Tigers still should have the ability to steal one in Green Bay. If CC can get past Cornell, they most likely will face a very tough game against the hometown Badgers. CC is winless against Wisconsin this season, including a 9-1 drubbing at the World Arena. It's not all bad though; aside from that contest, the Tigers games against Wisconsin have generally been close. Their first game resulted in a 2-2 tie on the road, and they lost a very close 3-2 game at home. The 9-1 loss can mainly be attributed to Brian Salcido's checking from behind penalty (five minutes) in the first period, and the subsequent power play in which the Badgers scored four goals.

Of course, I couldn't finish the update without mentioning defending champion Denver's absence from the tournament. Denver played a very solid WCHA regular season, but their atrocious play in out of conference games eventually came back to haunt them. The Pioneers kicked off their season with a suicidal series at Maine, losing both games at the very hostile Alfond Arena. Then, while out east, Denver beat non-TUC Massachusetts but lost to Boston University. The real killer, however, was the Denver Cup, where the Pioneers dropped two games to Princeton and Ferris State. Being knocked out of the WCHA tournament by Minnesota-Duluth didn't help either. Regardless of how it happened, it's time for the boys from Denver to break out the golf clubs and start preparing for next season.

Underdogs Advance To WCHA Title Game

2006-03-17T22:34:00.000-07:00

No. 4 North Dakota and No. 6 St. Cloud State advanced to the championship game of the WCHA Final Five tonight with wins over Wisconsin and Minnesota. North Dakota edged Wisconsin 4-3, while St. Cloud State and Minnesota went to overtime before the Huskies could win the thrilling 15 goal game. Hobey Baker candidate Ryan Potulny notched four goals for the Golden Gophers, including one with 15 seconds left to send the game to overtime. He also had one assist. The Huskies' Chris Harrington set up four goals, and Minnesota's freshman phenom Phil Kessel had three assists as well. Meanwhile Jeff Frazee, Kellen Briggs, and Bobby Goepfert teamed up to produce one of the uglier defensive games I've ever seen played in the WCHA. Goepfert allowed an incredible seven goals after holding Minnesota-Duluth to one, and our own Tigers to five in three games. Briggs was pulled after allowing five goals on 22 shots. Frazee allowed three goals on 16 shots and just plain looked like a freshman. After he allowed St. Cloud State's seventh goal on a missed poke check/five hole shot, I found myself wondering, "Is this guy really drafted? Who drafted him? It must be the Knicks. Isiah Thomas has gotta be behind this."

Potulny's four goals and assist may have killed Matt Carle's Hobey Baker hopes. While Carle is still my pick, the voters will now have an even tougher time overlooking Potulny's gaudy statistics and big game heroics. Potulny now has 63 points on the season - one less than Marty Sertich had last year when he won the Hobey. The results may have also killed Denver's hopes for the NCAA tournament.

Colorado College now sits at 9th in the Pairwise Rankings. The biggest change tonight was Miami's shift from a comfortable No. 3 ranking to a three-way tie for 5th. The Redhawks will likely need to win the CCHA to secure their number one seed. Meanwhile, out east, Maine is likely out of the tournament after losing to Boston College, and Boston University annihilated New Hampshire 9-2. The Wildcats remain tied for 12th in the Pairwise Rankings. St. Cloud State and North Dakota will meet tomorrow night to decide the WCHA champion - the Huskies could earn an autobid to the tournament with a win. Wisconsin and Minnesota will meet in the consolation game.

Sertich Included In Hobey Finalists

2006-03-16T21:50:00.000-07:00

The ten Hobey Baker finalists were announced, and the big surprise is that Marty Sertich was included. Not to take away from Marty - he's had a very good season and he's a special player - but not many people expected him to make it with his 48 points and CC's relatively disapointing season thus far. I don't have enough time to do any real analysis of the list, but here it is (I'll write some more on it later):

Matt Carle - Jr., D, University of Denver
Chris Collins - Sr., F, Boston College
Andy Greene - Sr., D, Miami University
Brian Elliott - Jr., G, University of Wisconsin
Greg Moore - Sr., F, University of Maine
Scott Parse - Sr., F., University of Nebraska-Omaha
Ryan Potulny - Jr., F, University of Minnesota
Marty Sertich - Sr., F, Colorado College
Brett Sterling - Sr., F, Colorado College
T.J. Trevelyan - Sr., F, St. Lawrence University

Congrats to Marty and Brett on being named finalists.

Another note: Check out the blog for the Nottingham Pandas (Not enough time to set up a link so wanted to give a shoutout): http://nottinghampandas.blogspot.com

Til next time...

The Hunt Is On For The Hobey

2006-03-14T15:18:00.000-07:00

Eight players from the big four college hockey leagues have accumulated at least 50 points this season. They are, in order of points scored: Scott Parse (UNO), Ryan Potulny (UMN), Chris Collins (BC), our own Brett Sterling, Matt Carle (DU), Paul Stastny (DU), Alex Foster (BGSU), and TJ Hensick (UM). Only three of these players will be playing games this week. So who is the favorite to take the prestigious award this season? With last year's winner, our own Marty Sertich, likely out of the running with 48 points, I'll take a look and give some opinions on who could be getting some love from the Hobey voters.

Why Scott Parse will win: He's scored the most points (61) of anyone in the country, with 20 goals and 41 points. That's 1.52 points per game. Along with linemate Bill Thomas (49 points) Parse has led Nebraska-Omaha to an overacheiving season and deserves credit for being such a playmaker.

Why he won't win: Well, let's see. A few weeks ago it looked like Parse really had a shot at the Hobey Baker despite the Mavericks being only a mediocre team in the CCHA. Now, UNO has been knocked out of the CCHA tournament and is hanging on by a thread in the Pairwise. While not all Hobey Baker winners are expected to lead their team to NCAA championships, getting a little further at least in the CCHA tournament would have helped Parse's chances.

Why Ryan Potulny will win: Potulny has scored 1.53 points per game while leading Minnesota to the top spot in the country. The Golden Gophers have just been unstoppable lately and Potulny deserves credit for this. He also has a nation leading 34 goals to go with his 24 assists.

Why he won't win: It's hard to make an argument against Potulny winning. He's scored the most goals, he's probably going to pass Scott Parse in points by the time the season is over, and he plays for the best team. What more could you ask for? We'll find out as we continue.

Why Chris Collins will win: Collins is third in the nation in scoring with 57 points (30 goals, 27 assists). Collins is also a good penalty killer, compiling an impressive five shorthanded goals this season. Does CC's whole team even have that many shorthanded goals? If Boston College makes a run in the postseason and Collins can put up some more points, he's going to be right up there in the voting.

Why he won't win: Collins' biggest problem is going to be that he is overshadowed by more recognizable names from the WCHA. Potulny has more points while playing in a better conference, Matt Carle is close as a defenseman, and don't forget about the dark horse galloping back from a midseason injury: Brian Elliott. Also, BC is dangerously close to being knocked out of the tournament. If the Eagles don't make it, it will probably hurt his chances - especially considering how impressive their PWR was just a few weeks ago.

Why Brett Sterling will win: It's easy for us to see how important Sterling has been this year. With 31 goals and 23 assists, Sterling has been CC's offensive constant throughout the year. He even scored against DU. Sterling also leads the nation with 17 power play goals. If it weren't for his hat trick against Boston University (completed in overtime) earlier this year, the Tigers' season would likely be over right now.

Why he won't win: While he has compiled 54 points this season, Sterling has only scored at a pace of 1.35 goals per game. Combine that with CC getting knocked out in the first round of the WCHA playoffs and Sterling is a big longshot to get solid Hobey consideration. There's really no reason that Sterling would win the award over Ryan Potulny when Potulny has scored more points per game and led his team to the top spot in the rankings.

Why Matt Carle will win: Here's where things get interesting. Carle has 53 points and probably will not have the chance to get any more. While Sterling, Potulny, Collins, and Parse have all accumulated points, Carle merits serious consideration due to the fact that he is a defenseman. In addition to playing solid (better than solid) defense all year long, Carle has been DU's leading scorer (along with Paul Stastny). No one expects a defenseman to put up 50+ points in a season - that's just sick. Let's cross our fingers and hope Salcido can put together a year like this next year.

Why he won't win: As far as I'm concerned the only thing that can hurt Carle in the voting is that the Pioneers' season looks to be over. Great players are expected to at least get their team into the tournament, and it looks like Denver is a huge longshot to make it at this point.

Why Paul Stastny will win: Stastny is an incredible player. We saw it firsthand two weeks ago. He's the first sophomore on this list and if he sticks around, he is really going to be nasty next year for Denver. Stastny led the WCHA in scoring this year and there's no reason that he won't do it again next year. He's a pure sniper who can also set up nice plays. If he stays at Denver, he should get serious Hobey consideration next year.

Why he won't win: For starters, Stastny is young, and there's no real reason to give the award to a sophomore over a junior or senior with comparable statistics. Furthermore, there isn't really anything that sets Stastny apart from the rest of this group - he's obviously a great player, but he doesn't have the stats of Potulny or overall game of Carle. And, like with Carle, I do think it will hurt that DU is likely going to miss the tournament.

Why Alex Foster has a sliver of a chance: Well, he probably won't win, to tell the truth. Foster played for last place Bowling Green this season and scored only 11 goals. Not enough? Bowling Green is in the CCHA - no reason to vote for a CCHA player who has less goals than a WCHA player. This isn't exactly politically correct, but sometimes the truth hurts.

Why TJ Hensick has a somewhat better chance: The odds are against Hensick getting serious consideration for the Hobey. He could end up being a top 10 finalist, but to make the Hobey Hat Trick he'll have to really catch fire in the postseason. Hensick has 16 goals and 34 assists - nice stats, but he can't be considered a favorite.

Enough of the scorers, let's take a look at my aforementioned dark horse, Brian Elliott. If Elliott hadn't been injured in January, I think he'd be a lock for the Hobey. Elliott is still one of the top goalies in the country, with a 1.68 GAA and .934 save percentage, but some ugly performances post-injury will certainly hurt his stock. At midseason, Wisconsin looked completely unstoppable, no one could solve Elliott, and he practically had the award in hand. As things stand now, Elliott could use an impressive run through the playoffs to help his chances.

So who would I choose? A lot depends on what happens in the league playoffs. If Elliott can get a shutout or two, or have a gamechanging performance in net for Wisconsin, the award might be his. On the other hand, if Potulny gets on a hot streak and solidifies his points total, he could become the clear favorite. As of right now, though, I'd have to give the award to Matt Carle. Yes, as much as I hate to admit it, Carle is just a special player. A defenseman who plays this well both offensively and defensively is a rarity and I don't expect to see anyone put up a season like Carle's for quite some time. Unforunately for Carle and Denver fans, his absence from the NCAA tournament is probably going to weigh heavily on the minds of the voters as Potulny, Elliott, and maybe even Sterling shore up their stats. Regardless, the award should go to Carle; his season statistics, including his sick +21 rating, speak for themselves. While Carle's 2005-2006 should win him the Hobey Baker by itself, some voters will undoubtedly consider the fact that he anchored Denver's defense during back to back title runs the past two years.

Tigers Bounced From WCHA Postseason

2006-03-12T23:04:00.000-07:00

It all fell apart for Colorado College on Sunday night. Matt Zaba allowed a few fluky goals, and the Tigers were once again plagued by a dysfunctional offense. St. Cloud State got on the board first in the second period when a shot from the point bounced off a player and snuck past Matt Zaba. CC started the third period on a five on three after Nate Raduns took an unsportmanlike minor at the 20:00 mark of the second period. The Tigers capitalized only 11 seconds into the period, with Brett Sterling one timing a shot past Goepfert after a beautiful pass from Chad Rau. Marty Sertich also assisted. This would prove to be the only time that CC's offense could find the back of the net against Goepfert.

St. Cloud State took a 2-1 lead later in the period and that would be all that they needed. The Huskies added another one to make the score 3-1, and things began to look bad for CC. With just a few minutes to play, it looked like the Tigers might have a slim chance at a come back when St. Cloud State took another penalty. The game was effectively over, however, after Marty Sertich was tossed from the game and given a 5:00 major on an inexplicable checking from behind call from referee Todd Anderson. Despite allowing CC to handle the puck after the hit, which appeared clean, Anderson finally blew the whistle when the St. Cloud State player would not get up and it looked like Bob Motzko was going to have a heart attack. After finally putting a stop to play, Anderson skated to the scorers' box and gave Sertich the five minute major. Fans at the World Arena, having had enough of Anderson's officiating, reacted furiously and a few drinks were tossed to the ice.

On a happier note, CC fans can take solace in the fact that somehow #2 seed Denver was upset once again by Minnesota-Duluth. The loss effectively ends the Pioneers' hopes of making the NCAA tournament. Denver now sits tied at #16 in the Pairwise with Northern Michigan and will need a PWR miracle to keep their season alive. CC slips to #10 in the rankings with the loss, but is still a likely bet to make the tournament.

Tigers Rally To Even Series

2006-03-12T11:57:00.000-07:00

Things weren't looking good last night with the game halfway over. St. Cloud State was up 2-0 and Colorado College just couldn't seem to get any good scoring chances. The Tigers seemed to be plagued by the sloppy play that ruined their chances on Friday night. This time, however, CC was able to turn it around, tying it up in the second period with two goals only 44 seconds apart. Brian Salcido started the scoring with a shot from the point that beat a blind Bobby Goepfert, who was being screened by Trevor Frischmon (Frischmon also assisted). 44 seconds later, Brett Sterling tied it up, slamming home a rebound that Goepfert left in the crease. Jimmy Kilpatrick and Derek Patrosso assisted. Rejuvenated, the Tigers headed into the third with the momentum and finally with some confidence. CC was able to convert again 11:28 into the third period, once again with Brett Sterling muscling in a rebound through the pads of Goepfert. Marty Sertich and Jimmy Kilpatrick set up the final goal.

The win moves CC back into comfortable position in the Pairwise Rankings, after they had been sliding dangerously close to the bubble. The Tigers are now tied for sixth with Cornell and Harvard. With a win tonight, CC would most likely clinch a tournament bid. Other favorites around the league took control on Saturday night, with Minnesota and Wisconsin punching their tickets to the X-Cel Center, and North Dakota, Denver, and CC tying up their series. North Dakota had a comfortably 4-1 victory over Minnesota State-Mankato. Denver, on the other hand, won 3-2 thanks to a Minnesota-Duluth game-tying goal being called off with only seconds left to play in the game due to a controversial high stick call. Nevertheless, the Pioneers are stuck at 15th in the Pairwise Rankings, and desperately need a win tonight to keep their season alive.

To win tonight, CC is going to have to keep up the pressure on the net. None of the goals last night were particularly pretty, but when it comes to hockey, it's quantity over quality. Both of Sterling's goals last night looked like if Goepfert had one more second, the puck would have been smothered. The Tigers need to keep someone in close to put on the pressure and to put home any pucks that are sitting around in the crease. CC will also have to keep playing solid defense. Matt Zaba has been playing very well in net (aside from a flukey one last night) and hopefully can continue. If a trip to the WCHA final five isn't enough incentive for the Tigers, they still aren't exactly guaranteed anything in the Pairwise at this point. While they are tied for 6th, a loss tonight would force CC to wait and hope for a tournament bid, rather than play for one.

Huskies Take Game One

2006-03-10T22:36:00.000-07:00

Colorado College tried desperately to solve Bobby Goepfert but came up empty in the end Friday night at the World Arena. The Tigers struck first courtesy of Jimmy Kilpatrick, but couldn't hold the lead as St. Cloud State quickly tied it and then jumped out to a lead of their own in the second period. Sloppy play on the power play and in general doomed the Tigers as they gave St. Cloud State breakaway after breakaway. While Matt Zaba made some nice stops, all it took was one ugly play to give the Huskies a permanent lead. CC squandered quite a few oppurtunities on the power play, going 0 for 4 and failing to capitalize on a five minute major in the third.

Bobby Goepfert had to stand on his head at the end of the third period as the Tigers bombarded his net with shot after shot. The seventh best goalie in the country lived up to his billing, making some unbelievable saves and robbing the Tigers on several occasions. Brett Sterling played in the game, but clearly was not at full health. He seemed to be playing limited shifts, and did not quite look to be at full speed. Likewise, Marty Sertich had a lackluster performance, missing a number of chances and at times making careless mistakes with the puck.

The World Arena came alive in the third period when Michael Olson of St. Cloud State was awarded a penalty shot after being hauled down by Jack Hillen. With thunderous noise and chants of "Zaba - Zaba - Zaba" coming from the stands, Olson skated in on Zaba and shot it wide to the left. While Goepfert played an exceptional game in net, Matt Zaba deserves mention as well for making several breakaway stops and saves in close. The Huskies goals were scored by Konrad Reeder and Michael Olson, with assists from Dan Kronick, Brock Hooton, and Nate Raduns. Kilpatrick's goal for CC was unnassisted.

The loss hurts the Tigers in the Pairwise Rankings in a big way. CC only drops one spot, to 7th, but five teams move into a tie for 8th with only one pairwise "point" seperating them from the Tigers.

It seemed to be the night of upsets around college hockey, with three lower seeds winning in the WCHA and some notable CCHA favorites losing as well. In the CCHA, Alaska-Fairbanks defeated Michigan State and Northern Michigan beat Nebraska-Omaha 4-1. In the WCHA, in addition to St. Cloud State's win, Minnesota State-Mankato beat North Dakota in overtime, and Minnesota Duluth stunned Denver, breaking a six game losing streak with a 3-2 overtime win. Wisconsin and Minnesota beat Michigan Tech and Alaska-Anchorage respectively.

Here Come The Huskies

2006-03-09T16:54:00.000-07:00

Needing two wins this weekend to keep the season alive, St. Cloud State figures to be a hungry team when they come to Colorado Springs tomorrow night. Just four weeks ago, Colorado College traveled to St. Cloud to take on a Husky team that was on a six game winning streak and flirting with an at large NCAA tournament bid. Since CC split that weekend, however, St. Cloud State's stock has plummeted - they now sit at 26th in the Pairwise Rankings and will likely miss the tournament unless they can win the WCHA autobid.

The Tigers sit comfortably at 6th in the Pairwise, and are a good bet to make the NCAA tournament regardless of the outcome this weekend. CC still has a slim shot at a number one seed if they can leapfrog Boston University and Michigan State, who are tied for 4th. However, the Tigers are more likely to end up a two or three seed come selection time.

The matchup this weekend should be a classic battle of a high flying offense (CC) vs. a very stingy defense (SCSU). Husky goaltender Bobby Goepfert has been one of the top goaltenders in the WCHA (and the NCAA) throughout the season. Goepfert enters this series with a .926 save percentage and 2.06 goals against average. While the play of Goepfert and the Huskies defense has been effective, the offense is a different story - last weekend against Wisconsin St. Cloud State tallied only one goal. In four games against CC this season, St. Cloud State has scored nine goals, for an average of slightly over two goals per game. They will likely need more production than that to win the series this weekend. CC's offense will need to be in high gear too, as St. Cloud State has lost only one game in which they scored at least three goals. That game? A 6-3 loss to the Tigers.

Meanwhile, our neighbors to the north prepare to welcome the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs to town tomorrow night for what should be a very easy series for Denver. I normally wouldn't consider any WCHA team to be an easy opponent, especially one like UMD that has been a thorn in CC's side the past few years, but the Bulldogs play over the second half of the seaon really has been shockingly horrible. They have one win in the last 14 games and enter this weekend with a nifty six game losing streak. The Bulldogs biggest problem has been their offense, which scores about as often as AC Green. Over their current six game losing streak, UMD has scored a whopping three goals. As much as everyone would love for UMD to take this series, if the Pioneers lose a game this weekend they should be embarrassed.

One of the more intriguing matchups this weekend will be North Dakota vs. Minnesota State-Mankato. The Fighting Sioux are likely to make the tournament at this point, but still need to close out the season well to solidify their position. With their strong play as of late, Minnesota State is now a TUC (team under consideration) - but barely. Their RPI, while good enough to be considered for consideration, is only .5041. A North Dakota sweep could knock the Mavericks out of consideration and have ramifications for other teams as Minnesota State loses TUC status. The Mavericks enter this series on a four game winning streak with impressive sweeps of St. Cloud State and Wisconsin, but nonetheless are 0-2 against the Fighting Sioux this season.

Another series that has potential to be interesting is Wisconsin hosting Michigan Tech. Wisconsin finished the regular season with a sweep of St. Cloud State, but looked to be in free fall mode prior to that. Before the series with the Huskies, Wisconsin had only three wins in eleven games, with those wins coming against Minnesota-Duluth, Ohio State, and Michigan Tech. This series with Michigan Tech will likely come down to the play of Brian Elliott. Elliott had a stellar weekend against St. Cloud State, allowing only one goal, but his play throughout the second half of the season has been questionable following an injury. I think there's a legitimate chance for an upset in this series if Michigan Tech can rattle Elliott. Don't forget that Michigan Tech handed Wisconsin its first WCHA loss of the season in a 4-2 shocker in Madison. Tech also a goalie with the ability to steal a game, which always makes an upset more likely. Wisconsin should win this series, but we'll have to wait and see which Elliott shows up.

The last series is top seed Minnesota taking on bottom seed Alaska-Anchorage. The Seawolves have had impressive wins this season over Denver and North Dakota, but will be hard pressed to take one from the Gophers on home ice. The Gophers have been playing phenomenal hockey to close out the season, whereas Anchorage's last win game on January 6th. They are winless in their last 13. The Gophers remain the top seed in the Pairwise Rankings and are a lock for a number one seed regardless of what happens from here on out.

Tigers' Seniors Prepare for Final Home Series

2006-03-08T17:22:00.001-07:00

Six Colorado College seniors will be playing their last games at the World Arena this weekend. The playoff series with St. Cloud State will be the last time to watch two of the most prolific scorers in CC history skate in the World Arena (in Tiger uniforms anyways). The six seniors making their final appearances in Colorado Springs are:

#7 Weston Tardy - A small but strong defenseman, Tardy was limited to 19 games this year due to injuries. Tardy hails from Duluth Minnesota, and he played for the Des Moines Buccaneers in the USHL before coming to play for CC. Tardy has played in 108 games for the Tigers and tallied three goals and fifteen assists while playing solid defense.

#15 Joey Crabb - One of only a few big, tough forwards on the Tigers, Crabb has had an outstanding career the past four years. A New York Rangers draft pick, Crabb has done particularly well working with Marty Sertich and Brett Sterling on the powerplay. This season Crabb has notched twelve powerplay goals in addition to six at even strength. For his career, Crabb has played in 155 games for the Tigers, scoring 53 goals and assisting on 58. His point totals have improved considerably each year he's played.

#22 Marty Sertich - Where to start? Last year's Hobey Baker winner, Sertich has combined with Brett Sterling to comprise possibly the most feared duo in all of college hockey. This season, Sertich has 46 points on 14 goals and 32 assists. An exceptional playmaker, Sertich has tallied 117 assists in his career to go with 61 goals. In his Hobey Baker season last year, Sertich had 27 goals and 37 assists, leading the Tigers to the Frozen Four. The gaudy point totals are impressive, of course, but the most impressive stat for Sertich? The ultimate college hockey ironman, Sertich has never missed a game in his career with Colorado College.

#11 Jesse Stokke - While Stokke does not have the impressive stats like some of his classmates, he has been a solid and versatile player for the Tigers in his four years. A defenseman who can also play forward, Stokke has one goal and eight assists in his career with CC. Stokke's first goal came this season in a game at Minnesota-Duluth. Stokke's solid play on the ice is all the more impressive when one considers that he is a neuroscience major at CC.

#6 Trevor Frischmon - One of the Tigers' captains, Frischmon is a quick, aggressive forward who also plays very good defense, particularly on the penalty kill. Frischmon has 30 goals and 35 assists in his career for the Tigers. Last season, Frischmon took the team on his back in the regional final game of the NCAA tournament, scoring two goals and assisting on another to bring the Tigers back from a 3-0 early deficit against Michigan and advance to the Frozen Four.

#21 Brett Sterling - Sterling has been a consistent offensive force throughout his career with CC. With his hat trick against Alaska-Anchorage last month, Sterling notched the 100th, 101st, and 102nd goals of his career. With 28 goals this season, Sterling now has an incredible 105 career goals. He also has 75 assists. Last year, Sterling was a Hobey Hat Trick finalist along with teammate Marty Sertich and Cornell goalie David McKee. In addition to being a phenomenal hockey player, Sterling is also a great student - he is an Academic All American and graduated high school with a 4.2 GPA. Sterling is an Atlanta Thrashers draft pick and has the potential to play at the NHL level.

Tiger Fans Breathe Sigh of Relief

2006-03-07T16:51:00.000-07:00

Brett Sterling says there is a "98 percent chance" that he will be back in the lineup this weekend against St. Cloud State. In the Gazette article, Sterling makes it clear that he wants to play and it would take a significant setback to keep him off the ice, "Whatever we've got to do to make myself ready, I'm going to be ready. I've got to play." How much pain would Sterling have to be in to sit out this weekend? "It would have to be pretty bad. It better be like not being able to walk." Having Sterling back should provide a nice spark to a CC offense that's been lacking its number one scorer for the past game and a half.

The article also mentions freshman center Chad Rau. You've probably noticed that Rau's been on a hot streak lately, but even I didn't realize just how hot. Rau has six goals and seven assists in the past nine games for CC - very impressive numbers for a freshman. His season totals so far are 13-16-29. He's also proved that he can get it done in crunch time with his heroic goal against Denver on Friday.

Tiger Fans Pray for Healthy Return of Brett Sterling

2006-03-06T21:55:00.000-07:00

Keeping Up With Old Friends

2006-03-05T16:13:00.000-07:00

Former Tiger Aaron Slattengren, who was dismissed from Colorado College earlier this year for an academic violation, has signed a contract with the Portland Pirates of the AHL. The Pirates are affiliated with the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. Slattengren tallied his first professional point with an assist in Portland's win over the Providence Bruins on the 22nd of February.

Speaking of the Providence Bruins, we can't forget about last year's team captain, Mark Stuart. Stuart has played in 59 games for the Bruins this season and has recorded four goals and three assists. Hockeysfuture.com lists Stuart as the Bruins third best prospect, and says that Stuart "is going to be a top four NHL defenseman". Hopefully next year Stuart could start to see some time on the ice in Boston, who drafted him 21st overall in 2003.

Former Tiger and All-WCHA goaltender Curtis McElhinney has spent the season playing for the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights of the AHL. McElhinney has played 26 games this season and boasts a 2.57 GAA - good for eighth best in the league. He also has a .910 save percentage and two shut outs. His record in net is 8-11. McElhinney is a Calgary Flames prospect, taken 176th overall in the 2002 draft.

Yet another former Tiger playing in the AHL this season is Richard Petiot. Petiot, the #116 overall pick in the 2001 draft, has been playing for the Manchester Monarchs. He is currently rated the fifth best prospect in the Los Angeles Kings organization, ahead of familiar names Brian Boyle at No. 6 (Boston College), Noah Clarke at No. 13, and Matt Zaba at No. 17. Other notable Kings prospects include current NCAA players John Curry (Boston University), T.J. Fast (Denver), Joey Mormina (Colgate), and Scott Parse (Nebraska-Omaha), who currently leads the country in scoring with 61 points.

Scott Polaski, one of only three seniors on last year's team, has been playing for the Colorado Eagles of the CHL. In 55 games, he's tallied 16 goals and 20 assists. Polaski is a Phoenix Coyotes draft pick (#180 overall in 2001 draft). Last year he was one of the Tigers' captains.

Brady Greco, who surprised many this summer when he left prior to his senior year, has been playing for the Johnstown Chiefs of the ECHL. In 29 games, he has collected five goals and five assists, along with 65 penalty minutes. Greco is a Tampa Bay Lightning draft pick (#256 overall in 2003 draft).

Tigers to Host Huskies in First Round

2006-03-04T22:49:00.000-07:00

Colorado College will play host to St. Cloud State in the first round of the WCHA playoffs. The Tigers finish the WCHA regular season with a record of 15-11-2 for a total of 32 points, good for fifth place in the league. North Dakota's win tonight over Michigan Tech gives them 32 points as well, but they are awarded fourth place through a tiebreaker. The Sioux will host Minnesota State-Mankato in the first round of the WCHA playoffs. The Tigers matchup in the first round could give them a PWR advantage over other WCHA foes, as St. Cloud State is considered a team under consideration by the pairwise rankings. Two wins could give the Tigers a nice boost in the PWR.

The status of CC's leading scorer, Brett Sterling (28-23-51), remains unclear although the Tigers' trainer says that he is "probable" for next week's series. Sterling had trouble getting off the ice on Friday against Denver after being leveled by 220 pound center Geoff Paukovich, and it was later said that he had a groin injury. He had already scored two goals in the game when he had to leave, about halfway through the second period - his first goals against DU in the last eight games between the two teams.

CC has done fairly well this year against St. Cloud State. In November, the Tigers swept the Huskies by scores of 4-2 and 3-2, at the Colorado Springs World Arena. On the road against St. Cloud State, CC won 6-3 and lost 2-1. Chad Rau, the hero for CC on Saturday night, has five points in four games against St. Cloud State. Marty Sertich, Derek Patrosso and Brett Sterling each have three. St. Cloud State has allowed only 62 goals in WCHA play this year, second lowest in the league to Wisconsin (60), but they have scored only 79.

The other series taking place next weekend will be: No. 10 Alaska-Anchorage at No. 1 Minnesota, No. 9 Minnesota-Duluth at No. 2 Denver, No. 8 Michigan Tech at No. 3 Wisconsin, and No. 7 Minnesota State-Mankato at No. 4 North Dakota. CC remains sixth in the Pairwise Rankings, thanks in large part to out of conference wins against Boston University, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State and Maine.

Tigers Finish Regular Season at Sixth in Pairwise Rankings

2006-03-04T16:30:00.001-07:00

Colorado College's regular season ended last night with a 3-3 tie against Denver at Magness Arena. It was the first time since the 2003-2004 season that CC did not lose at Magness. The Tigers took a 2-0 lead heading into the third period only to allow three straight in the third before tying it with less than a minute left, and with Matt Zaba on the bench in favor of an extra attacker. CC now sits at sixth in the pairwise rankings, used to select the NCAA tournament field. The win and tie move Denver into a tie for 11th in the rankings. CC could still have a shot at a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament with an impressive run in the WCHA tournament, but is more likely to end up with a #2 or #3 seed. CC's tournament chances will likely depend more on who else is in their bracket than what seed they are. Boston University and Michigan State are currently tied at 4th in the pairwise and one of them is likely to be a #1 seed. CC has wins on the road against both these teams, including a dominating performance against Michigan State in the Great Lakes Invitational. Being included in a bracket where one of these teams is the #1 seed could be a big boost to CC, who has no wins against the other two probable #1 seeds - Minnesota and Wisconsin. Ending up in overall #3 Miami's bracket could be interesting as well. While CC has not played Miami this season, they have done well against CCHA competition in 6-1 and 6-3 manhandlings of Michigan and Michigan State. Regardless of the seeding, CC will need stellar play all around if the Tigers want to go far in the postseason. CC still has no wins against higher ranked WCHA teams.

CC Salvages Tie in Denver

2006-03-04T00:05:00.000-07:00

Chad Rau came up huge for the Tigers as he scored the first goal of the game, two minutes in. On the power play, Rau caught a Joey Crabb rebound, and then one of his own, to beat a sprawling Peter Mannino and tally CC's first goal of the night. Joey Crabb scored again in the second period to give CC a 2-0 lead heading into the third. In the third, however, Denver scored three unanswered goals and took their lead into the last minute of the game before Rau scored his second goal of the game to tie it at three. Neither team could capitalize in overtime. CC's offense performed admirably while lacking leading scorer Brett Sterling, who sat out with a groin injury. Denver's goals came courtesy of J.D. Corbin, Paul Stastny, and Ryan Dingle, each on wrists shots from the slot, and all beating CC goaltender Matt Zaba up high. Brian Salcido had two assists for CC, one while playing at left wing in Sterling's place.

Inaugural Update

2006-03-03T18:09:00.000-07:00

Tonight's exciting for two reasons - the first ever post on this blog, and the last game of the regular season for CC, who heads up to Magness to take on Denver after suffering a comeback defeat in overtime last night, 5-4. The Tigers could be without top scorer Brett Sterling, who left early with an injury last night after scoring two goals. A win tonight would secure home ice for CC in the WCHA playoffs, while a loss would leave the Tigers fate up to North Dakota and St. Cloud State, who could pass CC in the standings with sweeps this weekend. CC has currently lost six straight to Denver dating back to their last regular season meeting in the 2004-2005 season. In other WCHA action, No. 6 Wisconsin hosts St. Cloud State, Michigan Tech travels to No. 11 North Dakota, and Minnesota-Duluth takes on No. 1 Minnesota at Mariucci.