Owens must change style, not coaching address

By DAVID RAMSEY

If you remain baffled and angered by Colorado College's season-ending 3-1 loss to Michigan State, you're not alone.

Coach Scott Owens is hurting, too. He, like thousands of Tigers hockey fans, wonders how one of the best rides in CC history ended in an ugly wreck.

"It's tough, really tough," Owens said. "You know what? I still haven't let it go. I'm still bothered by it. I'm bothered by it because of the opportunity that we had. It's very tough. It's tougher than I had imagined.

"I really liked this team, and it was a really good team and all of a sudden it's done."

I've enjoyed a few good laughs since CC lost to Michigan State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at World Arena. I've laughed after reading e-mails and message boards that trumpeted this silly message:

Owens must go.

That's ridiculous. He's proven himself a master of the long dance known as the Western Collegiate Hockey Association season. He's won the WCHA regular-season title three times in the past six seasons.

Go? No way, but he must change.

He must grow as a coach. The emperor of the regular season must find a way to thrive in the games that matter most.

Owens understands how to build and motivate teams for the epic grind of the WCHA season.

He struggles to prepare for the nearly instant rewards - and punishments - of the NCAA Tournament, which concludes today and Saturday at Pepsi Center.

No way the Tigers should have lost to Michigan State. They enjoyed the luxury of home ice, where they had compiled an 18-2. They were more talented.

They lost anyway.

The loss follows a pattern for CC. Owens has coached five teams to winning percentages of 65 percent or higher. This season's team cruised to the WCHA Final Five with a 28-9-1 record.

Yet bad times in the NCAA often follow good times in the regular season. Owens has five wins, six losses in the tournament, where he's lost three straight times.

In the NCAA Tournament, defense rules. The game slows down, grows more violent. Grace and skill lose importance.

All this spells doom for the Tigers, who usually lack the required ingredient of intimidation. It's no accident Owens took his only trip to the Frozen Four in 2005 with Mark Stuart in the lineup.

Stuart, who plays for the Boston Bruins, offered a rare blend. He enjoyed reading Shakespeare, and he enjoyed knocking opponents silly on the ice.

He was skilled, but also supremely dangerous. He even frightened teammates with his wicked smack-downs in practice.

Owens needs to persuade another Stuart to skate for the Tigers. This won't be easy. Large, gifted defensemen are reluctant to transport their skills to the sprawling, Olympic-size ice at World Arena. They prefer to rumble in more cramped surroundings.

Still, Owens must try. He spent last week scouring the upper Midwest, seeking a player who could bring a more sinister touch to his Tigers.

Early this week, Owens still wasn't sure he would attend the Frozen Four. This makes sense. It's excruciating to stand there as a mere spectator when you should be in the fight for the title.

Sometimes a Good Spanking is All You Need

CC needed bad weekend
By DAVID RAMSEY

Sometimes, a smack upside the head is just what a team requires.

Colorado College's Tigers tumbled to consecutive defeats at the Final Five in St. Paul, Minn. They were, during one lost weekend, blindsided by all their faults.

Good for them.

This two-loss debacle is exactly what the team needs to fuel a run to the Frozen Four in Denver.

Everything is in place for the short journey to Pepsi Center. The Tigers are blessed with experience, talent and home-ice advantage. To top it off, they enjoy the blessing of a wicked yet wonderful jolt of reality.

No. 2 regional seed CC plays No. 3 seed Michigan State, the defending national champion, at World Arena at 8 p.m. Friday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Tigers delivered one of the grandest regular seasons in school history. They beat archrival University of Denver, the evil empire, in three of four games, claimed the Western Collegiate Hockey Association regular-season title by four points and roared into the Final Five with the expectation of glorious triumph.

What a difference a weekend makes.

In the hallway outside CC's locker room, forward Scott McCulloch talked softly about the losses. He was, he said, "embarrassed."

On March 8, the Tigers danced at World Arena with the MacNaughton Cup, symbol of their WCHA supremacy. Two weeks later, they stumbled off the ice in St. Paul, losers of two straight.

"It's always good to be brought back to earth for everybody," McCulloch said. "When you're winning, as much as you try not to, you start thinking you're unbeatable."

Despite recent bad times, the Tigers retain every reason to believe. They're 18-2 at World Arena.

Belief is the message offered by coach Scott Owens. He walks to a steady hockey beat, declining to soar too high or sink too low.

He's sticking to his beat, even after the losses. He's offended by the suggestion his Tigers were "jolted" at the Final Five.

"I'm probably not quite the alarmist that you are," he said. "We did not have success last weekend - there's no doubt - but we didn't play that poorly."

Don't think Owens is oblivious to his team's faults. He was bothered by his team's casual approach at the Final Five.

The Tigers, Owens said, weren't scrappy enough. They declined to swarm the net. They didn't play with the focused rage that carried them to a WCHA regular-season title.

Still, Owens hasn't transformed this week into an angry, middle-aged man. He's veering as far away as he can from, borrowing his words, "a negative over-reaction." He swears he's not worried.

"You know what," Owens said, leaning forward in his office chair. "I'm optimistic. When you look at the sum of our work, I'm optimistic that we will play well at home."

While the MacNaughton Cup rested behind him, Owens leaned back and asked himself two questions.
Is he depressed?

No.

Is he berating his players?

No.

Owens will not be moved. He's sticking, as always, to the hopeful approach.

He knows he lives in perilous times. One loss and World Arena will change from a happy hockey destination to a big, cold, sad room. One loss and a season of promise crashes to a halt.

Owens smiled.

"We're back in familiar surroundings," he said. "And I feel pretty good."

We'll soon see if he has grounds for all this radical calm.

A history of attacking chickens

David Ramsey (one of the few credible writers at our crappy paper) takes a look at some of the wild moments in the DU-CC rivalry. Personally, I think arena security has taken away a lot of the wildness that the students used to bring to the game. Just watching security come down and scold rambunctious students every 2 minutes takes so much out of the game. Oh and Mr. CC president, the chants at the games are part of hockey, not some "blatantly homophobic" rant like you said, get a life. I'm ready to see the Tigers hoist their hardware on the Fagness arena ice Friday night!

CC-DU Rivalry Has Cooled, Memories Haven't
David Ramsey

Once, not so long ago, players who battled in the Colorado College-University of Denver hockey series dodged animals, dead and alive.

These were good times, at least in the view of Cal Sandbeck.

He was blessed with a great view of the insane era of the CC-DU hockey series. He served as a tough defenseman for DU from 1974 to 1978.

On one visit to The Broadmoor Arena, Sandbeck swears he saw a black swan, greased pigs and rats tossed on the ice. All were alive. Three fights broke out, and a referee was knocked groggy trying to restore peace.

All in one night. And, yes, CC and DU somehow managed to play a hockey game amid the anarchy.

The Tigers and Pioneers tangle Friday night at DU and travel to World Arena for Saturday’s regular-season finale. Friday marks the 266th meeting in a wild, wonderful series that stretches back to 1950.

The ridiculous, borderline criminal flavor of the series is gone. Fans still shout mean, at times obscene, words, but decline to toss beasts on the ice.

“I don’t think the rivalry is quite the same,” Sandbeck said, regret in his voice.
He now enjoys a peaceful life as owner of the Dog Bar and Grill in Cuchara, nestled two hours south of Colorado Springs in the Spanish Peaks.

Yet he enjoys returning to the nights when students didn’t travel to the arena to watch a game. They came to party.

“It wasn’t so much about the hockey, but the atmosphere,” Sandbeck said. “But, oh, I loved it. The more fans were involved, the more fun it was as a player. It was just part of having fun.”

CC coach Scott Owens isn’t quite as nostalgic as Sandbeck, which makes sense. Getting hit in the shoulder by a frozen chicken can leave a mental tattoo on any man.

During the 1978-79 season, CC goaltender Owens stood in front of the net at the old DU Arena, which closely resembled a barn.

He was minding his own business, when some bright light in the DU student section tossed a chicken that crashed into Owens’ shoulder.

Owens looked around, saw a chicken with its head, another without its head and a fish with a beady eye that kept staring at him. He wasn’t even surprised by the carnage.
Just another mad night in the CC-DU series.

“It wasn’t a deal that you would throw your stick in the air and start howling,” Owens said. “There was a lot of that stuff going on.”

Owens wants to make one thing clear. He doesn’t want to see animals, dead or alive, on the ice this weekend. Still, he’s not sure he would change the past.

“Sure, it was borderline idiotic,” he said from his office at World Arena, “but, ah, I don’t know. It’s a fine line between borderline idiotic and humorous.”

Owens insists he no longer seethes with hatred for all things DU. He takes care to mention his “respect” for the Pioneers.

This word inspires laughter from Dave Delich, CC’s all-time leading scorer. Delich roomed with Owens at CC and remains a close friend. They eat lunch several times a month.

“Respect?” Delich said, chuckling. “Oh, sure. I’m sure Scott has a distant respect for them.” He placed heavy emphasis on the word “distant.”

He clearly remembers a moment from the 1975-76 season. CC goaltender Eddie Mio was briefly knocked silly at DU by — what else? — a frozen chicken tossed from the student bleachers.

Delich helped carry a mumbling Mio to the CC bench. He skated along, dodging dead animals, listening to jeers from the crowd that supported his enemy.

He hasn’t forgotten. He never will.

“It’s that one special place,” Delich said. “I will never feel comfortable on that campus.”

Delich looks forward to watching Saturday’s game at World Arena.

Friday night at DU?

For some reason, he can’t quite bring himself to make the trip.

Can the Falcons actually beat the Tigers?

The Falcons haven't beat CC since 1985, a span of 29 games. The last time I personally attended one of these cross-city rivalries, the Tigers scored 5 PP goals on a major penalty en route to an 11-1 win. Granted AF is much better this season and took Minnesota down to the end in the NCAA tournament last season BUT CC is one of the top 3 teams in the country and on a scoring frenzy since the break. Regardless, David Ramsey lays down the facts that could get the Falcons over the hump. Personally, I hope it's total domination by the Tigers :) Prediction: CC 6, AFA 2

AFA aims to make rivalry less lopsided
By DAVID RAMSEY The Gazette Sports columnist

The Colorado College-Air Force hockey series is a rivalry along the lines of Batman vs. Joker. Sure, there’s a dose of drama here and there, along with snatches of entertaining violence, but in the end everyone knows who will win.

Air Force has failed to defeat CC in 29 straight games, dating to 1985. The Tigers have outscored the Falcons 164-49 during this excruciating streak, which calculates to an average score of 5.65 to 1.68.

CC leads the overall series 55-6-2.

All this misery only aids the current Falcons, who have the motivation and, just maybe, the talent to end 23 humiliating years when the teams meet Saturday night at World Arena.

If Air Force coach Frank Serratore fails to send a seething team on the ice, he should consider a new profession. This is one easy pregame speech.

“To be honest with you,” Serratore said, “what do you have to lose? But, my oh my, if you knock them off, you’ve accomplished something.”

You can bet Serratore is dangling the chance for revenge and redemption, always a nice combination, to his players.

Yet in public, Serratore preaches only love for his crosstown opponent. He talks about his close friendship with CC coach Scott Owens, and he speaks the truth. The men are buddies, and so are their wives.

As Serratore prepared for last season’s Atlantic Hockey Association Tournament final and the chance for a trip to the NCAA Tournament, his cell phone rang.

It was Owens, whom Serratore calls “Scotty,” wishing the Falcons the best of luck.

This helps explain Serratore’s fervor as he talks about his great respect for the Tigers’ program, for their fine, upstanding players and wonderfully enthusiastic fans.

“People don’t want to hear this, but we have a good relationship,” Serratore said. “. . . I don’t hate Colorado College.”

The Falcons will face a CC team on a serious tear. The Tigers have won four straight, outscoring opponents, 16-4. CC is ranked No. 3 in the nation and might have the players to climb even higher.

And yet . . .

The Falcons have a chance. They tested the Tigers a year ago before surrendering a 2-1 loss at Cadet Ice Arena. They traveled to last season’s NCAA Tournament and nearly upset Minnesota. The Tigers, remember, stayed home from last season’s tourney.

The Falcons also boast forward Eric Ehn, who might be the best player on the ice Saturday night. Ehn was one of three finalists for last season’s Hobey Baker Award, given to college hockey’s best men’s player.

Ehn knows all about CC’s hockey blessings. The Tigers play in spacious World Arena, which will be dominated by CC fans Saturday. The Tigers’ stars were recruited by all the glamourous programs.

But Ehn sees one advantage, a major one, for his Falcons.

He believes CC players will attend classes in a relaxed atmosphere this week. CC students will not be ignited by the prospect of playing the Falcons, who have failed to defeat the Tigers since Ronald Reagan resided in the White House.

“You know,” Ehn said, “it’s kind of like why would the campus get excited to play us when they haven’t lost to us.”

Ehn is wise enough to realize this series is not yet a rivalry.

But it is a tantalizing opportunity for The Other Team in Town.