Tigers DUmp Pioneers

The Tigers scoring explosion continued Friday night with a 5-1 stomping of DU at the World Arena. The Tigers were a step ahead all night and took advantage of every opportunity to frustrate and bury their I25 rivals. Chad Rau led the way with 3 goals and Bachman was again stellar in net with 28 saves and lots of help from his teammates. At one point in the second period, the puck was headed for the net and with no more than one inch to spare, it was batted away in mid-air by a CC defender. The game could have been much worse for DU. In the third period, after CC scored goal number 5, Denver lost their class. Fights ensued and the penalty boxes were loaded (at one point DU had 4 in at one time). After the smoke had cleared and the wrestling matches were through, CC came out with a rare 4 on 3 power play. Minutes later, a DU player lost his composure and blasted a Tiger from behind in front of the CC bench and received a 5 minute penalty. CC held the puck in the DU zone almost the entire 5 on 3 portion of that penalty and registered 7 shots on goal with each and every one causing the World Arena crowd to jump to its feet. By this time, "DU SUCKS" was ringing constantly across the arena as the Pioneers desperately tried to get any puck away from a Tiger. No luck as the Tigers played like they had glue on their sticks and skated around and through the men in red. CC looked great all night, especially since they were up against the number 3 team in the nation who was also on a roll. Let's hope the change of venue tomorrow night doesn't change a thing!
USCHO Box Score

Sign of the night: "you can't spell DUmb without DU" held up by a young girl

Sightings of the night:

• Janet Testwuide walked by me twice on the way to the press box sporting her split CC/DU jersey, pretty sweet uni

• I also spotted a Lincoln Stars hat and sweatshirt a few rows in front of me. Of course, that is where current Tiger Steve Schultz played last season (among numerous other WCHA players) and also the team I was watching through college the past 4 years.

• With the DU box overflowing, the fans around the box took to jeering the players. In a rare sighting, the players yelled back. As the play continued, I could see the DU players in the sin-bin looking toward the fans (obviously yelling), the fans would look over and yell back. At one point the entire section stood up and cheered. Wish I could have heard that exchange!

2 hours until the puck drops

Profiles of the DU-CC series by the du blog/RM news and the wcha blog

One step short

The DU blog pokes fun at CC's low moments over the past...well the past. The biggest thing I've noticed is that CC is always good and always has a competitive team, they are always just one step short, ya know, second best. I still remember the loss to Michigan in the 1996 National Championship game, might have been the first game I ever watched (and until I read the actual article the day after, I thought the game was played in Michigan because of all their fans...though we might have had 40 instead of 35 dg, haha). Oh and it should be noted that freakin Marty Turco was the Michigan goalie that year, ya know the stud NHL goalie? Anyway, CC has suffered way too many years (50!) without a title. The remaining alums are all holed up at Village at Skyline now just waiting for the sun to set that one last time (just remember Grandpa, no smoking while you are on your oxygen...)
I remember the game a few years in 05 back against DU in the sweet all WCHA Frozen Four. I skipped class to watch CC finally beat DU after 3 straight losses, a time when it mattered most. Instead, I saw DU score 6 power play goals and embarrass our proud program on ESPN. Yikes.
It's been rough, maybe this year will be the year. Heck, even winning the Broadmoor Trophy would be nice since it was named after the freakin resort they used to play at! Maybe all this waiting keeps us coming back for more, hoping for the Tigers to finally break through and get some national respect (and a big shiny trophy!). Whatever the case, it leaves most of the loyal fans die-hards and keeps the band-wagoners out (Rockies anyone?). 2 days until some amazing WCHA action!!!

DU, CC hit top 5

In the newest USCHO poll, the Pioneers and landed and 3 and 4 respectively setting up a HUGE weekend series this week. DU jumped up one spot while CC jumped three places after sweeping (and kicking the crap out of) Wisconsin last weekend. UW is now 12. The WCHA remains strong with 7 teams in the Top 20. CC and DU are ranked the same in the USA Today poll this week with North Dakota at 5 instead of 6. Miami OH and evil michigan remain 1-2.

Yo Tiger Fans!

CC blog spot
So I was looking through the analytics of my site and realized that, of my season high of visitors yesterday, the majority were referrals from our "fan forums" that were responsible for my first slew of interest late last season when I got started. I'm flattered by all the interest there is out there in TigerLand. Reading all your comments just gives me that much more enthusiasm for keeping this blog rockin! Oh and the song is a remix of Remember the Name by Fort Minor with some DJ/digitizer guy name Maclane that ads the symphony-ness.

You guys all rock! I've been getting tips and compliments from dggoddard my fellow blogger of the DU Pioneers, pretty sweet. We will see how sweet it is this particular week ;) I know that Kate Crandall has a blog as well that provides us that insider prospective while I take the fan perspective. I've been a little disappointed in her printed articles though. Her story about the UW game focused on when the Tigers were scoring (PP vs EVEN), I kinda felt that went completely away from the point that they KILLED the Badgers! Oh well, she's the professional writer and I'm just the amateur ;) I still would like to meet her in person though, ya know, blogger to blogger, haha.

Thanks for spreading the word, the more you do that, the more this blog will bring you!

Tigers bury Badgers 6-1

It was close when first puck was dropped and not much past that. CC dominated Wisconsin en route to a 6-1 blowout Saturday night. About the only thing UW had tonight was more shots. They looked sloppy with the puck and misplayed countless pucks off the boards, which of course can always be attributed to an unfamiliar arena. We were debating after the game whether CC looked that good or Wisconsin was just that bad. I think it was a little bit of both. Wisconsin's star goalie Shane Connelly only lasted 2 periods giving up 5 goals on 22 shots. CC's Richard Bachman looked sharp again making 31 saves and only allowing 1 goal on a quick rush to start the third. Once the Tigers got their 6th goal it turned ugly as Wisconsin tried hard to beat up the Tigers and start a fight after almost every whistle. It was a pathetic display of sportsmanship and after one penalty, Billy Sweatt simple laughed and pointed up at the jumbotron.
We sat behind the student section for the first time at a CC game (I sat there a loong time ago for a Gold Kings game) and I must say it was a blast. With the vertical view of the arena it was easy to see plays develop and open passes. And me being a college student only 6 months removed, it was great to get back in that atmosphere. Good times. Pics will be up shortly

Bathroom quote of the night: While we are all waiting after the second intermission (5-0) in line a Badger fan walks in and a CC fan says "hey, bend over!". Hilarious! and all in good fun, no butts or feelings were hurt.

From the stands: Some obvious new fans were behind us when the CC students chanted their first "Connelly you suck d*ck!". From behind me "what did they say?!", "sounded like "you suck d*ck". I readily confirmed what they had heard and let them know that the opposing goalie is the weekly victim of that chant. They loved it.

Box score from USCHO

In case you missed it

Here are some of the pre-series news, notes and stories for your Saturday afternoon enjoyment.

Wisconsin looks to see what they are made of in The Springs

The Wisconsin Hockey blog looks at the challenges of the Tigers #1 goaltender as well as general notes about the Badger team.

Open ice and thin air are the topics on the Badger Herald

The solid Denver Post blogger Mike Chambers takes a look at the early Hobey Baker possibilities in CC goalie Bachman and DU goalie Mannino

The Tigers go for the sweep tonight in the official BLACKOUT GAME!!!
WEAR BLACK!!!! GO TIGERS!!!!

Tigers win Friday night 4-3

The Tigers use a 2nd intermission pep-talk among players to pull out the first of two against a tough Wisconsin team. CC athletics coverage here and box score here
Official USCHO coverage from the battle Friday night and David Ramsey takes a look at Jimmy Kilpatrick's road to the game winning goal.

Tigers #2 in WCHA Power Rankings, Bachman wins Rookie of the Week

The CC website takes a look at this weeks story lines including Freshman Goalie Richard Bachman and his amazing start to the season. He leads all WCHA goaltenders .962 save percentage and an unblemished 5-0 record. CC brings an undefeated home record into the weekend against a very tough Wisconsin team. The WCHA blog places the Tigers at number 2 in the WCHA power ranks behind DU, one week until that huuuge series.

Tuesday Tiger Stuff

Denver Post writer Mike Chambers has a pretty good blog column on the website about college hockey. Granted, it's mostly about DU (funny how that works...) but heck, I would rather read that then our pathetic libertatian Gazette here in the Springs. Chambers points out that CC and DU have both helped to contribute to Minnesota having the worst start in school history. Looks like we can relate to something....at least until the 23rd....oh and our friend dggoddard from the DU blog has made his mark in the comments section of the blog already :)

In other CC news, I discovered another hockey blog that covers a lot of just general sports, but has a few pieces about the Tigers this season as well as past players Mark Stuart and Brett Sterling. Check it out

New USCHO Polls

The Tigers move up two places to #7 in this week's USCHO poll. Wisconsin comes in at #9 after a weekend split with now #5 North Dakota. This week, the WCHA lands 7 of the top 20 teams in the nation. Not bad eh? Complete rankings here

Tigers sweep Duluth behind Bachman's shutout

CC finished of Duluth tonight 3-0 to improve to 5-3 (5-1WCHA) before a big showdown with Wisconsin next weekend. Freshman Richard Bachman stopped 34 shots to earn the shutout for the Tigers. More to come as the weekend rolls on.
From USCHO: The No. 9 Colorado College Tigers are probably more concerned with wins and standings, and their impressive 3-0 shutout win, coupled with Michigan Tech's loss to St. Cloud State, vaulted the Tigers into sole possession of first in the ever-competitive WCHA. In the process of doing so, Tigers' coach Scott Owens earned his 200th career win.

Tigers fight to 5-3 victory behind explosive 2nd period

The Tigers started the game with two passes in front of their own net that almost resulted in own-goals. The Tiger finished the game fighting off a tough Minnesota-Duluth team to win 5-3. In between those events was a tough, hard-fought game of two teams that seemed to be evenly matched. The Tigers would play sloppy, the Bulldogs would capitalize. The Bulldogs would break down defensively, the Tigers would slam one home. The second period began 1-1 and ended with the Tigers up 5-2. CC scored on a magnificent break-away and a tipped goal that was controversial (at least according to UMD). The crowd seemed fairly relaxed most of the game, probably due to the fact that we don't know a lot about UMD and so they are a virtual no-name. I was impressed with them though, they were tough and very physical and refused to die. They killed off a 5:00 major during the third period and often had a man open outside the crease. Tomorrow night should be exciting as both teams will make their adjustments and go at it again at 7pm. I have numerous fun pictures from this game that I will put up tomorrow night, as well as links from the game as they accumulate! The official recap is here

I need to confess that I was wrong about the "blackout" turns out that the official night is next Friday night against Wisconsin (who beat North Dakota tonight, by the way). However, a number of people wore black tonight which was really cool. Here's an idea that I had last season as well. What if we ALWAYS wore black on Fridays and gold on Saturdays? How cool would that be? Imagine coming to play the Tigers; a top WCHA team, in high altitude, loud crowd and on top of it they can change colors between the 2 games?! It might just be a minor annoyance, but an annoyance none-the-less.

2 Hours before gametime!

In 2 hours from right now the Tigers drop the puck with Minnesota-Duluth. Here's the weekly run-down and quick over view of tonights game. Look for Bachman to be in net and

WEAR BLACK!!!

Black Friday

A fan reminded me of this, WEAR BLACK TONIGHT! The only publicity has been a mini-line in a Gazette ad so here you go, let's black out the World Arena!



WEAR BLACK TONIGHT!!!

Blog Updates

Hey all, as you can see above, I've added a new video box to the blog. I'm trying to have that "ESPN.COM" approach with their SportsCenter Minute and show video on the page. It's just an experiment for now pending the reaction of the regular visitors to this blog. The one flaw in it is that its bigger than I would prefer and I have no control over the videos that get in. I have it set to show hockey, Colorado college, and Colorado-so we will see how it interprets that. Also, I realize that I have fallen down on the job with my "You know your a hockey fan when" piece so, in the meantime, I'm going to put up a poll about some of the best things about CC hockey and see what you all like. Stop by often and vote as many times as it will let you! Hope everyone is having a great week, we hit 6% humidity and 73 degrees here in The Springs today so I can't complain! It's supposed to be over 70 for the next few weeks again; CC hockey Friday and Saturday nights and hitting the trails in between, I LOVE THIS STATE!

Tigers off to a good start

The WCHA blog takes a look at the movement in the Power Rankings this week and the fact that CC is 3-3, 3-1 Conference (first 2 games were exhibition) after playing Minnesota, New Hampshire AND North Dakota...all in the first 3 weeks of the season! I remember back when the schedule was released I wrote about how we will find our very quickly what these Tigers are made of. So far, I would say they are looking very good. Bring on Duluth!

New Rankings and the weekend wrap-up

Not much changed this weekend in the USCHO poll this week for the Tigers as they remained number 9 (same as the USA Today poll as well). Miami Ohio remained in the top spot while North Dakota fell from 2nd to 3rd, with Michigan leap-frogging to that spot. The Tigers opponent this weekend, Minnesota Duluth, is currently ranked 15th in both polls.
The WCHA blog takes a look at the WCHA this past weekend and the importance of the Tigers gaining the split in their "marquee matchup."

Tigers split series with North Dakota

Well, the Tigers went into the North Dakota series after being swept by New Hampshire in their first road series of the young season. Unfortunately, North Dakota was the team that came out flying and pounded the Tigers 6-2 and gave CC a three game losing streak. The Tigers struck back Saturday night and used a strong showing from Bachman in net to gain the split with a 4-1 victory and earned the split with number 1 North Dakota. Of course, we all would have loved to see the Tigers sweep the series, but a win is a win, especially on the road at the number one team in the nation. It's great to see that the Tigers have a stud in net now with their freshman. This was one of the biggest question marks coming into the season after losing Zaba last season. Despite being swept out east, the Tigers are still looking very good for the rest of the season and have some good momentum going into this weekend's home series against Minnesota-Duluth.
Speaking of "out east", New Hampshire was upset by Northeastern on Saturday night for the first time in 20 games. Hats off to NE as they beat the number 3 team in the nation.
Another series that might have been a shocker to some, was DU sweeping Minnesota and leaving the Gophers at 0-4 in the WCHA for the first time....ever. Either CC and DU are REALLY good, or Minnesota is REALLY BAD!

A thanks to those reading the blog

I just wanted to say thanks to all of you who have taken the time to hop over and check out this blog. Wednesday was the highest number of visitors to date this season! I'm hoping this is an indication that the content I'm putting up is of interest to college hockey fans both in Colorado and beyond. It looks like people are spending more than a mere 3 seconds on the site too (2 minute average) so I'm looking to build on that and give you all a great source for Tiger information and D1 college hockey!!
Speaking of outside CO, I noticed that none of my visitors today are from CO, NONE! Most have been from Minnesota today, specifically East Grand Forks. So, instead of looking this up and doing research on this town, I'll throw it out to those of you who paid a visit to the site today, is it treason to be a ND fan in Minnesota, even if you are on the border?!!

Like I've said before, I don't care who your team is, just so long as you love great college hockey and want to see more of it!!

Weekly stories across the blogwaves

The Sioux Sports Talk looks at this weekend's match-up and the team's current profiles and predicts a series split with CC taking Friday and North Dakota coming back and handling the Tigers Saturday night. This article is highlighted by a comment saying that CC will be tamed into submission, do I hear hundreds of annoying responses being thought up at this moment?

The Tigers performance this past weekend was perfect for UNH, as they were awarded the College Hockey News' team of the week. Let's hope the Tigers don't the the "privilege" of causing that to happen again this weekend.

One last important reminder, the CC vs North Dakota game will be on the CW Friday night here in the Springs. The puck will drop at 6:37pm mountain time. I've never watched a game on that channel so I'm interested to see how the coverage will be. The last game that was televised here was the Minnesota series, which FSN beamed us the local Minnesota feed. So be it, at least we get to watch!

Remember this? Soo true

New polls with a new numero uno

Previous number 1 North Dakota finds themselves dropping to number 2 in this week's USCHO/CSTV poll after falling to Teslak and Michigan Tech Saturday night. Miami of Ohio pounded UNO and jumped to number 1. I know nothing about this team (didn't really know they even had a team) so I will have to rely on the USCHO game stories to find out about them. Evil Michigan is number three (and deserves no link). After coming crashing back to reality this weekend, the Tigers find themselves at #9 behind Minnesota and DU at 8 and 7 respectively. Wisconsin rounds out the top 10 leaving the WCHA with 5 of the top 10 in this week's poll. Gotta love the WCHA, maybe we can get an all-conference Frozen Four again this year!!

	Team	(First Place Votes)	Record	Points	Last Poll
1	Miami	(39)	6-0-0	910	2
2	North Dakota	( 4)	3-1-1	833	1
3	Michigan		5-1-0	810	3
4	New Hampshire	( 3)	3-0-0	806	7
5	Boston College		3-1-2	722	5
6	Michigan State		4-1-0	682	8
7	Denver		4-2-0	591	6
8	Minnesota		4-2-0	589	10
9	Colorado College		2-2-0	522	4
10	Wisconsin		3-1-0	501	11
11	Clarkson		4-2-0	436	9
12	Maine		4-2-0	419	13
13	Michigan Tech		4-2-0	356	14
14	Notre Dame		4-3-0	344	12
15	Minnesota-Duluth		4-1-1	308	17
16	St. Lawrence		3-3-0	169	15
17	Rensselaer		5-2-0	134	NR
18	Niagara		4-1-0	83	NR
19	St. Cloud State		3-2-1	82	NR
20	Massachusetts		2-2-2	73	16
Others Receiving Votes: Dartmouth 51, Ohio State 45, Alaska-Anchorage 39, Air Force 36, Cornell 25, Mass.-Lowell 25, RIT 15, Holy Cross 10, Colgate 7, Quinnipiac 7, Vermont 7, Boston University 6, Merrimack 6, Nebraska-Omaha 3, Princeton 3, Northeastern 2, Robert Morris 2, Providence 1

Tigers Swept by UNH

A week after sweeping the highly-ranked Gophers, UNH returned the favor by sweeping the Tigers in their first road series of the young season. The Tigers have fallen victim to allowing a quick goal after their own 3 times already this season and last night was no exception. After CC tied the game at 2 at 9:52 with their second power-play goal of the game, the Tigers surrendered the go-ahead goal a mere 16 seconds later. CC has now lost 5 straight to UNH and will look to rebound this weekend when they travel to North Dakota to take on the Fighting Sioux who lived up to their #1 ranking after demolishing Michigan Tech.

Tigers fall 5-3

In the first road test of the season, the Tigers came out firing with 3 early goals. Unfortunately, UNH was able to withstand the early barrage and get 5 of their own with an 18-1 shot advantage in the 3rd period. The Tigers will look to rebound and get the split tomorrow night.

Connecting Across the Country

A blogger for the UNH Wildcats takes a look at the connection between CC, UNH, and a couple of kids in California.

DU impressed with Tigers?!

The Tigers were being made fun of and mocked by our rival blog LetsGoDU last week due to the whole blackface fiasco. This week, however, dggoddard seemed to be pretty impressed with the Tigers' sweep of the Gophers over the weekend. Could there be a little respect building?? Ha, I doubt it! But at least they have taken notice and realize that we may have something special brewing. How big are the games going to be over Thanksgiving with these guys?!!!

Tigers Jump to #4 in the national poll

The Tigers jump up to #4 in the polls after the weekend sweep and head to New Hampshire this weekend. The Wildcats are coming off an opening weekend win.

Tigers Sweep Minnesota

Chad Rau scores the game winner in OT to complete the sweep of the Gophers

CC flattens Minnesota 3-1

On the first night of the season, the Tigers looked to be ready to start the WCHA tournaments. The Tigers out-skated, out-hit and out-played the Gophers who looked worn out after the first period. Although they struck quickly after the Tigers first score (the PA announcer wasn't even through announcing the goal) they looked over matched the rest of the way. CC has always been know as a finesse, speedy team but there were numerous hip-checks that send gophers flipping faster than Eddi Murphy chase the rodent in "caddy shack". I was impressed with the team all the way around. The only downfall of the night was the World Arena was probably only at 75% capacity. The annoying old Minnesota fans behind me (that kept saying, "c'mon Gophs, SKATE!" something they didn't do well all night) was even surprised-he got his ticket the day they went on sale. Welcome to Colorado Springs, home of individuals. It also doesn't help that we have 2 D-I teams in the same city. But back to the game; by the third period, the Tigers were skating circles around Don Lucia's team...literally! Did anyone keep track of how long the Tigers were in Minnesota's end in that third period?!! Great game, great team, if they keep this up the 07/08 Tigers are going to be something special.

This is why people support the hockey team, not the college...

So I opened the paper today (yes some of us still get it at home) to see 4 CC players were suspended for blackface. WTF is blackface? I read the article and, in my head, it read "4 players were suspended for dressing up like TV characters". Um, what?! I read the story again online and looked up the definition for blackface. Ok, so the initial meaning was derogatory and meant to make fun of people who, basically, weren't the accepted status quo. Nothing wrong with that (the concern of the word, NOT the mocking), but dressing up as TV characters on a team outing away from the public is hardly mocking people. I wouldn't' view it any different than a kid dressing up as Garfield for Halloween. What's next, "look at that kid over there, he's dressed up as BUGS BUNNY! That is SO unacceptable, let's send him to tolerance school for the next 5 years" My reaction to this whole thing is "are you f*cking kidding me?!!!!" Everyone I have talked to today thinks its ludicrous. Most put it more bluntly than I just did, with many many more explicatives. I mean seriously, how the f*ck is this even a story? I read a recent comment that said "its official, the gayzette hates white people". I don't even see how this has anything to do with blacks because, helllo!, color doesn't freaking matter! How many people really walk down the street and think to themselves "uh oh, it's a mexican, I better cross the street" NO. We think, if anything, oh, there's a person walking by me. Who cares!!! So now our hockey players have to go through a laundry list of "diversity" activities to remedy the situation. Or as one poster on the Gazette put "brainwashing". What is CC thinking??? Are they taking the run toward being the number one pot school again too seriously?? First off, pretty sure they are not that diverse of a campus to begin with so why do they care? Of course it shouldn't matter anyway, it's not a freaking issue. And then you get the media jumping all over it and poof! national sensation over a non-issue. Crandall should have thought about how ludicrous this whole thing was before causing a national phenomenon. In the words of Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy "makes me wanna puke"

Season starts in full force

Well the 2 "pre-season" exhibition games are over and now the season starts in full force with national powerhouse Minnesota charging into town for the weekend. Should be a good opportunity to see what our Tigers are made of right out of the gate. Regardless of the outcome, this can't be a disaster for the Tigers, even if they are swept. Having an opponent of this caliber the first week will start them out high and prepare them for the rest of the season. Also, being the first weekend, there is plenty of time for the Tigers to come back if disaster strikes and they don't win a game. It will be a great battle and I'm sure there will be plenty of Minnesota fans descending on the Springs this week. I have never had the opportunity to be at one of these games so it should be a blast, great atmosphere and great hockey!
The Tigers won their two warm-up games and the young kids seemed to do pretty well.
You can find the quick recap of the games at the CC hockey page.

Look for a feature this week regarding the recent history between the Tigers and the Gophers. Thanks for your support of this blog and I'm looking forward to hitting the regular season strong!

Ask an Expert, CC style

Here is a great story from the Western Collegiate Hockey blog regarding the Tigers this season. It's an interview with Kate from the Gazette about the Tigers upcoming season.

#9 You know you're a CC Tiger Hockey fan when...

You know what "Just Build it!" meant

Tigers overview from the blogging perspective

The WCHA Blog takes a look at the Tigers from last season to now and has the same lingering question that many of us do, who will be the goaltender and will they be able to replace the past 2?

#10 You know you're a CC Tiger Hockey fan when...

You know what "playing up" means with regard to a Division III school playing Division I hockey and how that almost changed forever 4 years ago.

Little bit of irony?

So I was at Panera Bread this weekend and picked up the little pamphlet schedule for the Tigers for portable reference. While eating, my dad pointed out that one of the sponsors is Fittje Brothers Printing Company, who proudly printed the schedule. Big deal right? Well, the Wells Fargo ad on the back features text with a strange halo around the letters a la a misaligned printer (not unlike many Gazette editions featuring an almost 3D look when the ink has gone nuts). Funny, ironic and another example being extremely careful and proofing everything that you do.

On another note, I will be doing an entry once a week entitled "You know your a CC Tiger Hockey fan when..." feature 10 of the features that distinguish us Tiger fans. If there are any ideas, feel free to let me know as I begin to roll it em out.

2007/08 Schedule

Here is this season's schedule once again to keep you fresh and ready to go for the opener October 6th (home games at Colorado Springs World Arena in yellow)

Oct. 6 University of Calgary W 4-3
Oct. 12 Under-18 US National Team W 6-3.
Oct. 19 University of Minnesota 7:37 p.m.
Oct. 20 University of Minnesota 7:07 p.m.
Oct. 26 @University of New Hampshire 5 p.m.
Oct. 27 @University of New Hampshire 5 p.m.
Nov. 2 @University of North Dakota 6:37 p.m.
Nov. 3 @University of North Dakota 6:07 p.m.
Nov. 9 University of Minnesota Duluth 7:37 p.m.
Nov. 10 University of Minnesota Duluth 7:07 p.m.
Nov. 16 University of Wisconsin 7:37 p.m.
Nov. 17 University of Wisconsin 7:07 p.m.
Nov. 23 University of Denver 7:37 p.m.
Nov. 24 @University of Denver Away 7:07 p.m.
Nov. 30 @University of Alaska Anchorage 9:07 p.m.
Dec. 1 @University of Alaska Anchorage 9:07 p.m.
Dec. 14 @St. Cloud State University 6:07 p.m.
Dec. 15 @St. Cloud State University 6:07 p.m.
Lightning College Hockey Classic (Tampa, FL)
Dec. 29 ~ Colorado College vs. RPI, 6 p.m.
Dec. 30 ~ Colorado College vs. UMass or Notre Dame, 3 or 6 pm
Jan. 4 @University of Wisconsin 6:07 p.m.
Jan. 5 @University of Wisconsin 6:07 p.m.
Jan. 11 University of Alaska Anchorage 7:37 p.m.
Jan. 12 University of Alaska Anchorage 7:07 p.m.
Jan. 18 Bemidji State University 7:37 p.m.
Jan. 19 Air Force Academy 7:07 p.m.
Jan. 25 @Michigan Tech University 5:07 p.m.
Jan. 26 @Michigan Tech University 5:07 p.m.
Feb. 1 Clarkson University 7:37 p.m.
Feb. 2 Clarkson University 7:07 p.m.
Feb. 8 St. Cloud State University 7:37 p.m.
Feb. 9 St. Cloud State University 7:07 p.m.
Feb. 22 @University of Minnesota Duluth 6:07 p.m.
Feb. 23 @University of Minnesota Duluth 6:07 p.m.
Feb. 29 Minnesota State University-Mankato 7:37 p.m.
March 1 Minnesota State University-Mankato 7:37 p.m.
March 7 @University of Denver Away 7:37 p.m.
March 8 University of Denver 7:07 p.m.

March 14-16 WCHA Playoffs (First Round-top 5 teams host)
TBA TBA
March 20-22 WCHA Final Five (St. Paul, MN)
TBA TBA

March 28-29 NCAA West Regional COLORADO SPRINGS

April 5-7 NCAA Frozen Four DENVER, CO

The season is approaching

You can tell the season is near when traffic online about the Tigers and college hockey starts to pick up. Today, the Gazette featured an article about former Tiger Brandon Straub’s battle to gain a roster spot with the Avalanche at rookie camp and some notes about the first captains practice of the season. One thing that I am surprised about is the source of the last 2 links. It appears Kate Crandall from the Gazette is starting with a solid effort for the season. I'm assuming that she has some privileges in terms of access to the team and practices that most of us non-press don't have. Fine by me, if she reports it I'll find it and post it up on here. I would definitely advise you to check out some of her older posts that have snuck by my alerts the last few weeks. Another sweet entry that I found was one that ranked the cities of the WCHA. C-Springs falls in 3rd place and has a pretty good article about our city and fans. Some things that the visitor found pleasantly surprised me so take a look! It appears I need to do some serious updating of my links section with all these new blogs popping up. I'm out of town on business this week followed by spending next weekend in Lincoln for the Huskers versus USC game. Enjoy the new articles and I will be back in full force in a week!

Anyone else get a certain sense of satisfaction watching the Michigan football team plod along and get pounded at home?!!

New Recruit for Tigers

The Tigers have landed recruit Tim Hall for the 08 or 09 recruiting class. See more at the WCHA blog

Zaba gets his wish

Matt Zaba has been waiting all summer for a chance in the NHL and got it this weekend. Originally drafted by the Kings, Zaba was informed that he would not be signed and left in limbo until the NY Rangers called and gave him the opportunity to join an organization lacking in depth at goalie. Check out the details and quotes from The Gazette.

Blog Alert!

My Google Alerts pointed me toward a WCHA blog that's pretty good. The article I read was about ranking the WCHA arenas and about the World Arena at 7. It's a well written article and a well organized site, so check it out!

It will be added to the links section shortly, as well as the Gazette blog that seems to have died.

Get Ready to SEE Again!!

One of my biggest pet peeves EVER about the World Arena is finally being fixed!! The Arena installed nets inside the offensive zones a few seasons ago which is great for line-drives, except for one thing: They were thick and white and horribly blocked visibility. This coming season, we will get thinner and less obtrusive nets! Check out The Gazette article for the specifics. Thank you season ticket holders!!!


Also in case you missed it, Tom Preissing joined the LA Kings on July 3rd after leaving the SJ Sharks, his first team after leaving CC.

New blog...sorta

So it looks like the Gazette is trying to jump aboard the blogosphere with their lackluster CC hockey coverage. Go check it out and let's hear some opinions but be warned, there is a lot of white on the page, haha!! I will support and endorse other bloggers, like this one and even our evil DUh fans up north (sorry, they don't get a link!) and I consider my site to be for the fans and with the fans, not just me, but I am totally against the Gazette. I'm not sure if it's because their coverage sux, because they are a corporation, or because I root for fan content. Whatever the case, I now have incentive to get this blog converted over to a full blown website (I'm having problems with templates so it's taking longer) and stomp them! (not just the blog but the site as well) Get some discussion going in the comments section of this post about either how much our media coverage sux or things you want to see to help us fans dominate the CC Tiger web presence!!

Updates

Hope everyone is having a great summer. You know fall is coming up when the Broncos start training camp! Personally, football is number 1 to me but hockey is that close second. So, the Broncos starting can only mean that the NCAA Hockey season is a mere 2 months away. The Tigers start out at home vs U of Calgary October 6th (in case you missed all the media coverage for the season, oh wait...). Since there won't be a full 3 days of ESPN hype to cover the start of the season like the football counterparts, it's our job to create our own hype here on the Web.
I'm starting to modify things on the blog to get ready for the new season. I've added my own logo for the season, a countdown timer and a fun poll to judge your feelings about the 07/08 edition of the Tigers (and I fixed the amazing typo so it got reset from 1 vote back to zero so show some pride and vote!). My logo is having some compatibility issues with Blogger and is squished so I hope get that fixed as soon as I figure out what's causing it. I removed the rotating googlevids app. due to some "inappropriate" vids that snuck into the hockey category. Don't worry, the vids from the playoffs last year can still be found in the LINKS section. That's all for now. If there are any suggestions or comments about the site please let me know!!

Colorado Avalanche Schedule

I know the blog has Colorado College in the title but I'm still going to put in a bit about the Avs from time to time. In keeping with the schedule theme, here is the Avalanche 07-08 schedule.

2007-08 AVALANCHE SCHEDULE

(all times Mountain; times subject to change)

Oct. 3 Dallas, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 4 at Nashville, 6 p.m.
Oct. 7 San Jose, 6 p.m.
Oct. 12 at St. Louis, 6:30 p.m.
Oct. 13 Columbus, 7 p.m.
Oct. 16 Calgary, 7 p.m.
Oct. 19 at Chicago, 6:30 p.m.
Oct. 21 at Minnesota, 4 p.m.
Oct. 23 at Edmonton, 7 p.m.
Oct. 26 at Calgary, 7 p.m.
Oct. 28 Minnesota, 6 p.m.

Nov. 1 Pittsburgh, 7 p.m.
Nov. 3 Vancouver, 8 p.m.
Nov. 5 Calgary, 7 p.m.
Nov. 7 Edmonton, 7 p.m.
Nov. 9 at Vancouver, 8 p.m.
Nov. 11 Minnesota, 6 p.m.
Nov. 16 at Dallas, 6:30 p.m.
Nov. 18 at Minnesota, 4 p.m.
Nov. 20 at Calgary, 7 p.m.
Nov. 22 at Edmonton, 7 p.m.
Nov. 24 Calgary, 5 p.m.
Nov. 28 Edmonton, 7 p.m.
Nov. 30 at San Jose, 8:30 p.m.

Dec. 1 at Los Angeles, 8:30 p.m.
Dec. 3 San Jose, 7 p.m.
Dec. 5 at Columbus, 5 p.m.
Dec. 7 Philadelphia, 7 p.m.
Dec. 9 St. Louis, 6 p.m.
Dec. 12 at Columbus, 5 p.m.
Dec. 13 at Nashville, 6 p.m.
Dec. 15 Nashville, 7 p.m.
Dec. 17 at Los Angeles, 8:30 p.m.
Dec. 19 at Anaheim, 8 p.m.
Dec. 21 N.Y. Rangers, 7 p.m.
Dec. 23 Vancouver, 6 p.m.
Dec. 27 Detroit, 7 p.m.
Dec. 29 Los Angeles, 1 p.m.
Dec. 31 at Phoenix, 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 2 Phoenix, 7 p.m.
Jan. 5 N.Y. Islanders, 7 p.m.
Jan. 8 at Detroit, 5:30 p.m.
Jan. 9 at Washington, 5 p.m.
Jan. 12 at Carolina, 5 p.m.
Jan. 13 at Florida, 3 p.m.
Jan. 15 at Tampa Bay, 5:30 p.m.
Jan. 18 Chicago, 7 p.m.
Jan. 20 Columbus, 6 p.m.
Jan. 22 Nashville, 7 p.m.
Jan. 24 Minnesota, 7 p.m.
Jan. 30 Chicago, 7 p.m.

Feb. 1 at Detroit, 5:30 p.m.
Feb. 2 at St. Louis, 6:30 p.m.
Feb. 4 Phoenix, 7 p.m.
Feb. 6 at San Jose, 8:30 p.m.
Feb. 9 at Vancouver, 8 p.m.
Feb. 12 Anaheim, 7 p.m.
Feb. 14 St. Louis, 7 p.m.
Feb. 17 at Chicago, 11 a.m.
Feb. 18 Detroit, 6 p.m.
Feb. 20 at Anaheim, 8 p.m.
Feb. 22 at Phoenix, 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 24 at Edmonton, 6 p.m.
Feb. 26 at Calgary, 7 p.m.
Feb. 27 at Vancouver, 7 p.m.

Mar. 1 Los Angeles, 7 p.m.
Mar. 4 Vancouver, 7 p.m.
Mar. 6 Anaheim, 7 p.m.
Mar. 8 Dallas, 7 p.m.
Mar. 9 at Dallas, 6 p.m.
Mar. 11 at Atlanta, 5 p.m.
Mar. 13 Edmonton, 7 p.m.
Mar. 15 New Jersey, 1 p.m.
Mar. 17 at Minnesota, 5 p.m.
Mar. 20 at Calgary, 7 p.m.
Mar. 22 at Edmonton, 8 p.m.
Mar. 24 Calgary, 7 p.m.
Mar. 26 Vancouver, 7 p.m.
Mar. 28 Edmonton, 7 p.m.
Mar. 30 at Minnesota, 4 p.m.
Apr. 1 at Vancouver, 8 p.m.
Apr. 6 Minnesota, 3 p.m.

College Hockey will adopt 2 referee rule

But we have to wait a year. The competition committee released their new list of rule changes and the one that stands out the most will be the 2 referee system that the NHL uses. However, it won't be in effect until 08-09. Another aspect under consideration are modifying OT rules. One example would be 4 on 4 or a shootout.

NHL draft updates

Holy crapy I'm writing a new entry! I've been busy enjoying summer so I haven't really had the motivation to sit down and write an entry but I'm making myself do it in light of some recent big news over the weekend. If you haven't already heard, Mr. Quiznos himself Billy Sweatt was drafted 38th by the Chicago Blackhawks in the second round of the draft. I still find it crazy how the NHL draft works, drafting young kids and then sending them off for 2-6 years to college or the minors. ESPN put it best in their headline "There wasn't any chest hair among the NHL draftees". Anyway, there was a fun article about Sweatt in the Gazette Saturday talking about his minimum wage job for the summer. I can't find it on the website because the search function sux on gazette.com (just like most of the rest of the site). Here's the rundown of the draft as a whole.

As far as the blog goes, I'm working on an actual website for all the content so that the links and vids and such can have their own pages. I'll still keep the blog for opinions and my rantings about hockey and then use the website for more formal things about the team and links to all the news releases around the WWW. If you guys have anything specific that you would like to see added, please let me know. As I've said before, blogs and websites work best as a 2-way conversation instead of some webmaster guessing what people care about! One thing of note, I apologize in advance if my coverage of the Tigers is a little weak the beginning of the season. Football season is what I live for so I will be following that more than anything, but I will make sure to give you all something to read weekly!

The Full 07/08 Schedule

Its never too early to start looking at the match-ups for this coming season. As most of you know, CC starts out with one of the toughest schedules in the country so we will find out pretty quickly how tough our team is. The benefit of this is early learning experience, strength of schedule for the PairWise and if for some reason the struggle, it will still be early and they will have plenty of time to recover. Of course the big discussion revolves around the DU series happening over Thanksgiving. Personally, I think its a great idea: so long as its televised on a national network. People are already at their TVs watching football and could easily change over and check out the CO rivals going at it afterward.
Here it is:


Oct. 6 University of Calgary 7:07 p.m.
Oct. 12 Under-18 US National Team 7:37 p.m.
Oct. 19 University of Minnesota 7:37 p.m.
Oct. 20 University of Minnesota 7:07 p.m.
Oct. 26 @University of New Hampshire 5 p.m.
Oct. 27 @University of New Hampshire 5 p.m.
Nov. 2 @University of North Dakota 6:37 p.m.
Nov. 3 @University of North Dakota 6:07 p.m.
Nov. 9 University of Minnesota Duluth 7:37 p.m.
Nov. 10 University of Minnesota Duluth 7:07 p.m.
Nov. 16 University of Wisconsin 7:37 p.m.
Nov. 17 University of Wisconsin 7:07 p.m.
Nov. 23 University of Denver 7:37 p.m.
Nov. 24 @University of Denver Away 7:07 p.m.
Nov. 30 @University of Alaska Anchorage 9:07 p.m.
Dec. 1 @University of Alaska Anchorage 9:07 p.m.
Dec. 14 @St. Cloud State University 6:07 p.m.
Dec. 15 @St. Cloud State University 6:07 p.m.
Lightning College Hockey Classic (Tampa, FL)
Dec. 29 ~ Colorado College vs. RPI, 6 p.m.
Dec. 30 ~ Colorado College vs. UMass or Notre Dame, 3 or 6 pm
Jan. 4 @University of Wisconsin 6:07 p.m.
Jan. 5 @University of Wisconsin 6:07 p.m.
Jan. 11 University of Alaska Anchorage 7:37 p.m.
Jan. 12 University of Alaska Anchorage 7:07 p.m.
Jan. 18 Bemidji State University 7:37 p.m.
Jan. 19 Air Force Academy 7:07 p.m.
Jan. 25 @Michigan Tech University 5:07 p.m.
Jan. 26 @Michigan Tech University 5:07 p.m.
Feb. 1 Clarkson University 7:37 p.m.
Feb. 2 Clarkson University 7:07 p.m.
Feb. 8 St. Cloud State University 7:37 p.m.
Feb. 9 St. Cloud State University 7:07 p.m.
Feb. 22 @University of Minnesota Duluth 6:07 p.m.
Feb. 23 @University of Minnesota Duluth 6:07 p.m.
Feb. 29 Minnesota State University-Mankato 7:37 p.m.
March 1 Minnesota State University-Mankato 7:37 p.m.
March 7 @University of Denver Away 7:37 p.m.
March 8 University of Denver 7:07 p.m.

March 14-16 WCHA Playoffs (First Round-top 5 teams host)
TBA TBA
March 20-22 WCHA Final Five (St. Paul, MN)
TBA TBA

March 28-29 NCAA West Regional COLORADO SPRINGS

April 5-7 NCAA Frozen Four DENVER, CO

And if you're interested in the USHL

Ask and you will recieve, I was lost about the USHL and it seems I have found the perfect place for updates, a nice USHL blog. He has some great info on the league's games as well as recruiting. Why do we care? Because many of the WCHA teams (and the rest of the country as well) will draft their players and then assign them to these development leagues to mature and adjust to faster hockey. USHL is the Tier 1 league and is basically AAA for college hockey-it's a sweet deal. If you have anymore questions, I'm sure our USHL blogger will be able to help out. See his comment in my previous post about all the recruits in just this past weekends' games.

A look into some future WCHA faces

Saturday night I got the opportunity to check out the Lincoln Stars take on Sioux Falls in the 3rd game of their USHL playoff series. There were numerous players on the ice who we will be seeing in the WCHA shortly. Currently on the Stars roster are; Jason Gregoire who is listed as a 2007 recruit and will play for DU and Steve Shultz who will be joining CC in the future.
Sioux Falls also had numerous players: Nick Dineen, who will be playing for CC, Alex Kangas-a goalie who will be playing for Minnesota. There may have been more but it's hard to find an accurate and up-to-date recruiting site, thanks for the comments updating my lack-of-USHL knowledge. Also, they had a very amusing intermission show with a human slingshot and one small girl that got launched hit super hard and bounced off; fortunately I had my camera with me so take a look!

No warmup games next season

The Gazette announced (parts of) the Tiger's schedule today and it's front-loaded with some tough teams. While the D-1 football teams are pounding D-II opponets, the Tigers will be opening against WCHA regular and post-season champ Minnesota, followed by trips to New Hampshire and North Dakota. It looks like we will find out really fast just how good next year's team will be. Some other highlights include a Thanksgiving home-and-home with DU and a Jan. 19th meeting with North side rival Air Force.

Off season

I apologize to everyone for not doing more updates but between the off season and my crazy client demands for an upcoming ad pitch, I just haven't had the time nor the information to post. I assume most college hockey fans are NHL fans as well so the playoffs will give us some hockey fix. However, since the Avs aren't in the playoffs for the first time EVER, I haven't really been paying too much attention past scores. Well that, and the fact that the games are on Versus (which is not on regular cable in NE, it's "premium digital" crap). So I just watch the highlights. Check out our North Dakota friend for some fun regular off-season bits about college hockey and the NHL.

Michigan State Wins Title

The Spartans were, to me, the biggest underdog in the tournament but seemed to have the most fight of anyone. I'm sitting here watching the BC players crying on the ice and looking like little cry babies (anyone notice the BC player break his stick hitting the goal when State put in the empy netter?!!). Anyway enough of that, Michigan State fought back from 1-0 to score late in the third and take the lead with 23 seconds left in a very exciting third period. The first two were fairly uneventful as both teams fought a physical battle that took 50 minutes to really get going. It's not the WCHA but I'm happy for em, good game and good tournament. One thing of big note, Michigan State was a very gracious winning team, complimenting their opponent and enjoying the win and not getting a big head. To me, that makes me happy that they won. I'll put the links up from the game as they come in later.

ND's Duncan wins Hobey

At least one thing went right for North Dakota and the WCHA. Ryan Duncan walked away with the Hobey Baker award for the best college hockey player in the country. By the way ESPN was talking about BC's team, one would have thought their entire team would have won it! As of Thurday night, it seemed that Notre Dame's goaltender David Brown would have had it because of their steller season, sitting at #1 for the last half of the season. Notre Dame is another team that I can't stand because of their unjustified media attention that seems to follow them everywhere (in football, when was the last time they won a bowl game?!) Air Force's Eric Ehn was also one of the final three. This suprised me because, being a Coloradan, one would think I would know who he was. Nope, never had heard of his Hobey qualities. Just a hunch but maybe the voters suffered from a similar lack of knowledge like me. The National Championship is tonight, pitting evil BC against Michigan State. I'm hoping the Spartans can pull it out because I don't think I could tolerate hearing about BC being national champs all summer long!

Game over for WCHA

It was a battle until the end but the evil east knocked off the WCHA as BC used 2 empty net goals to seal the victory over North Dakota. The end of the game was the biggest moment in this one. Down 1 goal, ND had an empty net and BC cleared the puck with what appeared to be icing. Instead, a BC player (I don't really care about their names) beat the Sioux back and put it in the empty net. Seconds later, North Dakota scored and was within 1 with 16 seconds left leaving all of us to wonder what could have happened had they not be slow on the strange play earlier. BC sealed it off with another empty-netter with 3 seconds left. This leaves the champtionship to be decided between BC and Michigan State. Personally I will be going for State since it's been forever since their last title. The WCHA streak of titles is over at 5 straight. It's too bad but the future is bright for the WCHA and we will be back in force next season to take over Pepsi Center!

Spartans: 4 Bears: 2

My initial instinct and prediction about this game was wrong as Michigan State pulled out a 4-2 win against the Maine Bears. I thought that MS would show some fight and keep it close and they definately did just that. Maine pulled out to a 2-0 lead before the Spartans took over the game and finished it off. Hopefully tonight ND will take a cue from MS and beat the evil team from the East; BC

On the eve of the 'Four

Tomorrow at 2pm Mountain Time the Frozen Four will officially kick of with Maine and Michigan State then followed at 6pm by the WCHA rep. North Dakota and much hyped Boston College. As ESPN does a brief overview of the games, I would love to open it up and see what everyone thinks will happen tomorrow and then Saturday night. Personally, I will pick Maine to take out Michigan State in a close game early. The reason for this is not because I want it to happen (I don't like the east teams that have a media following) but simply because of experience. Maine is consistly in the top 10 each season and has won a National Title recently. However, State does have an experienced coach that will keep it close and I would love to see them pull it out but I think they will be slightly overmatched in this one.
Later tomorrow night I am going to pick the WCHA North Dakota Fighting ----- (they lost their appeal so who knows what they will be next year). This boils down to a hatred of all things BC on all the websites and highlights and wanting the WCHA to win it all again. Also, ND took down a rolling Minnesota team and has really come together late in the year, a team that I personally thought wouldn't even make the WCHA tournament not too long ago. BC plays a weaker schedule and I think will be worn down in a close game, but I'll take ND somewhere in the range of 5-3. I will also pick them to win it all over Maine Saturday night; they will be on a roll and Maine will be tired after beating a pesky up-and-coming Michigan State team. These are my unscientific picks, let's hear yours!

The wait until the NCAA Frozen Four is Almost Over

I know some of us are dying to watch the games this Thursday night and get some more college hockey in before summer starts. I hate how they have this large gap in the tournament but it is understandable because of the basketball madness going on. In the meantime, check out this nice article about college hockey recruiting. I follow the football side of things and thought that was nuts, but they don't sign players to contracts at 14 like the big time Canada teams do, it's crazy stuff. Let's hope the recruiting this past year helps bring CC back into the NCAA Frozen Four next year so we will be waiting the see US play and not a WCHA rival!

Game Previews

It's a little bit of a lull in the college hockey world here for a week. The Frozen Four won't get started until April 5th and with the Avalanche pretty close to dead in the NHL playoff race, hockey is officially on hold for a few days. I will just be happy to see the games on TV since college hockey gets so little exposure. I never have a chane to watch TV during the week but has anyone see any publicity on any other channels for the Frozen Four. Personally, I would make sure to have some sort of commercial on the Big 5 networks nightly to try to pull new people into hockey. It doesn't help that the basketball tourney is taking up most people's time (I personally don't follow it so I have no idea how much people get zoned in). I would love to see the day when the Frozen Four is on ABC during primetime so that everyone can see it, that would be great for the sport.
In antipication of the game, ESPN has put together some pretty good pieces regarding the matchups. BC and ND is up first

Busy Time for Lee Sweatt

During last week's Final Five in Minnesota, there was at least one CC player represented in the tournament. Lee Sweatt recieved the WCHA Most Outstanding Student Athlete of the Year Award riding a 3.8 GPA studying mathematical economics. He also gained All-WCHA Third Team recognition, helped out by his 24 points on the season.
Just as this award was sinking in, Sweatt was given the opportunity to tryout for the San Antonio Rampage, which plays in the American Hockey League and is the "farm team"/ affiliate for the Phoenix Coyotes. His course work is all completed and will walk at graduation in May and then be on his way hopefully for a professional hockey career.

Frozen Four Set

The 2007 Frozen Four is all set to begin Thursday night in St. Louis. The WCHA is left with one surviving team out of 3. North Dakota took out regular and postseason WCHA Champ Minnesota in OT on Sunday night to return to the Frozen Four once again. They are joined by Michigan State (who took out Notre Dame), Boston College and Maine. North Dakota is the clear powerhouse here with 7 national titles (all the rest each have 2) and coming out of a conference that was won the last 5 National Championships and 6 out of the last 7. BC and Maine won in 2001 and 1999 respectively. Michigan State is the underdog of the 4, last winning a title in 1986 but having been to the Frozen Four last in 2001. It will be a great final 3 games beginning Thursday afternoon at 2pm MST on ESPN2 followed by BC and ND at 6pm MST. Personally I am pulling for ND because of the WCHA conference and I hate the east coast teams, if you can believe that I could hate a team from the east haha. I'm excited that the games will be on ESPN2 and aren't going to be in the middle of the day like when CC and DU played a few years back. The final will be Saturday night at 5pm MST on ESPN and hopefully help give college hockey more exposure!

Gophers come back to spoil Falcons upset bid

Air Force came out in full force in their first ever NCAA Tournament appearence and almost got away with a win against the Minnesota Gophers at the Pepsi Center Saturday. It looked like it may happen when AF took a 3-1 lead 5 minutes into the 3rd period until the Gophers woke up and scored three goals to finish off the Falcons and avoid a 2nd straight 1st round loss in the NCAA Tournament, nonetheless to another AHA team. This was an interesting game for a fan of CO hockey simply because it pitted a home town team against the WCHA powerhouse from the north. Personally, I would have liked to see AF win since it was their first time ever in the tourney, but I really like to see the WCHA do well, even if Minnesota has dominated almost everyone this year. At least it's not DU right?!

In other conference news, St. Cloud State was eliminated in the first round, falling 4-1 to the Maine Black Bears on Friday night, leaving the WCHA with 2 surviving teams. When I wrote this entry, North Dakota was up on evil Michigan 7-5 early in the 3rd period.

NCAA Tournament Selection

With the NCAA Tournament ready to start in full force, it's always fun to look at the selection process and drama that some teams had to endure. There are a few things that I have found to be a little off about this tourney. Granted, I'm not a selection process expert and will never try to be, but I have to wonder why the WCHA was only give 3 spots since it is widely considered to be THE top conference in the country and had 5 teams finish the season strong. Based on late season play, Wisconsin should have gotten a bid and even Denver could have been given serious consideration. I know I've seen numerous articles talking about this topic. Hockey East has 5 teams from a conference that is almost universally considered a weaker conference than the WCHA. It just proves the point I have been mentioning since I started this thing; the media are fixated on the teams out east and pass over the stronger WCHA, just because it's not on the E-coast. Another thing that urked me was that two of the best teams in the tourney (North Dakota and Minnesota) are in the same bracket. Yes Denver's Pepsi Center is "WCHA Home Turf", but this bracket also ensures that at least 1 WCHA team will not make the Frozen Four. I can't help but think that is has something to do with the all WCHA Frozen Four a few years back. Seems to me we are getting the short end on this one!

NCAA Tournament Overview

WEST REGIONAL at the Pepsi Center

Semifinals | Saturday

* Minnesota vs. Air Force, 1:30 p.m.

* Michigan vs. North Dakota, 5:30 p.m.

Championship | Sunday

* Semifinal winners, 4 p.m.

NORTHEAST REGIONAL at Verizon Wireless Arena, Manchester, N.H.

Saturday

New Hampshire vs. Miami, Ohio, 11 a.m.

Boston College vs. St. Lawrence, 2:30 p.m.

REGIONAL FINAL

Sunday

Semifinal winners, 1:30 p.m.

EAST REGIONAL at Blue Cross Arena, Rochester, N.Y.

Friday

Clarkson vs. Massachusetts, 12:30 p.m.

St. Cloud St. vs. Maine, 4 p.m.

REGIONAL FINAL

Saturday

Semifinal winners, 4 p.m.

MIDWEST REGIONAL at Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, Mich.

Friday

Notre Dame vs. Alabama-Huntsville, 3 p.m.

Boston University vs. Michigan State, 6:30 p.m.

REGIONAL FINAL

Saturday

Semifinal winners, 6:30 p.m.

THE FROZEN FOUR at Scottrade Center, St. Louis

SEMIFINALS

Thursday, April 5

East winner vs. Midwest winner, 2 p.m.

Northeast winner vs. West winner, 6 p.m.

Championship

Saturday, April 7

Semifinal winners, 5 p.m.

Air Force Rollin' with the big dogs

The Post takes a look at AF taking on the WCHA powerhouses

Another alumn making news

Tom Preissing scored a goal for the Ottowa Senators on March 17th to mark yet another CC player making a huge contribution to his NHL team.

ESPN takes a look at the NCAA Tournament

A good look at what will be going on in the college hockey world the next few weeks

It's kind of a big deal

Air Force coach Frank Serratore is enjoying his team's historic season.

AF gets a taste of the WCHA

In a little twist of fate, Air Force has won their conference and will be heading to the NCAA Tournament up the road at Pepsi Center. The "crappy" team of the area has beaten out the two powerhouses and gets the pleasure of playing against none other than Minnesota in the first round (a team that won the Broadmoor Trophy and was knocked out in the first round last year.) AF will get a taste of our conference and it will be interesting to see what they are made of. I'm all for the power of the WCHA, but it would be fun to the the team from N. Colorado Springs take out one of the best teams in the country.

AD leaving CC

Something of note for all those fans of CC, the 3 year athletic director Julie Soriero will be leaving the school for MIT.

50 years of history

Here is a piece from the Gazette that is pretty interesting. It's written by the reporter that I always bug about the timing and relevancy of ther stories. There was a video with it when it first came out on the front page but, in true Gazette fashion, it's been simplified and turned bland when it's put on the CC page. Check it out

Back to the grind

I am back in cold Nebraska after 10 days enjoying the sunshine and blue skies of Colorado Springs and Las Vegas. There have been numerous things of note that have happened in the WCHA and CC world over the past week that are of note and that most of you know. Minnesota won the Broadmoor trophy with a cray OT winning goal. The Gazette had a sweet piece about the National Champion CC team from 50 years ago and another former CC player made some news in the NHL. I hope everyone is enjoying the vids and the pics and will continue to the rest of the summer until next season. If anyone has a any media they would like to add, don't hesitate to let me know!

Future looks bright for positives of the year

Eventually, I am going to write a little bit about this past season myself, but I haven't collected all my thoughts yet. This was a season that was supposed to be a ho-hum season and turned into one of dissappointment. I will be off to Vegas for the remainder of the week and then driving back to Nebraska so I probably won't write until Monday. But please keep checking in throughout the off-season, I will be doing one or two updates a week, mostly about former players so the article about Noah Clarke couldn't have been better timing.

Future Bright for Tigers-Gazette
Unfitting Conclusion-Gazette

Noah Clarke makes a name for himself

Remember Noah Clarke from a few years back? Well, he made a name for himself yesterday by being the first Southern Cal kid to score a goal for LA. It's a pretty sweet article except that the ESPN article fails to mention he went to CC. The obviously edited version in the print Gazette today makes sure that we know he's one of our boys. Check it out, it's pretty cool

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

Look what I just found

I'll admit it, I'm not partial to the CC Athletics site, but I did just discover that they have a live stats page. I haven't used it yet to see just how good it is, but seems like it could be what I'm looking for. I still would like to see something more polished but heck, this is a great start!

Iron Man Zaba

As most of you are aware, Mat Zaba will be playing his 3rd consecutive game tonight. He has been solid in the first two, allowing really only one goal (the OT goal was sloppy and he was hung out to dry). Let's hope that he can keep it up for another week, I'm worried about him wearing down though, it will be interesting to see. If I were MT, I would want to get as many shots as possibly on him to keep him active and try to play on the fatigue. If I were CC, I would keep the puck to the outside and try to get as many shots on the other end. If I'm correct, this will be Zaba's 16th consecutive start, which is insane for a goalie. Let's hope he can hold on for at least another full week and get us to the WCHA Finals!
On a side-ish note. I must be anti-Gazette because I thought the article about honking at Zaba's apartment was really lame. I like the bit about him getting his rest and his pregame ritual, but the whole introduction " If you’re driving along San Miguel Street around noon today, please don’t honk your horn. ". As if I do every other day when I'm on that street??!! That could have been a pretty cool story about his pregame rituals; goalies are known for having all kinds of quirky things about them that are always fun to hear about. But instead we get a PSA, lamo! I just wish we could have better coverage of this team, but of course I'm a little biased b/c I'm used to Husker Football coverage, and that's an animal in itself.

Calling all CC fans

Ok so I've been looking around for videos and pics from the games and have only really come up with my own (which I will be adding at some point later today). As I have said before, The Gazette has a section for photos but there are only a handfull and they are all out of date. Yet, the actual newpaper has a few good pics each weekend, but they don't make it onto the website. Also, the Gazette had a slowly updating article following the game last night, but they didn't update it after the middle of the 2nd period. I had my game results up just after the game ended and yet their didn't updat until long after I went to bed. Along those same lines, it's hard to find a live update of the game online. Besides the radio, there is the ESPN scoreboard but it's not live (but better than all others). Here's my proposition and I need everyone's help. I already started it last night, but let's politely (or maybe not so much if you are completely fed up) start petitioning the Gazette to better their coverage of the games. If they have photos in the paper and a section on the site, why not put the pics online??? They have them, use them!! If there is an article updating the game, why not have someone at The Gazette updating the score in a score board while the reporters are at the game??!! It's not too hard to put up a scoreboard on the website! I left a comment on the game update last night mentioning how slow they are and how much better they could be doing. Not one site really stands out in their coverage of college hockey, most take over a day to update from the night before. The Gazette has a chance to be the leader in this category. Let's email and comment them en masse and see if we can get a result!!!!!
Another possibility is a group of us could start another blog just for game nights. This would probably take quite a few people, one for pics (of both the game and fans), one to be writing the game story, one to be constantly updating a few at a computer about the score, penalties and shots. It sounds like a lot but it can be done. Something to think about over the summer!

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.

Great bit of trivia from the CC Athletic Site

Rematch of 1994 playoff series on tap
The Tigers, still on the bubble for a potential NCAAtournament bid, open the 2006-07 post-season this weekend with a first-round, best-of-three WCHA playoff series against Michigan Tech at the World Arena. Winner advances to next week’s WCHA Final Five at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. Colorado College last met the Huskies in the opening round in 1994, after winning its first of three consecutive regular-season titles. Underdog Tech, however, pulled off upsets in Games 1 and 3 to advance and end CC’s Cinderella season on a sour note. The series finale was the last contest ever played at the old Broadmoor World Arena. MTU, 8-3-3 in its last 14 outings of the regular season, never has fared well on the Olympic sheet at the new World Arena. In fact, the Huskies have lost all 16 previous games against Colorado College at the CSWA, where the Tigers swept them (4-1, 2-1) earlier this season.


note:this information is directly from http://www.coloradocollege.edu/Athletics/varsity_sports/Hockey/
I take no responsibility for it's creation

Everything you ever wanted to know about the series

The CC Athletic site has all kinds of good stuff about the MT series. Check it out

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 from a non-conference POV

Chicago blogger checks out the WCHA

Gotta love rivalries

As most of you know, I'm trying to get a consistent sellout crowd to the World Arena to watch CC's games. Having a huge rival from up the road always helps with attendance figures. The World Arena lists it's actual capacity at 7,343 for college hockey games. Knowing that, it makes it really sweet to see that last night there were 7,820 fans watching the wild 5-5 tie. If I could pick one time to go to a game, this would have been it. I'll have to check into it, but this may have been the largest crowd of the season, 7809 watched the last home game vrs. Minnesota. I was unable to watch the game but I know the schedule called for the fans to wear gold. If anyone has pics of the crowd and the game please share them!!

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.

USCHO Summary

Miracle Comeback: DU Scores Twice In Final Minute To Earn Draw With CC
This would truly classify as sister kissing, we lose 4th place because of the 1 point tie and last minute collapse

Quick game summary from CC Athletics site

CC lets Denver off hook, settles for tie
The University of Denver scored twice in the final minute of regulation after pulling goalie Peter Mannino on Saturday, earning the Pioneers a 5-5 tie in their regular-season finale with Colorado College at the World Arena. For CC, which squandered leads of 3-0, 4-1 and 5-2, the single point meant the difference between fourth and fifth place in the final WCHA standings. The Tigers enter next weekend’s opening round of the league playoffs as a No. 5 seed and will begin the post-season by hosting sixth-place Michigan Tech in a best-of-three series. DU’s Ryan Dingle knotted Saturday’s contest on a deflection at 19:56 of the third period, 32 seconds after Keith Seabrook pulled the visitors to within 5-4. All five of Colorado College’s goals, including two by sophomore center Chad Rau, came on the power play. Rau also helped set up a red lighter by senior defenseman Lee Sweatt, while freshman forwards Bill Sweatt and Andreas Vlassopoulos collected three assists apiece. Freshman right wing Mike Testwuide and junior defenseman Jack Hillen scored CC’s other goals.

Scores from Saturday night

Take a look at the other scores from the night, one big one of note is North Dakota stomping St. Cloud 7-2

Kissin your sister-CC DU tie 5-5 in season finale

At least they got a point and the Pan. The Tigers and Pioneers battled it out in the last game of the season and ended up with one of the most loathsome results: tying the arch rival. Granted, we will take the points but feeling equal to a rival isn't good. However, CC did win the season series 3-0-1 and didn't lose to the Pioneers, something that has haunted them for the past few seasons. CC will open at home ice next Friday (march 9th) and may still have a shot at the NCAA Tourney. For now, it's time to enjoy the Gold Pan and get ready for at least 2 more home games!

CC going for the sweep! WEAR GOLD!

The Tiger's play their final regular season home game tonight against DU and have a chance to get the 3rd place seed in the WCHA playoffs that start next weekend. The Tigers clinched home ice for next weekend and tonight will decided the final seed. The Tigers can also sweep the season series against DU and potentially knock DU out of contention for the NCAA tournament. After beating tying us for the MacNaughton Cup, beating us in the WCHA final and in the NCAA tournament 2 years ago, I think this would be a great chance to get some revenge. For everyone going to the game, be sure to wear GOLD! The game is on ESPNU so let's make sure to show support for the Tigers with the chance for the whole country to see us on national TV (well, premium channel national TV, haha). The puck is scheduled to drop at 8:07pm Mountain Time. I'm hoping to head to a bar and watch the game and represent the Tigers and The Springs here in Lincoln!

USCHO summary

CC Blanks DU!

Gazette Game coverage

CC brings Gold Pan home

Denver Post game summary

DenverPost.com - Tigers take Gold Pan from DU

Tigers get Gold Pan with 3-0 Friday win over DU!