Vote for the Future of the Blog!

Hey Tiger fans, it seems like the season has been over forever and yet we are just now hitting the off season in full. I've been fixated on the NHL playoffs and the Avalanche the past few weeks. The NHL might suck in general, but the playoffs are still awesome! I just wish they didn't have those restarted Stanley Cup Playoff logos in the zones; too big and too stupid. How about a simple symbol at center ice like the NFL does at the 25 yard lines? Oh yea and a little thing called Spring Football is consuming all my time. Nothing like 5 HUSKER articles a day and 80,000 at the Spring Game to keep your attention. But that's not what this is about, this is about YOU voting on the new name for the blog!
Up until now, the blog has kind of lacked an identity. Some refer to it as the "support CC blog" (the address), some the "Tiger Hockey blog", and some "Colorado College Tiger Hockey" (blog). The "support..." address came about from the original purpose of the blog: class project to raise awareness about our sweet team. Now it's morphed into game stats, pics, vids and commentary on all things Tigers and WCHA hockey. I really want this thing to have a name and a brand of it's own that we can all embrace and support. I've thought up a few names for the blog and put them on the poll at left. If you have an idea (nothing is too cheezy!!) check "other" and put your suggestion in the comments section. Round one of voting will end June 1, after that I'll put the best names up on the poll and let fans vote until the end of August. The winning name will go in the address bar and on the new banner (which is already designed). I realize that traffic is LOW right now but please vote and tell your friend to vote as well. YOU will decide the new name for the blog!!!

* Thank you whomever corrected my MacNaughton "fauz pas", it's nice to know I've got copy editors out there reading the blog!

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.

Hillen Makes His Mark

(Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)


CC's Hillen impresses in Islanders debut
By GREG LOGAN
SPECIAL TO THE GAZETTE

UNIONDALE, N.Y. - There are easier ways to make your NHL debut than parachuting into the thick of the Islanders-Rangers rivalry, but that's what Colorado College defenseman Jack Hillen did Thursday at Nassau Coliseum. He went from playing Michigan State in the NCAA West Regional a week ago to playing defense for the Islanders against such Rangers stars as Jaromir Jagr and Chris Drury.

When he was fielding free-agent offers from NHL clubs, Hillen was anxious to test himself at the top level, and the Islanders were happy to provide it.

"If this was one way to try to get me to come here, it worked," Hillen said.

"I didn't really know until Sunday that this was a possibility. It snuck up on me pretty quickly. I'm a little nervous, but it's more excitement. I'll try not to make it that big of a deal, just enjoy it. Focus on the game, but also take in a little bit of the surroundings because this only happens once, playing your first NHL game."

With 17:51 left in the first period, Hillen took the ice with Radek Martinek in what ranked as the Islanders' top pairing against Drury's line. If he had jitters, it didn't show. Midway through the first period, Hillen made a deft cross-ice pass through traffic to spring forward Frans Nielsen open at the Rangers' blue line.

Hillen would log 20 shifts and 15:39 of ice time, and he wasn't on the ice for any of the Rangers' goals in their 3-0 win. He took his first penalty in a good cause stopping a dangerous rush by the Rangers' Ryan Callahan, and he added one shot, one hit and one takeaway. But it was his passing and poise that impressed Islanders captain Bill Guerin.

"Jack played as well as anybody I've ever seen in their first game, especially against your biggest rivals," Guerin said. "He just handled himself great."

Hillen's was one of many new faces in the Islanders' injury-depleted dressing room, but fellow Minnesota native Kyle Okposo, who made his NHL debut seven games earlier, was no stranger to him. They played against each other last season when Okposo was at the University of Minnesota. They're staying at a hotel adjacent to the Coliseum, and Okposo clued Hillen in on what to expect.

"He told me he was real nervous," Hillen said of Okposo's debut. "That's to be expected. If you weren't nervous, you'd be maybe not human. But the thing I keep thinking about is that a lot of players I've played against are doing well in the NHL. So, I know I can play up here. You just have to have confidence in your ability no matter where you're playing."

Those weren't empty words from Hillen. There was no hesitation in his passes or his decision-making. One of the Islanders' best power-play cycles came with him at the left point, controlling the flow and putting a shot on goal.

Asked if there was any sense of awe, Hillen answered firmly. "No, there was none. I'm not going to play scared out there."

NHL game No. 2 of his career is against the Rangers again tonight, but this time at Madison Square Garden, one of the loudest venues in the league. "I'm excited," Hillen said. "It's a historic building, and I'm looking forward to playing there. Plus, I would like to get a win in my first NHL experience. That's the most important thing."

Spoken like a pro.

More Hillen Signing Links
Newsday.com
NYI Fan Central
NY Post
FanBlog

What the NHL Should Change

With the Tigers out of the Frozen Four and the Avalanche battling down to the wire for the division title, I've been thinking a lot about the NHL: both good and bad. I've been formulating a list in my head about things I would love to see the league do to make it more entertaining, a la the WCHA. First, here are a few highlights of things I think they are doing right:

New Logo: I like the silver shield, it looks more modern, aggressive, and less like a construction sign.

4-on-4 OT: so much fun to watch the fastest 4 players from each team scream up and down the ice with the next goal being the game winner. The ice is more wide open, which alludes to a need-to-fix further down.

Shootouts: Nothing showed me the shootouts are entertaining more than at the West Regionals when hundreds of fans were clustered around a small TV to watch the Avs beat Edmonton, fun stuff and it adds uniqueness to the sport.

Things to change
1) UNIFORMS
I don't care what Reebok, sorry, RBK paid for these things, but they obviously didn't find professional designers to do most of them. Vertical stripes on hockey jerseys look ridiculous on most teams, Colorado and Edmonton to name a few. How come some teams like New Jersey and Detroit have almost no change, while other teams look stupid (some concepts were even worse!) The whole idea is dumb, hockey players aren't supposed to have tight uniforms and the whole concept of "new hip image" has made the NHL the laughing stock of the sports world. Even the AHL teams are victims.
On an Avalanche note: I wish the Avs would return to the more reddish color instead of flat maroon. The unis during the '96 season were a great color/shine combination. Of course, anything is better than the weird sleeve color combination now.

1.5) HOME TEAM IN WHITE/ALT.
Nothing can be good about the home team in dark if the reason was to sell more merchandise. NHL, fix this. We don't want to see the opponents in white every night, we want to see their colors. Plus, in a weird way, it looks like the home team is "highlighted" when in white. Whenever I play NHL '08 (with my custom Tigers team of course), I make sure to correct this problem.
If you want the home team to wear dark on occasion, bring back the 3rd jerseys. Those were fun

2) ICING
No-touch icing should be put in place immediately, like tomorrow. Something about seeing to grown men going full speed at a wall doesn't seem to safe to me. Plus, it wastes time and is boring to watch when one player casually skates after it. Think of how much extra time in the offensive zone a team would have if a clearing attempt was brought back as soon as it crossed the end-line?!

3) OLYMPIC ICE
For economic reasons this will never happen; all the new arenas are built for the smaller ice sheet. BUT, imagine how much more wide open it would be if there was that extra space on the ice? Look at CC play; more speed and more room to move at the World Arena. NHL players sometimes look like big kids playing in the sandbox on the NHL ice. The Olympics are always a ton of fun to watch because it's played on the bigger ice sheet.

4) RELOCATION
The NHL keeps whining about declining revenue. Well, quite putting teams where they don't belong! I know there are fans everywhere BUT, because of hockey's origins it would probably make sense to put teams where it actually snows once in a while! Here's my little plan

Teams to move or remove: Nashville, Atlanta, Tampa, Florida, Columbus and maybe a SoCal team

• Nashville has a cool logo, but can't sell tickets. Kansas City wants a team again so why not move a semi-established franchise into the new Sprint Center and see how they do. They would be a nice close rival to the Avalanche and provide the Midwest with an alternative to the pathetic Blues. If their fail, give em the axe
  
• Atlanta Thrashers: fold the team and call it a day. I would say relocate but the name and new uniform gets them the permanent axe.
• Tampa Lightning: had one good season and somehow won the Stanley Cup before the lockout, has quickly returned to the NHL basement. It might sound mean to do this to a warm-weather franchise but Canada needs more teams so off you go: either Quebec City or Winnipeg where hockey belongs.
• Florida Panthers: Are they still in the league? After Beezer in '96 they vanished, which they should. Expansion team didn't work out down there, see ya.
• Columbus Blue Jackets: Never understood why they put a team there, doesn't ring a bell as hockey land but they just appeared one day. BUT, if the NHL wants experiments, send em to Vegas where everyone claims a team is needed (the only exception to the "snow rule")
  
• Anaheim or LA: I know LA is big and can support two teams but it doesn't make sense for a struggling league to have two teams in one market. The Kings have the history and the name, the Ducks are a pretty good team now. So what do you do? Logic would say leave the tradition and send the newbies off to Canada (Quebec or Winnipeg, whoever didn't get one earlier) and risk betraying the fans. I'll go aggressive and send the Kings to Canada and leave the Los Angeles Ducks (or dare we say the Southern California Ducks)?
• Bonus-Phoenix Coyotes: They have the fan base, population, and facilities but remember this is a struggling league and Phoenix makes as much sense as Miami. We'll give Wayne a couple more years but he's been put on notice.

5) ORIGINAL CONFERENCE and DIVISION NAMES: Bring back names like the Norris Divsion and Prince of Whales Conference. Sounds kind of kooky but it adds a uniqueness and tradition to the sport and distinguishes it from all other U.S. sports that have geographic distinctions. Plus, you don't end up with weird division associations like Colorado and Minnesota in the Northwest and D.C. in the southeast.

There you go, axe two teams, move 2 back to the hockey homeland and try out hockey in Vegas and KC. Will any of this all happen? Nashville has the biggest chance, followed by Atlanta. The likely destination will be KC for the newest team and the Winnipeg area for the other.

There's my take, I'm sure I'll add to and tweak this throughout the week. If you want more "what should the NHL really be like"isms, check out ESPNHL that was dreamed up during the lockout.
~PCO

Tigers at the Frozen Four

Figured I would lend a hand to the guys over at the forums who are gathering in Denver for the Frozen Four. CCTig has a thread going on planning for the fans to meet, link here
and here's a comment I recieved on Monday's entry:
"Hey those of you thinking about going to the FF, don't forget that since our cc team ain't playing that "The Jimmy" is in the skills contest. So there is still hope for some reprieve! Have to check on the time but I believe it is Friday near the Hobey announcement time, maybe??? Lets try and go support him with some real CC cheer!"

The Skills Contest is Friday, April 11 at 5:30PM-tickets here

Hillen to the Pros

CC defenseman Hillen signs with Islanders

By KATE CRANDALL

Colorado College senior defenseman Jack Hillen signed a two-year contract with the New York Islanders on Tuesday.

Hillen, the Western Collegiate Hockey Association Defensive Player of the Year, is expected make his NHL debut Thursday and Friday in the Islanders’ final two games, a home-and-home series with the New York Rangers.

“I’m pretty excited and nervous,” said Hillen, who took a red-eye flight to New York on Monday and was in New York to watch the Islanders take on the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday. “I don’t quite know what to expect. But I’m just really happy with my decision to be part of the Islanders organization and I think it’s going to be a lot of fun in this next week getting used to some things and doing whatever I need to do next year to get back to the highest level. Who knows what’s going to happen, but I’m just happy to be here right now.”

As the nation’s top-scoring defenseman, Hillen finished second among all Tigers’ scorers with six goals and 31 assists. Hillen, who was undrafted, was also named first-team all-WCHA.

“Our whole staff is very excited for him,” CC coach Scott Owens said. “It’s nice to see a player be rewarded for doing it the right way. In four years, he put in his time. He improved, he developed, he had a great senior year and then he had the opportunity to sign a pro contract. . . . We’re thrilled.”

Hillen will see a familiar face when he skates for the first time with the Islanders today. Former Minnesota forward Kyle Okposo made headlines when he gave up his final 2½ seasons of eligibility in December to sign with the Islanders.

“We are very proud that Jack made the decision to join the Islanders,” general manager Garth Snow said in a statement. “He was one of the prized college free agents for good reason. He is an excellent puck-moving defenseman and our scouting staff is really impressed by his competitive spirit.”

At Least We're Not the Cubs

Thanks to Grubinbox on the forums for that headline. Despite the Tigers' disappointing finish, there are a lot of things to take from the season; both accomplishments and experience.
1) The Tigers won their 9th McNaughton Cup and first outright regular season title since 2002-03, giving them the most steady regular season of any team in the country.
2) The Gold Pan remained in the Springs for the second consecutive season after winning the season series against DU 3-1. Denver has been a strong program worth using as a measuring stick, and the Tigers scored very highly.
3) Returning to the Final Five: despite a poor showing, the Tigers returned to the Excel Center after a 2 year hiatus and gave most of the team valuable post-season experience. Have to build a strong foundation to win that first Broadmoor Trophy.
4) Return to the NCAA Tournament: The Tigers got to play at home for the first game of the tourney; a very unique opportunity that most teams don't get. Again, the team gained a ton of experience despite being destined to lose the game, no matter how many shots they took!
5) DU still sux: despite what bragging rights their fans thing they have earned with the Broadmoor Trophy, the fact is the McNaughton Cup is much harder to win. DU's Trophy: 4 wins, CC's Trophy: 26 Wins
More to come