This Week's Storylines from CC Athletics

This Week’s Storylines

• Colorado College and Michigan Tech meet for the first time this season when the WCHA-leading Tigers travel to Houghton and try to avenge last spring’s first-round playoff elimination at the hands of the Huskies. Tech won that best-of-three series, two games to one, after tying and beating CC (2-2, 1-0) at MacInnes Arena in January. Colorado College scored a total of seven goals in the five outings, suffering two shutout losses.
• The Tigers currently own a six-point lead over second-place Denver, which has played two fewer games, as well as an eight-point cushion over third-place North Dakota in the WCHA standings.
• Junior center Chad Rau continues to lead the WCHA in scoring, with 24 points (15g,9a) in league play, while freshman Richard Bachman is No. 1 in all major goaltending categories, both overall and in conference play. Bachman leads the nation with a .941 saves percentage.

Icers Looking to Protect WCHA Lead
With Key Series at Michigan Tech

Return to League Play: Colorado College resumes its Western Collegiate Hockey Association schedule this weekend in a crucial two-game series at Michigan Technological University. Faceoff at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena (4,200 seating capacity) in Houghton, Mich., is 7:07 p.m. EST Friday and Saturday. After this week’s long haul to and from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, CC will be home for seven of its final 10 regular-season games.

For the Record: Now 18-6 overall after a pair of non-conference victories over Bemidji State University (5-4) and Air Force (2-1) at the World Arena last week, Colorado College heads to Houghton with a 15-3 mark in WCHA play. The first-place Tigers, who have matched a season best with six consecutive victories overall, have won four league outings in a row as well as seven of their last eight...Michigan Tech is 9-11-2 overall and 5-8-1 in league play. The Huskies, who were idle last weekend, currently are eighth in the WCHA standings, but have two games in hand with fifth-place Minnesota, St. Cloud State and Wisconsin, which they trail by only three points.

On the Air: All CC games this season, home and away, are broadcast live throughout Southern Colorado on KYZX (103.9 FM The Eagle), featuring Ken Landau with the play-by-play. Pre-game shows start 17 minutes before faceoff. Landau also is host of the weekly Scott Owens Coach’s Show, which airs from 6:30 until 7:30 p.m. (MT) Tuesdays, on The Eagle. All broadcasts can be heard worldwide via the Internet, from a link at CCTigers.com. Neither of this week’s games against Michigan Tech will be televised. The next scheduled telecast is the regular-season finale against the University Denver on March 8, when CET (Comcast Entertainment Television) will carry the game live in Colorado Springs and Denver. Live video streaming of all Tiger home games this season is available, courtesy of B2 Networks, via a link at CCTigers.com. Cost is $6 per game.

In the Rankings: The Tigers remain No. 3 in this week’s national polls published on Monday by U.S. College Hockey Online/CSTV and USA Today/American Hockey Magazine. CC also is third in the power rankings conducted by InsideCollegeHockey.com (INCH). Michigan Tech is not ranked, although the Huskies continue to receive votes in the USCHO/CSTV poll.

Coach’s Corner: Scott Owens (Colorado College ‘79), who has recorded more victories than any head coach in the history of Tiger Hockey, is in his ninth season at the helm of his alma mater. Owens is 213-115-24 (.639) in 352 games behind the bench, including an 18-4-3 mark (.780) against Michigan Tech, and has guided the Tigers to five NCAA playoff berths in his previous eight campaigns...Jamie Russell (Michigan Tech ‘89), currently in his fifth season at the MTU and overall in the collegiate ranks, owns a career record of 50-103-22 (.349).

The All-Time Series: Friday’s series opener marks the 165th meeting between Colorado College and Michigan Tech in a rivalry that started on Jan. 17, 1947. CC owns an 84-70-10 all-time advantage after going 3-3-1 against the Huskies last season, when Tech prevailed in a best-of-three WCHA playoff series at the World Arena. While the Tigers have won just one of their last five games (1-3-1) with MTU, including a 2-2 tie and 1-0 loss at MacInnes Arena a year ago, they’re 36-2-8 (.870) in the last 46 regular-season meetings between the teams dating back to the 1993-94 campaign. That includes a 16-2-6 (.792) mark in Houghton.

Scouting the Opposition: The Huskies are led offensively by senior forwards Peter Rouleau (11g,5a) and Tyler Shelast (8g,8a), who have 16 points apiece. Rouleau, a center, has collected 10 of his (5g,5a) in league play. Shelast, a winger, has scored six of his 11 tallies on the power play. Sophomore defenseman Drew Dobson has contributed 13 points (2g,11a). Juniors Michael-Lee Teslak (4-4-2, 1.72, .934) and Rob Nolan (5-7, 2.75, .892) have split the goaltending duties with Teslak owning a 4-3-1 record, 1.67 GAA and .943 saves percentage in his nine WCHA appearances.

Recapping Last Week’s Games: Third-period tallies by junior center Chad Rau (Eden Prairie, MN), sophomore defenseman Brian Connelly (Bloomington, MN) and sophomore left wing Bill Sweatt (Elburn, IL) rallied the Tigers from a 4-2 deficit after 40 minutes of play and propelled them to Friday’s victory over Bemidji State. Rau, who also scored earlier in the game, clicked during a power play just 24 seconds into the final frame to cut the deficit to one goal. Connelly tied things up at 9:42, whistling a low wrist shot through traffic from the left point after sophomore center Andreas Vlassopoulos (Los Angeles, CA), who earlier struck for CC’s first goal, won a faceoff in the Beavers zone. Sweatt netted the game winner at 13:01, finishing a quick rush with Vlassopoulos after sophomore defenseman Kris Fredheim (Campbell River, B.C.) broke up a BSU rush and turned the puck up ice. Junior goalie Drew O’Connell (Anchorage, AK), who set up the first-period goal by Vlassopoulos with a long outlet pass, finished with 28 saves. Colorado College got power-play goals by Sweatt in the first period and freshman winger Stephen Schultz (Westbury, NY) in the second on Saturday, when freshman goalie Richard Bachman (Highlands Ranch, CO) stopped 25 of 26 Air Force shots.

Home Sweet Home: After squaring its non-conference record at 3-3 with last week’s decisions over the Beavers and Falcons, Colorado College remains a perfect 11-0 at home this season (13-0 including a pair of exhibition victories over the University of Calgary and the United State Under-18 Team). The Tigers now are 163-57-8 (.732) in 228 all-time appearances at the World Arena, where they played for the first time 10 years ago this week, on Jan. 23, 1998. That includes a 50-10-3 mark (.817) mark against non-WCHA opponents.

Gunners Galore: Sweatt, who now has scored a goal in three consecutive games, is the eighth different CC player to be credited with a game winner this season. Sophomore winger Addison DeBoer (Spring Lake Park, MN), who combined with Connelly to set up Schultz’s GWG at 9:31 of the second period of Saturday’s victory over Air Force, is the 18th Tiger to factor in on one. Connelly has assisted on five game-winning goals to lead the team in that category.

Hoping to Start Over: Rau, who saw a career-best 16-game point-scoring streak come to an end on Saturday, will try to start a new one at Tech this week. He still ranks first among WCHA scoring leaders with 24 points (15g,9a) in league play, and is tied for ninth nationally with 30 (19g,11a) overall. He’s collected at least one in 20 of 23 games in which he’s played this season. The All-WCHA/All-America candidate also leads the nation with five shorthanded goals. Last Friday marked the seventh consecutive outing in which he’s scored at least once, as well as the sixth time this season that he’s struck twice or more in a game. Rau now has 91 points (46g,45a) during this three campaigns at CC.

Downright Stingy in Net: Bachman, now 16-3 overall including a 14-2 record in WCHA play, has given up one or fewer goals in 12 of his 19 starts so far in 2007-08. The freshman standout leads the league in all major goaltending categories, both overall and in conference play. His .941 saves percentage for all games tops the entire nation, while his 1.58 goals-against average ranks second in the country. Bachman, who takes his second personal six-game winning streak of the season to Michigan Tech this week, earlier was named National Rookie of the Month (November) by the Hockey Commissioners’ Association. He’s also earned four separate WCHA Player of the Week awards.

Special Teams Update: The Tigers have held their opponent scoreless on the power play in six consecutive outings and in 16 overall for the season. They’ve given up only five PPG in their 18 league games, and continue to lead the WCHA with a .932 success ratio (69-for-74) on the penalty kill in conference play. Colorado College’s .903 (93-for-103) mark overall also is a league best, and ranks third nationally...CC’s own power play, which went 1-for-6 against Bemidji State and 2-for-5 against Air Force, has clicked at least once in four consecutive games as well as in 17 of 24 for the season. It ranks second among WCHA teams in league play (18.1 percent) and third in all games (20 percent).

Living on the Edge: Despite failing to score in the final frame of Saturday’s victory over AFA, Colorado College has struck for 17 goals in the third period of its last eight games. CC now has won six times this campaign after entering the third period behind or tied, overcoming late deficits to defeat RPI, Wisconsin and Bemidji State within the last month alone. The Tigers have outscored their opponents, 32-16, in third-period play over the course of the season.

Tiger Bites: With a pair of assists in last Friday’s victory over BSU, senior defenseman Jack Hillen (Minnetonka, MN) established a career high for most points in a season. He now has 17 (3g,14a) and continues to rank third among all WCHA blue-line specialists...CC has won its last 25 meetings with Air Force and is undefeated (29-0-1) in its last 30 games against the Falcons, whose last victory in the rivalry occurred on Nov. 9, 1985...Senior left wing Scott McCulloch (Lacombe, Alta.) had played in 103 consecutive games for Colorado College before sitting out last week’s action with an injury...Last Friday marked the ninth time this season, including twice in their 6-1 victory over Alaska Anchorage on Jan. 11, that the Tigers have struck for three or more goals in a period. They’re 7-1 when turning the trick and 1-4 when having it done against them...CC is 12-1 this season when leading after two periods and 16-4 when ahead or tied after one.