Game Previews

It's a little bit of a lull in the college hockey world here for a week. The Frozen Four won't get started until April 5th and with the Avalanche pretty close to dead in the NHL playoff race, hockey is officially on hold for a few days. I will just be happy to see the games on TV since college hockey gets so little exposure. I never have a chane to watch TV during the week but has anyone see any publicity on any other channels for the Frozen Four. Personally, I would make sure to have some sort of commercial on the Big 5 networks nightly to try to pull new people into hockey. It doesn't help that the basketball tourney is taking up most people's time (I personally don't follow it so I have no idea how much people get zoned in). I would love to see the day when the Frozen Four is on ABC during primetime so that everyone can see it, that would be great for the sport.
In antipication of the game, ESPN has put together some pretty good pieces regarding the matchups. BC and ND is up first

Busy Time for Lee Sweatt

During last week's Final Five in Minnesota, there was at least one CC player represented in the tournament. Lee Sweatt recieved the WCHA Most Outstanding Student Athlete of the Year Award riding a 3.8 GPA studying mathematical economics. He also gained All-WCHA Third Team recognition, helped out by his 24 points on the season.
Just as this award was sinking in, Sweatt was given the opportunity to tryout for the San Antonio Rampage, which plays in the American Hockey League and is the "farm team"/ affiliate for the Phoenix Coyotes. His course work is all completed and will walk at graduation in May and then be on his way hopefully for a professional hockey career.

Frozen Four Set

The 2007 Frozen Four is all set to begin Thursday night in St. Louis. The WCHA is left with one surviving team out of 3. North Dakota took out regular and postseason WCHA Champ Minnesota in OT on Sunday night to return to the Frozen Four once again. They are joined by Michigan State (who took out Notre Dame), Boston College and Maine. North Dakota is the clear powerhouse here with 7 national titles (all the rest each have 2) and coming out of a conference that was won the last 5 National Championships and 6 out of the last 7. BC and Maine won in 2001 and 1999 respectively. Michigan State is the underdog of the 4, last winning a title in 1986 but having been to the Frozen Four last in 2001. It will be a great final 3 games beginning Thursday afternoon at 2pm MST on ESPN2 followed by BC and ND at 6pm MST. Personally I am pulling for ND because of the WCHA conference and I hate the east coast teams, if you can believe that I could hate a team from the east haha. I'm excited that the games will be on ESPN2 and aren't going to be in the middle of the day like when CC and DU played a few years back. The final will be Saturday night at 5pm MST on ESPN and hopefully help give college hockey more exposure!

Gophers come back to spoil Falcons upset bid

Air Force came out in full force in their first ever NCAA Tournament appearence and almost got away with a win against the Minnesota Gophers at the Pepsi Center Saturday. It looked like it may happen when AF took a 3-1 lead 5 minutes into the 3rd period until the Gophers woke up and scored three goals to finish off the Falcons and avoid a 2nd straight 1st round loss in the NCAA Tournament, nonetheless to another AHA team. This was an interesting game for a fan of CO hockey simply because it pitted a home town team against the WCHA powerhouse from the north. Personally, I would have liked to see AF win since it was their first time ever in the tourney, but I really like to see the WCHA do well, even if Minnesota has dominated almost everyone this year. At least it's not DU right?!

In other conference news, St. Cloud State was eliminated in the first round, falling 4-1 to the Maine Black Bears on Friday night, leaving the WCHA with 2 surviving teams. When I wrote this entry, North Dakota was up on evil Michigan 7-5 early in the 3rd period.

NCAA Tournament Selection

With the NCAA Tournament ready to start in full force, it's always fun to look at the selection process and drama that some teams had to endure. There are a few things that I have found to be a little off about this tourney. Granted, I'm not a selection process expert and will never try to be, but I have to wonder why the WCHA was only give 3 spots since it is widely considered to be THE top conference in the country and had 5 teams finish the season strong. Based on late season play, Wisconsin should have gotten a bid and even Denver could have been given serious consideration. I know I've seen numerous articles talking about this topic. Hockey East has 5 teams from a conference that is almost universally considered a weaker conference than the WCHA. It just proves the point I have been mentioning since I started this thing; the media are fixated on the teams out east and pass over the stronger WCHA, just because it's not on the E-coast. Another thing that urked me was that two of the best teams in the tourney (North Dakota and Minnesota) are in the same bracket. Yes Denver's Pepsi Center is "WCHA Home Turf", but this bracket also ensures that at least 1 WCHA team will not make the Frozen Four. I can't help but think that is has something to do with the all WCHA Frozen Four a few years back. Seems to me we are getting the short end on this one!

NCAA Tournament Overview

WEST REGIONAL at the Pepsi Center

Semifinals | Saturday

* Minnesota vs. Air Force, 1:30 p.m.

* Michigan vs. North Dakota, 5:30 p.m.

Championship | Sunday

* Semifinal winners, 4 p.m.

NORTHEAST REGIONAL at Verizon Wireless Arena, Manchester, N.H.

Saturday

New Hampshire vs. Miami, Ohio, 11 a.m.

Boston College vs. St. Lawrence, 2:30 p.m.

REGIONAL FINAL

Sunday

Semifinal winners, 1:30 p.m.

EAST REGIONAL at Blue Cross Arena, Rochester, N.Y.

Friday

Clarkson vs. Massachusetts, 12:30 p.m.

St. Cloud St. vs. Maine, 4 p.m.

REGIONAL FINAL

Saturday

Semifinal winners, 4 p.m.

MIDWEST REGIONAL at Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, Mich.

Friday

Notre Dame vs. Alabama-Huntsville, 3 p.m.

Boston University vs. Michigan State, 6:30 p.m.

REGIONAL FINAL

Saturday

Semifinal winners, 6:30 p.m.

THE FROZEN FOUR at Scottrade Center, St. Louis

SEMIFINALS

Thursday, April 5

East winner vs. Midwest winner, 2 p.m.

Northeast winner vs. West winner, 6 p.m.

Championship

Saturday, April 7

Semifinal winners, 5 p.m.

Air Force Rollin' with the big dogs

The Post takes a look at AF taking on the WCHA powerhouses

Another alumn making news

Tom Preissing scored a goal for the Ottowa Senators on March 17th to mark yet another CC player making a huge contribution to his NHL team.

ESPN takes a look at the NCAA Tournament

A good look at what will be going on in the college hockey world the next few weeks

It's kind of a big deal

Air Force coach Frank Serratore is enjoying his team's historic season.

AF gets a taste of the WCHA

In a little twist of fate, Air Force has won their conference and will be heading to the NCAA Tournament up the road at Pepsi Center. The "crappy" team of the area has beaten out the two powerhouses and gets the pleasure of playing against none other than Minnesota in the first round (a team that won the Broadmoor Trophy and was knocked out in the first round last year.) AF will get a taste of our conference and it will be interesting to see what they are made of. I'm all for the power of the WCHA, but it would be fun to the the team from N. Colorado Springs take out one of the best teams in the country.

AD leaving CC

Something of note for all those fans of CC, the 3 year athletic director Julie Soriero will be leaving the school for MIT.

50 years of history

Here is a piece from the Gazette that is pretty interesting. It's written by the reporter that I always bug about the timing and relevancy of ther stories. There was a video with it when it first came out on the front page but, in true Gazette fashion, it's been simplified and turned bland when it's put on the CC page. Check it out

Back to the grind

I am back in cold Nebraska after 10 days enjoying the sunshine and blue skies of Colorado Springs and Las Vegas. There have been numerous things of note that have happened in the WCHA and CC world over the past week that are of note and that most of you know. Minnesota won the Broadmoor trophy with a cray OT winning goal. The Gazette had a sweet piece about the National Champion CC team from 50 years ago and another former CC player made some news in the NHL. I hope everyone is enjoying the vids and the pics and will continue to the rest of the summer until next season. If anyone has a any media they would like to add, don't hesitate to let me know!

Future looks bright for positives of the year

Eventually, I am going to write a little bit about this past season myself, but I haven't collected all my thoughts yet. This was a season that was supposed to be a ho-hum season and turned into one of dissappointment. I will be off to Vegas for the remainder of the week and then driving back to Nebraska so I probably won't write until Monday. But please keep checking in throughout the off-season, I will be doing one or two updates a week, mostly about former players so the article about Noah Clarke couldn't have been better timing.

Future Bright for Tigers-Gazette
Unfitting Conclusion-Gazette

Noah Clarke makes a name for himself

Remember Noah Clarke from a few years back? Well, he made a name for himself yesterday by being the first Southern Cal kid to score a goal for LA. It's a pretty sweet article except that the ESPN article fails to mention he went to CC. The obviously edited version in the print Gazette today makes sure that we know he's one of our boys. Check it out, it's pretty cool

No shots, no goals, no Final Five

The Tigers managed a measily 17 shots tonight as they saw their season come to an end with at 1-0 loss at the World Arena. The announcers put it best when he said "Michigan Tech put a wall around their goalie's net". At the beginning of the series, we were warned about the Huskies ability to keep the pucks away from their net and they came through in full force in the team's biggest game of the season. The Tigers didn't have an answer for the tough defense of the rising Michigan Tech team. The Tigers are finished with their season and will join their rival DU in watching the Final Five next weekend and the NCAA tournament in their living rooms. I'll put up links about the game later and will have plenty of followup tomorrow.




Initial Gazette Game Summary
A very uneventful box score
INCH Box Score
CC Athletics Summary

Look what I just found

I'll admit it, I'm not partial to the CC Athletics site, but I did just discover that they have a live stats page. I haven't used it yet to see just how good it is, but seems like it could be what I'm looking for. I still would like to see something more polished but heck, this is a great start!

Iron Man Zaba

As most of you are aware, Mat Zaba will be playing his 3rd consecutive game tonight. He has been solid in the first two, allowing really only one goal (the OT goal was sloppy and he was hung out to dry). Let's hope that he can keep it up for another week, I'm worried about him wearing down though, it will be interesting to see. If I were MT, I would want to get as many shots as possibly on him to keep him active and try to play on the fatigue. If I were CC, I would keep the puck to the outside and try to get as many shots on the other end. If I'm correct, this will be Zaba's 16th consecutive start, which is insane for a goalie. Let's hope he can hold on for at least another full week and get us to the WCHA Finals!
On a side-ish note. I must be anti-Gazette because I thought the article about honking at Zaba's apartment was really lame. I like the bit about him getting his rest and his pregame ritual, but the whole introduction " If you’re driving along San Miguel Street around noon today, please don’t honk your horn. ". As if I do every other day when I'm on that street??!! That could have been a pretty cool story about his pregame rituals; goalies are known for having all kinds of quirky things about them that are always fun to hear about. But instead we get a PSA, lamo! I just wish we could have better coverage of this team, but of course I'm a little biased b/c I'm used to Husker Football coverage, and that's an animal in itself.

Calling all CC fans

Ok so I've been looking around for videos and pics from the games and have only really come up with my own (which I will be adding at some point later today). As I have said before, The Gazette has a section for photos but there are only a handfull and they are all out of date. Yet, the actual newpaper has a few good pics each weekend, but they don't make it onto the website. Also, the Gazette had a slowly updating article following the game last night, but they didn't update it after the middle of the 2nd period. I had my game results up just after the game ended and yet their didn't updat until long after I went to bed. Along those same lines, it's hard to find a live update of the game online. Besides the radio, there is the ESPN scoreboard but it's not live (but better than all others). Here's my proposition and I need everyone's help. I already started it last night, but let's politely (or maybe not so much if you are completely fed up) start petitioning the Gazette to better their coverage of the games. If they have photos in the paper and a section on the site, why not put the pics online??? They have them, use them!! If there is an article updating the game, why not have someone at The Gazette updating the score in a score board while the reporters are at the game??!! It's not too hard to put up a scoreboard on the website! I left a comment on the game update last night mentioning how slow they are and how much better they could be doing. Not one site really stands out in their coverage of college hockey, most take over a day to update from the night before. The Gazette has a chance to be the leader in this category. Let's email and comment them en masse and see if we can get a result!!!!!
Another possibility is a group of us could start another blog just for game nights. This would probably take quite a few people, one for pics (of both the game and fans), one to be writing the game story, one to be constantly updating a few at a computer about the score, penalties and shots. It sounds like a lot but it can be done. Something to think about over the summer!

Tigers Force Game 3

CC got 2 goals and that was enough to take it the Game 3 Sunday night. CC shutout Michigan Tech 2-0 Saturday night at the World Arena. More to come later

OT turnovers cost Tigers

I saw it unfold right in front of me. With every turn over and failed attempt to clear, I knew what was coming. Just seconds into OT with MT in the Tigers' zone I turned to my sister and said "I've got a bad feeling". Unfortunately I was right, as the puck sat on, then rolled over the goal line the game ended. After numerous failed attempts to clear their own zone, the Tigers lost on a sloppy goal a mere 39 seconds into OT. As the 3rd period came to a close it was clear that CC was out of gas, the players looked like they were skating in sand. The Tigers had a skating advantage most of the game but couldn't come through with quality shots against a tight defense. The worst thing about it was I was stuck next to the idiodic MT fans who made up the stupidest cheers for their team. That's the one thing I hate more than losing is dealing with the fans from the overmatched opponet. But they got it done and we didn't so that's how it goes. I got tons of pics and a few vids of the game that I will put up through the weekend. Let's hope the Tigers can rebound and win 2 straight.

Great bit of trivia from the CC Athletic Site

Rematch of 1994 playoff series on tap
The Tigers, still on the bubble for a potential NCAAtournament bid, open the 2006-07 post-season this weekend with a first-round, best-of-three WCHA playoff series against Michigan Tech at the World Arena. Winner advances to next week’s WCHA Final Five at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. Colorado College last met the Huskies in the opening round in 1994, after winning its first of three consecutive regular-season titles. Underdog Tech, however, pulled off upsets in Games 1 and 3 to advance and end CC’s Cinderella season on a sour note. The series finale was the last contest ever played at the old Broadmoor World Arena. MTU, 8-3-3 in its last 14 outings of the regular season, never has fared well on the Olympic sheet at the new World Arena. In fact, the Huskies have lost all 16 previous games against Colorado College at the CSWA, where the Tigers swept them (4-1, 2-1) earlier this season.


note:this information is directly from http://www.coloradocollege.edu/Athletics/varsity_sports/Hockey/
I take no responsibility for it's creation

Everything you ever wanted to know about the series

The CC Athletic site has all kinds of good stuff about the MT series. Check it out

Some things to look for tonight

There are a few things that the local paper has been talking about regarding this weekend's series against Michigan Tech. The Tigers have recently started scoring more and came out of the funk from the previous 3 weeks. However, MT likes to line up all five skaters along the blue line to disrupt the offensive rush. CC is a speed team and could be affected by this scheme. The Tigers need to crash to the net to get shots and goals and MT will use thier system to keep the play to the outsides and out of their zone. The last time these two teams played, MT came out with a 1-0 shutout win.


Something else to watch tonight will be goaltender stud Matt Zaba who is facing the possibility of playing every game this weekend and the possibility of playing 6 games in 9 days. After his slump at the end of last season, the fatigue could be a factor in his play. Hopefully, the team wins in two games and the problem of a worn out goalie won't need to be solved. CC has two other goaltenders in sophomore Drew O’Connel and senior Chris Kawano, neither of which have seen significant playing time.


The season series between these two teams is in CC's favor. CC won the series at the World Arena in November with scores of 4-1 and 2-1. At the end of January, the teams tied 2-2 and MT won the second and most recent game 1-0, largely on their defensive scheme. Hopefully the Tigers and rely on their goal scoring frenzy last weekend and come out and dominate a tough opponet. When the weekend is over, CC should be heading to The Excel Center

WCHA playoffs from a non-conference POV

Chicago blogger checks out the WCHA

Gotta love rivalries

As most of you know, I'm trying to get a consistent sellout crowd to the World Arena to watch CC's games. Having a huge rival from up the road always helps with attendance figures. The World Arena lists it's actual capacity at 7,343 for college hockey games. Knowing that, it makes it really sweet to see that last night there were 7,820 fans watching the wild 5-5 tie. If I could pick one time to go to a game, this would have been it. I'll have to check into it, but this may have been the largest crowd of the season, 7809 watched the last home game vrs. Minnesota. I was unable to watch the game but I know the schedule called for the fans to wear gold. If anyone has pics of the crowd and the game please share them!!

WCHA Playoffs

Here is a quick look at the first round of the WCHA Tournament that begins Friday. CC landed in 5th place and will take on 6th Place Michigan Tech at the World Arena Friday, Saturday and potentially Sunday if they split games 1 and 2. It's a best-of-three format for the first round before heading to Minnesota for the Final Five. The winner gets the Broadmoor Trophy named after (of course) The Broadmoor Hotel.

Friday, March 9:
No. 10 Alaska Anchorage (12-19-3) @ No. 1 Minnesota (26-8-3), 7:07 pm CT

No. 9 Minnesota Duluth (12-19-5) @ No. 2 St. Cloud State (20-7-7) 7:07 pm CT

No. 8 Minnesota State (13-17-6) @ No. 3 North Dakota (19-12-5) 7:37 pm CT

No. 7 Wisconsin (15-17-4) @ No. 4 Denver (21-13-4) 7:37 pm MT

No. 6 Michigan Tech (16-15-5) @ No. 5 Colorado College (17-15-4) 7:37 pm MT


Saturday, March 10:
No. 10 Alaska Anchorage @ No. 1 Minnesota, 7:07 pm CT
No. 9 Minnesota Duluth @ No. 2 St. Cloud State, 7:07 pm CT
No. 8 Minnesota State @ No. 3 North Dakota, 7:07 pm CT
No. 7 Wisconsin @ No. 4 Denver, 7:07 pm MT
No. 6 Michigan Tech @ No. 5 Colorado College, 7:07 pm MT


Sunday, March 11 (if necessary):
No. 10 Alaska Anchorage @ No. 1 Minnesota, 7:07 pm CT
No. 9 Minnesota Duluth @ No. 2 St. Cloud State, 7:07 pm CT
No. 8 Minnesota State @ No. 3 North Dakota, 7:07 pm CT
No. 7 Wisconsin @ No. 4 Denver, 7:07 pm MT
No. 6 Michigan Tech @ No. 5 Colorado College, 7:07 pm MT

Following the first round of the WCHA Playoffs, the five winning teams will then be re-seeded No. 1 thru
No. 5, according to their regular season finish, and advance to the 2007 Red Baron™ WCHA Final Five, set for
March 15-17 at Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minn.

USCHO Summary

Miracle Comeback: DU Scores Twice In Final Minute To Earn Draw With CC
This would truly classify as sister kissing, we lose 4th place because of the 1 point tie and last minute collapse

Quick game summary from CC Athletics site

CC lets Denver off hook, settles for tie
The University of Denver scored twice in the final minute of regulation after pulling goalie Peter Mannino on Saturday, earning the Pioneers a 5-5 tie in their regular-season finale with Colorado College at the World Arena. For CC, which squandered leads of 3-0, 4-1 and 5-2, the single point meant the difference between fourth and fifth place in the final WCHA standings. The Tigers enter next weekend’s opening round of the league playoffs as a No. 5 seed and will begin the post-season by hosting sixth-place Michigan Tech in a best-of-three series. DU’s Ryan Dingle knotted Saturday’s contest on a deflection at 19:56 of the third period, 32 seconds after Keith Seabrook pulled the visitors to within 5-4. All five of Colorado College’s goals, including two by sophomore center Chad Rau, came on the power play. Rau also helped set up a red lighter by senior defenseman Lee Sweatt, while freshman forwards Bill Sweatt and Andreas Vlassopoulos collected three assists apiece. Freshman right wing Mike Testwuide and junior defenseman Jack Hillen scored CC’s other goals.

Scores from Saturday night

Take a look at the other scores from the night, one big one of note is North Dakota stomping St. Cloud 7-2

Kissin your sister-CC DU tie 5-5 in season finale

At least they got a point and the Pan. The Tigers and Pioneers battled it out in the last game of the season and ended up with one of the most loathsome results: tying the arch rival. Granted, we will take the points but feeling equal to a rival isn't good. However, CC did win the season series 3-0-1 and didn't lose to the Pioneers, something that has haunted them for the past few seasons. CC will open at home ice next Friday (march 9th) and may still have a shot at the NCAA Tourney. For now, it's time to enjoy the Gold Pan and get ready for at least 2 more home games!

CC going for the sweep! WEAR GOLD!

The Tiger's play their final regular season home game tonight against DU and have a chance to get the 3rd place seed in the WCHA playoffs that start next weekend. The Tigers clinched home ice for next weekend and tonight will decided the final seed. The Tigers can also sweep the season series against DU and potentially knock DU out of contention for the NCAA tournament. After beating tying us for the MacNaughton Cup, beating us in the WCHA final and in the NCAA tournament 2 years ago, I think this would be a great chance to get some revenge. For everyone going to the game, be sure to wear GOLD! The game is on ESPNU so let's make sure to show support for the Tigers with the chance for the whole country to see us on national TV (well, premium channel national TV, haha). The puck is scheduled to drop at 8:07pm Mountain Time. I'm hoping to head to a bar and watch the game and represent the Tigers and The Springs here in Lincoln!

USCHO summary

CC Blanks DU!

Gazette Game coverage

CC brings Gold Pan home

Denver Post game summary

DenverPost.com - Tigers take Gold Pan from DU

Tigers get Gold Pan with 3-0 Friday win over DU!