West Regionals Observations from the Seats

From 2008 NCAA Wes...

As most of you know, Notre Dame won the West Regionals and is headed to Denver as the "worst" team in the Frozen Four. Not one "expert" thought they would even beat New Hampshire and surely not CC. Well they thumped the Wildcats 7-3 and padded that with 2 empty-netters, and never had to play CC but knocked out the defending champs. Go figure. I sarcastically said in my predictions that every team I picked to win the first round would lose, and almost all did but that's another story for later. As for the regionals themselves, it was definitely weird having our own arena taken over and controlled by the NCAA. It was obviously a giant commercial for an entity that is nowhere to be found during the regular season. All board ads and ice ads were stripped and replaced with the regional teams and logos, no problem with that, just different. The jumbo-tron had the "floating Tiger head" removed and video was split between the internal closed-circuit cameras and the ESPNU feed. It was pretty sweet seeing the ESPN score bar on the screen, knowing we were on national TV (even if it was a premium channel).

• One thing that was annoying was the commercials shown during the breaks. They were all past hockey memories, NCAA Championship ads (lacking D-1 football of course since they don't have playoffs), an ad for Hockey East that I booed every time it was played, and stupid trivia games that never got a peep out of the crowd...except when George Gwozdecky was featured followed by boos.
• Being on TV provided us with something we rarely get at the World Arena, TV timeouts. They were frequent and looooong and really broke up the flow of the game. It was like being at a Huskers' game when it was on Saturday Night Football on ABC, really annoying.
  

• The announcing was a neutral announcer rather than our sweet standard. The bathrooms didn't have the usual radio feed which was unfortunate, I was looking forward to hearing Ken Landau's assessment of the game while I was taking a break. Speaking of bathrooms, because of NCAA rules I'm sure, there as no alcohol at the game! I was really looking forward to my regular Sunshine Wheat but was denied. Any casual fan will notice the love of alcohol at the games, from Jack and Coke to wine to micro-brews, we know how to enjoy a game.

• Speaking of enjoying the game, most of us have come to love the soundtrack that goes with the Tigers instead of a band. Luckily, it played most of the game but it had to compete with the Spartan band. USCHO said that we "got a treat" hearing the bands from ND and MSU but they were the most obnoxious things EVER at a game! They got a rude awakening from CC fans with boos and a couple middle fingers directed their way. Most of the fans around us were EXTREMELY annoyed with the musical noise echoing around the arena. It's fine outside at football games or inside at high school basketball games, but not hockey. Thank goodness the arena music drowned it out most of the time for the Tigers game, not the earlier game however as the Notre Dame band was almost non-stop. Their ending "victory" song sounded like a funeral song, another reason why I hate that school with a passion.

• One of the funniest things was during the second intermission. I came out of the bathroom to find a couple hundred people crowded around the TV next to a snack bar. No other NCAA games were on so I was curious what the deal was. Turns out the Avs were in OT against Edmonton and headed for a shootout. By the time the SO started, the crowd had tripled in size and cheers were loud as the Avs went 3-for-3. Any ND fan was probably wondering what the heck that was all about, gotta love CO!
• Personally, I thought the style of hockey by the other three teams was very different than the WCHA. Not as skilled skating, passing or hitting. Notre Dame players fell down about every minute and Michigan State, instead of griding along the boards or digging, simply fell down and let the Tigers' fall on top. They played the puck in the corners a lot and fell on it hoping to get a whistle instead of playing up-tempo like the WCHA. I was not impressed with either Cup Cake team, even if they won. New Hampshire played more of CC's style. CCHA hockey just looked sloppy and the goaltending was the single reason why the Tigers didn't win. Bachman did fine, not excellent, but good enough to win - the offense just couldn't bury the biscuit through no fault of their own.
• The Arena was decidedly against New Hampshire for obvious reasons: the Tigers would face the weakest opponent Saturday night (of course they had to win first...). Personally, I wanted the Wildcats to win for hockey-purity reasons. The Tigers had been swept earlier in the season and would get a chance at revenge, UNH was clearly a better team and was more fun to watch since ND looked like retarded boys on skates, and I flat out HATE Notre Dame and all the stupid favoritisms they get just for being who they are.
  
• The Tigers wore the 70th anniversary Unis again which I'm sure pleased the fans. Judging from the apparel the crowd, the throwbacks not only out-represented the other jerseys but all other merch. as well! I'm seriously tempted to lay down a wad of cash and purchase the entire collection: black, yellow alternate and throwback. I got my white one last week on sale at Red Mountain sports and love it. You can't go wrong with hockey sweaters, there is just something unique and cool about em, no matter how many you have!
• One funny note; I titled David Ramsey's article "sometimes a good spanking is all you need" regarding the Tigers' beat-downs at the Final Five. Of course I didn't think about how that title would show up in google searches. Turns out people like to search the word "spanking" and that entry popped up 8 times in a day in searches from places like Madrid and even one from Tbillsi, Georgia. I'm sure it will be much more after this bullet point, haha
  

That's all I got for now, if I remember any more "observances" from the game I'll add to it. Tomorrow I'll run through the highlights of the season and why the 3 game skid wasn't all bad for the Tigers. (if you need some goalie humor, check out the vid below. Never heard of this goalie but he sure loves the camera and microphone!)
~PCO

Season Complete: What's Next for the Blog

First off, thanks to everyone who has stopped by the site the past week to check out the Tigers. You set the all-time record Friday for visits in a day, a lot from across the country which was really cool. Saturday also had an extremely high number of visitors, which is pretty sweet considering the Tigers were ousted the night before. I have plenty to write about the games Friday night and the overall "feel" of the regionals, but I think I'll save it for tomorrow and lump it together with the season wrap-up for the Tigers; I'm too busy enjoying my weekend to sit down and write for a few hours;) So fear not loyal readers, I'll have fresh content throughout the day tomorrow. For now, enjoy the pics from both games Friday night: my dad and I combined for some awesome shots including Prowler acknowledging us as he skated by and my dad's super-zoom on Bachman.
For those that weren't at the game, I will emphasize that the Tigers didn't play poorly Friday at all, they look crisp for the most part and definitely skated, passed, and had more intensity than the Spartans. BUT, it was made painfully clear why their goalie was a Hobey finalist. Any other guy in net would have allowed 5 goals at minimum, that's how many chances the Tigers had. But, it wasn't to be and they got valuable experience instead. They also shouldn't feel too bad though after Notre Dame, the team a lot felt was the weakest in the tournament and didn't deserve to even be there, cruised to the Frozen Four. DU was demolished and AFA gave up a late 2-1 lead and lost to Miami in OT. North Dakota and Wisconsin play tonight for the WCHA's Frozen Four participant; and for the love of all that is right in the college hockey world, I hope one of those teams wins the National Championship!
Happy Sunday and look for the Regional Wrap and season wrap this week!
~PCO

Pics from Friday Night

CC Athletics Recap
Spartans advance as Lerg shuts down Tigers
Jeff Lerg is guilty of grand larceny. The junior goaltender made a season-high 41 saves to lead third-seeded Michigan State to a 3-1 victory over second-seeded Colorado College in Game No.2 of the NCAA West Regional at the Colorado Springs World Arena. The Spartan victory set up an all-Central Collegiate Hockey Association regional final on Saturday night against Notre Dame, which upset top-seeded New Hampshire, 7-3, in the first game of the day. Lerg was brilliant in the opening period, when the Tigers outshot MSU 12-2. Both teams had three power-play opportunities, but were only able to muster one shot on goal apeice. Michigan State broke the stalemate midway through the second period when junior left wing Tim Kennedy lifted the rebound of a Jeff Petry shot past a sprawling Richard Bachman on the power play. Jeff Dunne doubled the Spartan lead with 1:57 remaining in the second period on a one-timer from the right circle. MSU stunned the Tigers with seven seconds left in the period when Chris Mueller took a feed from Kennedy and beat Bachman with a slaphot in the top left corner. The Tigers scored their only goal midway through the third period when Andreas Vlassopoulos won a draw back to Derek Patrosso, who put a shot between Berg’s pads to give CC life with 7:53 to play. With the Spartans protecting their lead in the final 20 minutes, Colorado College had a 17-9 advantage in shots on goal, but was unable to crack the MSU defense a second time. Bachman finished with 20 saves for the Tigers, who saw their season end with a 28-12-1 record.

Game Day Material

photo by Kevin Kreck













The day of the regionals is here and it's fitting that the Springs is frosted with freezing rain from over-night. I can't remember the last time there was freezing rain like this. BUT, it was 70+ degrees earlier this week so it's no surprise, gotta love spring in CO. If you are just trying to survive work and get to tonight fear not, there are plenty of links to read. Some have interesting thoughts about the tournament (like Clarkson reaching Denver), most are east coast bias like usual. My poll looks like it's shaping up how I figured it would with CC, Michigan and North Dakota handily owning their regionals and the North East regional a complete toss-up. It's too bad the games aren't on normal TV. ESPN has pulled an NFL Network move and put all the regionals on ESPNU, a channel most standard cable subscribers don't get. Stupid, but I can't do anything about it.
I'll be at both games tonight so the blog won't be updated until near midnight or Saturday morning, but I'll have plenty of pics from both games. GO TIGERS!!!

CC Athletics looks at the Tigers and their battle with Michigan State tonight

The local coverage of the West Regionals and the teams

USCHO has regional previews as well as "more coverage" aka east coast bias

INCH features Air Force on the homepage and offers more informed regional previews

ESNPU has some writers that have randomly decided to cover college hockey starting today and have some odd "expert" predictions, aka "who's everyone else picking"

College Hockey News has enough goodies to waste the rest of the afternoon

The Gazette does their best to look like they actually care

Colorado Is a Big Freakin' Deal

Those of you that know me know that I'm annoyingly proud of the state of Colorado and everything that we have. So I was extremely happy to check out the paper today to see the special section devoted to Colorado being the hotbed of hockey for the weekend. The photo-illustration by Mark Reis was phenomenal. Half of the image is above. Unfortunately, they cut off the burning Nike Bauer skate that is above the Colorado hockey puck, probably so people like me don't put it on their blog (which is ironic because I probably get more traffic and exposure than that paper does and I would give them more visitors, but another matter for another time). The section has some good articles, if you can find them. In true Gazette fashion, each page has a 1/4 page article and the other 3/4 is FULL OF ADS! Gazette, I don't care about Liberty Toyota, but I do care about the "Last Change a Boon" article buried on the upper left. Can you guys at least spare us the ads for a special section? Can you imagine those sweet Broncos posters from the Super Bowl years with a big Heuberger ad at the bottom? You guys actually had something good going on and you ruined it (and having to pay for it is no excuse, this is ridiculous). Kate actually did a good job on this one so I compiled all the article links for you to spare you from all the ads. However, the photo illustration is worth whatever the paper costs so if you feel compelled, go pick one up.

The hotbed of hockey

CC Refocusing

Home team draws a crowd

It's all about the line change

Some good stories from our local sportswriters

CC inspired to attend party it hosts

By MILO F. BRYANT The Gazette Sports columnist

The college hockey season, at least the western portion of it, could not be shaping up to be any better.

The Colorado College Tigers and the University of Denver Pioneers are as friendly to each other as Obama and Hillary. And it looks like the rivals will be fighting for postseason positioning until the end of the season.

The Tigers entered Saturday’s game sitting atop the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. The Pioneers were second. Yet the Pioneers were ranked second to CC’s No. 4 national ranking in the USA Today/USA Hockey poll.

“I haven’t seen two teams on top of this league so clearly since I’ve been here,” CC coach Scott Owens said after the Tigers’ 5-2 victory over Alaska-Anchorage. “. . . It’s a great story because we’re big rivals. We both have half an eye on each other whether we want to admit it or not.

“And we’re plugging along because both of us have hosted regionals in the last three or four years that we didn’t get into. That is a tremendous motivating factor. It’s a sense of embarrassment.”

Since the college hockey season began, it has been about one thing for the Tigers and, to a large degree, the Pioneers — protecting home ice.

Many of the Tigers sport the letters “IOB” on shirts underneath their uniforms. IOB stands for In Our Backyard.

The NCAA West Regional is at World Arena, CC’s home ice. The Frozen Four is in Denver at the Pepsi Center, less than 5 miles from the DU campus.

The dominos, so-to-speak, are laid out for both teams, but more so for the Tigers.

Protect the backyard and a trip to the Frozen Four awaits.

Seems as simple as that.

With a 9-0 home record, the Tigers are making it look simple.

“It’s not just us,” Owens said. “It’s teams coming in to the biggest sheet in North America. I think it’s been a real subtle confidence that we have in this building. We have a team that’s built for a big sheet. This can be a pretty tough building to play in because of our quickness.”

It can be tough because the Tigers are a good team, too. And Saturday was an example of what good teams do to bad teams.

After a lackluster first period, Alaska-Anchorage increased its intensity. It played much of the early part of the second period creating havoc in front of Tigers goaltender Richard Bachman.

The Tigers, who beat the Seawolves by five goals Friday, responded by matching, then exceeding the Seawolves’ passion.

The Tigers scored three goals that period.

The Seawolves lost their bite. The checking was less forceful. They got lazy, took a couple of penalties. One led to the Tigers’ third goal. The Seawolves’ goals came after the game had been decided.

This isn’t the same Tigers team that took the ice earlier this season. That Tigers team might not have responded like this one. This team is tighter. It’s in better synch. And it looks as if a shorthanded road trip helped.

“Anytime you go on a long road trip, you’re away from everything, school’s done,” Tigers forward Jimmy Kilpatrick said. “We didn’t have anything to worry about except hockey situations. And that’s fun. You get to be a more tight knit group.

Contact Bryant at 636-0252 or milo.bryant@gazette.com. See his blog at milobryant.blogspot.com or catch him on KOAA’s Comcast Channel 9 most Wednesdays at 4 p.m.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sweep not perfection
Tigers earn comfortable wins but scoreless in 1st period

By KATE CRANDALL THE GAZETTE

Colorado College swept Alaska-Anchorage with a 5-2 win Saturday, but the Tigers were still more comfortable grumbling than grinning.

“It was kind of a sloppy weekend,” said Brian McMillin, who shifted from center to right wing this weekend for the first time since a brief high school stint.

“We had some high points, but we had some really low points. . . . If you want to keep playing come March and April, you’ve got to pick at everything so you can try playing your best at the end.”

With the victory, the No. 4 Tigers improved to 9-0 at home and pulled six points ahead of second-place Denver in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association race. Denver has played two less league games.

“Shhhhhh,” right wing Jimmy Kilpatrick said of the undefeated home record.

Anchorage had not dropped a road sweep beforehand but fell to 6-9-5 overall and 2-9-3 in the WCHA. The Tigers improved to 16-6 and 15-3 in the WCHA by outscoring the Seawolves 11-3 for the weekend.

CC was held scoreless in the first period for the fourth consecutive game, again resorting to outside shots and failing to create traffic in front of the net.

“The first four or five shifts were really strong, but we took that penalty and it kind of slowed us down,” McMillin said, referring to defenseman Ryan Lowery’s interference. “We’re ready to go, but we’re not sustaining it the whole period. We’ve got to play the whole game.”

Six minutes into the second, with the referee’s arm raised to signal a penalty, Kilpatrick sent a cross to center Chad Rau, who put a rebound top-shelf to give CC a 1-0 lead.

At 11:18 of the second, Mc-Millin one-timed a rebounded Scott McCulloch shot over goaltender Jon Olthuis’ left shoulder. Less than two minutes later, Kilpatrick added a power-play goal from the bottom of the left circle.

The Tigers went on a fiveminute power play in the third period after Anchorage’s Sean Wiles checked Kilpatrick from behind into the right post so hard that the open-face of the goal clanged against the back wall.

Just 23 seconds into the man-advantage, Bill Sweatt caught right wing Mike Testwuide by surprise with a goal-line pass but tapped in the bobbled puck to make it 4-0.

Anchorage’s Peter Cartwright and Mat Robinson turned a rebound into a twoon-one with defenseman Nate Prosser. Cartwright beat goalie Richard Bachman blockerside for only the second shorthanded goal scored on the Tigers this season.

With less than two minutes left, the Seawolves’ Brad Mc-Cabe added a goal to draw Anchorage within two. Coach Dave Shyiak pulled Olthuis with 1:04 to go, but Rau scooped up a blocked shot and sailed in for a slam dunk on the empty net.

“So we had a good weekend,” McMillin said.

“We know we’ve got to work on some things and keep going.”

CONTACT THE WRITER: 476-4803 or kate.crandall@gazette.com.