Huskies humble CC, 5-2

CC Athletics
Colorado College has found a new nemesis. The WCHA-leading and third-ranked Tigers, who have enjoyed remarkable success against the league’s traditional powerhouses, no longer have Michigan Tech’s number. The Huskies, behind a goal and two assists by senior center Peter Rouleau, now have lost just once in their last seven meetings with CC after skating to a 5-2 victory Saturday at MacInnes Student Ice Arena in Houghton, Mich. The triumph allowed Tech to take three of a possible four points in the weekend series and effectively spoiled what should have been a special night for right winger Jimmy Kilpatrick, who became the 70th member of Colorado College’s elite “Century Club” with a power-play goal late in the second period. Kilpatrick’s 100th career point with 34 seconds left in the middle stanza pulled the Tigers to within 3-2, but that’s as close as the visitors would get as MTU added a pair of tallies late in the game to hand freshman netminder Richard Bachman his worst defeat of the season. Outshot by a 34-22 margin, Tech got 32 saves from junior goaltender Rob Nolan, who also gave up a red lighter to CC sophomore defenseman Nate Prosser. The Huskies set the tone early, grabbing a 1-0 lead when Jordan Foote deflected a shot past Bachman just 1:18 into the contest. Rouleau clicked on a power play to make it 2-0 at 12:54 of the opening period.

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

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.

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

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.

Weekend winnings

There are numerous things at stake in this weekend's series against DU. For starters, the often forgotten Gold Pan is on the line for the winner of the regular season series. DU has won in the past 3 years but CC has the edge this season by virtue of their 2 game sweep earlier this season. CC needs to simply get one point (TIE) over the weekend to win the pan. Of course we would all prefer that the Tigers do better and get the 4-0 season sweep!

Another important aspect of this game, and probably much more important that a mining pan, is the seeding for the WCHA playoffs that start next weekend. DU has already clinched home ice but CC can clinch home ice with at least a win. Michigan Tech trails the Tigers by 2 points and could still take the final home ice spot if the Tigers get swept (let's hope the Tigers can turn it around, back-to-back sweeps are never a good motivator for the WCHA tourney). Other fun facts about the game are listen on the CC website and look over all the records and history between the two teams. One fun thing to note is that 12 members of the Tigers' 1957 National Championship team will be at the game Saturday to celebrate the 50yr anniversary. It's too bad there aren't any more between then and now because certain DU fans mark this date as "50 years without a title"...I won't mention any names...

Quick Overview for this Weekend's Games

The Tigers head up to Minnesota State Friday and Saturday to take on the Mavericks. This game is important for the Tigers in both the Pairwise and the final WCHA standings as this is the second-to-last weekend of the season. CC swept the Mavericks earlier in November and will hopefully do the same and get all 4 points this weekend. Minnesota State (you may also know them as Mankato) is currently 11-17-6 which translates into a winning percentage of .412 and they are 5-8-3 at their home arena. MS plays on an Olympic size ice sheet just like the Tigers so lack of skating room shouldn't be a problem for CC. MS is one of three teams in the WCHA that is eliminated from contention for home ice advantage in the conference playoffs. They are tied with Michigan Tech for the #7 position in the conference with 21 points.

CC is currently 16-13-3 overall and sits in a 4th place tie with North Dakota with 26 points. The Tigers have a less-than-impressive road record of 4-6-2. This game is extremely important because CC could, theoretically, jump into second place behind leader Minnesota but that is highly unlikely. More likely is that they could pass DU who only holds 3rd place by 1 more point than the Tigers and Sioux. The Tigers take on DU next weekend so these points are vital to a 3rd place finish in the conference.

Here is a look at the standings with points, WCHA record and Overall record. GO TIGERS

		WCHA						Overall
	Team	GP	W-L-T	Pts.	GF-GA			GP	W-L-T	GF-GA
1	Minnesota	24	17-4-3	37	80-51			33	25-5-3	127-70
2	St. Cloud State	24	12-6-6	30	74-56			30	18-6-6	99-64
3	Denver	24	12-9-3	27	64-59			34	20-11-3	95-76
4	Colorado College	24	12-10-2	26	65-60			32	16-13-3	94-81
	North Dakota	24	11-9-4	26	77-66			32	17-11-4	107-86
6	Wisconsin	24	11-11-2	24	54-46			32	14-15-3	73-66
7	Michigan Tech	24	8-11-5	21	57-55			32	13-14-5	75-71
	Minnesota State	26	8-13-5	21	72-93			34	11-17-6	94-119
9	Alaska-Anchorage	26	8-17-1	17	60-93			32	12-17-3	83-106
10	Minnesota-Duluth	24	6-15-3	15	55-79			32	10-18-4	87-109
Switch to Winning Percentage order