Reviews of the Pathetic Weekend Showing

Maybe it was Kate Crandall broadcasting the infamous suspension reasons just before the games (for the sheer reason to make a name for herself and sell papers no doubt) or the Tigers were still thinking DU and decided to mimic the Pios pathetic stretch run. Either way, something happened to the Tigers this past weekend. They were sloppy, slow, and couldn't score to save (black) face. This should have been an easy sweep for the Broadmoor Trophy: DU was limping like a man just after "that surgery", Minnesota had been playing hockey for a week straight non-stop, and North Dakota had a so-so goalie and wasn't as fast as the Tigers. Instead we got CC laying an oblong egg against the Gophers, and deciding not to care about 3rd place and just go through the motions and get back to the Springs (not too mention NoDak's goalie playing lights out with his crazy name). DU decided to wake up and actually play hockey was rewarded with another B-moor Trophy (they are 5-0 in the Final Five), and also with a trip to Wisconsin for the tournament-a team that put up 7 on them last time they played. Now CC is a #2 seed at home and gets to take on the defending champs. Very do-able but still a challenge. If the Tigers play like their 18-2 home record, it's off to Denver they go. If they play like this past weekend, I'll be pretty glum in my 3rd row seat Friday night.


Tip-toeing won’t take Tigers far in playoffs
By MILO F. BRYANT

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Home is all that’s left for the Colorado College Tigers.

They spent too much time toiling around the Xcel Energy Center ice and not enough time playing what they like to call “Tigers’ Hockey” on Friday and Saturday.

Blanked at the Final Five — sounds like the title of a bad hockey book. It’s sad the Tigers would’ve starred as the incredibly humbled protagonist.

Couple Saturday’s 4-2 loss to North Dakota with Friday’s overtime loss to Minnesota and the Tigers put together a weekend that we haven’t seen since they lost twice to New Hampshire in late October.

On Friday, the Tigers ran into a hot goalie and deserve a break.

Saturday’s setback was different. The Tigers failed to put forth the same kind of effort as their opponent. For much of the game, North Dakota was the team playing as if it had something to lose or something to prove.

If a team can get dirty on the ice, North Dakota was the team getting dirty. North Dakota was more stubborn. It was everything the Tigers were throughout the regular season.

The Tigers worked their butts off all season to earn the Western Collegiate Hockey Association’s regular-season title. Then they get into the playoffs and start tip-toeing around.

Tip-toeing isn’t what got them to the playoffs. It’s amazing they skated as if tiptoeing would somehow sustain them.

“For only a quarter of the time did we look like the true CC team that we’ve been all year,” senior captain Scott Thauwald said. “That’s not the way you want to play playoff hockey. If anything, you want to be more intense. You want to play better than you did in the regular season, and that just didn’t happen. The inconsistency was key.”

Saturday’s game should’ve been about the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament’s West Regional. Colorado College and North Dakota were No. 4 and No. 5 in the Pair-Wise rankings entering the game. The PairWise rankings are a simulation of the process used to pick the NCAA field. Conventional wisdom suggests the winner of the game would receive the fourth overall seed, and therefore a top seed in one of the four regionals.

The Tigers host the West Regional so they have to play there. Had they won Saturday, they would’ve been the top seed. Now they likely will be a No. 2 seed and have to beat a tougher opponent to reach the regional final.

We now have to ask ourselves: Which Tigers will show up next weekend at the World Arena?

North Dakota is one of the nation’s better teams. But there is no way North Dakota skates around the Tigers the way it did Saturday unless the Tigers are emotionally tapped or they’re simply giving a lackluster effort.

Look no further than North Dakota’s third goal Saturday.

Defenseman Chay Genoway took the puck near center ice and weaved his way between, around and by the Tigers’ Kris Fredheim, Brian Connelly and Thauwald.

The perplexing thing about the game is that the Tigers are built on speed. Yet they were not one or two steps slower. The Tigers were playing catch up much of the first two periods.

The Tigers skated as if they were on a perpetual penalty kill for much of the second period.

“It is surprising to me right now, at this point of the season, how inconsistent we are,” sophomore forward Bill Sweatt said. “We’ve got to figure it out and figure it out quick.”

Either teams have figured out how to keep the Tigers from scoring inside or the Tigers are not being gritty and aggressive enough to fight the puck inside and get the dirty goals. A majority of the Tigers’ shots are coming from the outside or from high in front of the goal.

That’s not working.

If the Tigers want to get to Denver and the Frozen Four, they better dig in and get some grit on their skates.