New Polls out

Oddly enough, CC actually dropped a place in this week's USCHO poll to #3 while remaining at #3 in the USA Today poll. No matter, the Tigers will have to play tough this weekend to take out St. Cloud State.

USCHO POLL

1	Michigan	(27)	16-2-0	953	3
2	Miami	(15)	14-2-0	933	1
3	Colorado College	( 6)	10-4-0	905	2
4	Denver	( 2)	12-4-0	862	4
5	Michigan State		12-3-2	803	5
6	Notre Dame		16-4-0	770	6
7	North Dakota		8-6-1	658	7
8	Clarkson		10-5-0	614	9
9	Massachusetts		7-3-5	599	11
10	New Hampshire		8-4-1	590	8
11	Northeastern		7-4-2	483	12
12	Minnesota		9-8-1	366	15
13	Wisconsin		7-7-2	358	10
14	Harvard		6-3-2	330	13
15	Boston College		5-4-5	278	17
16	Rensselaer		8-5-3	243	19
17	St. Cloud State		7-7-2	175	14
18	Minnesota-Duluth		6-6-4	133	16
19	Bowling Green		8-6-0	99	18
20	Mass.-Lowell		7-4-4	96	NR

USA TODAY

1	University of Michigan	479	(21)	2	16-2-0
2	Miami (Ohio) University	470	(10)	1	14-2-0
3	Colorado College	448	(3)	3	10-4-0
4	University of Denver	424		5	12-4-0
5	Michigan State University	380		4	12-3-2
6	University of Notre Dame	359		6	16-4-0
7	University of North Dakota	269		8	8-6-1
8	Clarkson University	253		9	10-5-0
9	University of Massachusetts	243		10	7-3-5
10	University of New Hampshire	238		7	8-4-1
11	Northeastern University	152		13	7-4-2
12	Harvard University	99		12	6-3-2
13	University of Minnesota	91		NR	9-8-1
14	University of Wisconsin	80		11	7-7-2
15	Boston College	39		NR	5-4-5

Tigers have big weekend, without setting foot on the ice

The CC hockey club could wake up Monday morning to a #1 ranking in the USCHO poll as Miami OH lost to Alaska-Fairbanks Saturday night, leaving the number one ranking up for grabs. As for CC's next series, DU swept St. Cloud this weekend leaving a tough team reeling. It will set up an interesting battle next weekend.

#2 Tigers ready to roll on

The Tigers get an A+ grade on this week's WCHA report card

Here are some other stories from the CC website, including Bachman being the Rookie of the Month

Bachman named National Rookie of the Month
Freshman goaltender Richard Bachman, who backstopped WCHA-leading Colorado College’s six-game winning streak against nationally ranked opponents in November, has been named National Rookie of the Month by the Hockey Commissioners’ Association. He was a unanimous selection for the honor, earning all five first-place votes. Now 9-2 overall for the season, Bachman finished with a 6-1 record, 1.72 GAA and .944 saves percentage in seven starts against North Dakota, Wisconsin, Minnesota Duluth and Denver last month. He won his first eight league outings before finally losing 3-2 to the Pioneers at Magness Arena on Nov. 24. He earlier posted his first career shutout with 34 saves in a 3-0 triumph over UMD on Nov. 10 and has allowed one or fewer goals in seven of his 11 starts. The Highlands Ranch, Colo., native already has earned three Player of the Week awards in the WCHA, including Rookie of the Week recognition twice in November after the Tigers swept Duluth and split with DU. He also picked up a pair of assists – on a key shorthanded tally by Scott Thauwald in a 4-1 victory at North Dakota on Nov. 3, as well as on Chad Rau’s game-winning goal against UMD in a 5-3 home-ice triumph on Nov. 9.

Sweatt to play at World Juniors again
Sophomore left wing Bill Sweatt, who helped the United States claim a bronze medal at last year’s IIHF World Junior Championship, is one of 12 forwards named to Team USA for the 2008 version of the event scheduled for Dec. 26 through Jan. 5 in the Czech Republic. The American roster, which includes 22 players in all. was announced live during Versus’ national telecast of the Detroit Red Wings-Montreal Canadiens NHL game on Tuesday evening. Due to his participation in the tournament, Sweatt will miss CC’s two games at the Lightning College Hockey Classic in Tampa, Fla. (Dec. 29-30) as well as its series at the University of Wisconsin the following weekend (Jan. 4-5). He collected 15 (5g,10a) of his 26 points as a freshman in 2006-07 in 14 outings after returning from the international competition a year ago. A second-round draft choice of the Chicago Blackhawks last summer, he currently ranks second among the Tigers with 13 points (4g,9a) overall this season and is tied for fifth among WCHA players with 11 (3g,8a) in league play.

Tigers climb the ranks again

CC used it's weekend sweep of UAA to jump into the #2 spot in the USCHO polls this week, 98 points behind #1 Miami Ohio. Pretty sweet! The WCHA still holds 7 of the top 20 teams

More from CC Athletics
Tigers climb to No. 2 and No. 3 in polls
Colorado College, which skated to its fourth series sweep of the season with a pair of victories at Alaska Anchorage last weekend, continues to gain plenty of attention from voters in the national rankings. While idle Miami University remained No. 1 in both polls released on Monday, the WCHA-leading Tigers climbed from No. 4 to No. 2 in one (U.S. College Hockey Online/CSTV) and No. 3 in the other (USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine). They are No. 4, behind Miami, Michigan and Michigan State of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, in the weekly power rankings conducted by Inside College Hockey. CC, which leads its own league standings by six points over second-place University of Denver, takes this weekend off before resuming action at St. Cloud State on Dec. 14 and 15.

USCHO

	Team	(First Place Votes)	Record	Points	Last Poll
1	Miami	(48)	13-1-0	998	1
2	Colorado College	( 1)	10-4-0	900	4
3	Michigan	( 1)	14-2-0	886	2
4	Denver		10-4-0	841	3
5	Michigan State		10-3-2	819	5
6	Notre Dame		14-4-0	771	7
7	North Dakota		7-5-1	675	8
8	New Hampshire		8-3-1	668	6
9	Clarkson		10-5-0	532	9
10	Wisconsin		7-6-1	503	13
11	Massachusetts		6-3-5	486	11
12	Northeastern		7-4-1	387	16
13	Harvard		6-2-1	381	15
14	St. Cloud State		7-5-2	361	10
15	Minnesota		8-7-1	286	14
16	Minnesota-Duluth		6-5-3	268	12
17	Boston College		5-4-5	251	19
18	Bowling Green		8-4-0	134	NR
19	Rensselaer		7-5-3	101	18
20	Michigan Tech		6-7-1	100	20

USA Today

1	Miami (Ohio) University	509	(33)	1	13-1-0
2	University of Michigan	453	(1)	2	14-2-0
3	Colorado College	444		4	10-4-0
4	Michigan State University	402		5	10-3-2
5	University of Denver	388		3	10-4-0
6	University of Notre Dame	346		7	14-4-0
7	University of New Hampshire	292		6	8-3-1
8	University of North Dakota	281		8	7-5-1
9	Clarkson University	199		9	10-5-0
10	University of Massachusetts	171		11	6-3-5
11	University of Wisconsin	164		14	7-6-1
12	Harvard University	133		15	6-2-1
13	Northeastern University	126		12	7-4-1
14	St. Cloud State University	74		10	7-5-2
15	University of Minnesota-Duluth	49		13	6-5-3

Tigers win first road series

The Tigers battled the late starts, dark skies and sparse crowds to come out of this weekend with a sweep of Alaska Anchorage and a 6 point lead in the WCHA. UAA was the first team the Tigers have played this season not ranked in the top 15 (they are unranked) and they passed with flying colors. I caught the first 35 minutes last night on the CW but got too annoyed to watch any more. I'm thankful that the Tigers were on TV on the road but oh man, poor coverage. It was UAA's announcing team (which I'm fine with) but they sounded like they were talking through cell phones the whole time with all the static and noise. That was nothing compared to the arena itself...there were ads EVERYWHERE!! Granted, I'm an advertising major but there's a limit, this looked almost as bad as European hockey. There were no less than 8 ads in the neutral zone, at least 4 around the face-off dots in the zones and a HUGE slogan across behind the goalies. If this wasn't bad enough, on every pane of glass all the way around was a 4 inch of so high logo of all the board sponsors. So those who were in the front row got a giant green SUBWAY logo right in their face instead of seeing the ice. From a marketing perspective, this is pretty clever but its so friggen annoying that it might have the reverse effect. If we can see it on TV, there is a problem. Oh and the arena looked virtually empty with bright multi-colored seats showing off their empty glory. I also noticed that, despite all the ads, there was no center-ice logo. Maybe it's because UAA has one of the most hideous logos I've ever seen! Alright, there's my "arena aesthetics" rant. The Tigers head off to St. Cloud this weekend to battle an always tough Huskies team. The Tigers don't return home until January 11 when they again take on UAA. Thank goodness for Bowl Season, otherwise I would be going crazy for the next month-and-a-half!!

Tigers open it up after slow start

The Tigers sweep lowly Alaska Anchorage with a 4-1 win Saturday night.
From CC Athletics:
CC widens league lead with sweep of Seawolves
All the chips fell in Colorado College’s favor on the road Saturday. Fueled by Jimmy Kilpatrick’s two goals and a timely tally by Erik Walsky late in the second period, the WCHA-leading Tigers rallied for a come-from-behind 4-1 victory over Alaska Anchorage that completed a weekend sweep at Sullivan Arena. Combined with second-place Denver’s 3-1 loss to North Dakota, the triumph allowed CC to open up a six-point lead over DU in the league standings. The Seawolves struck first in Saturday’s series finale, snapping a scoreless deadlock on freshman Tommy Grant’s power-play rebound at 4:36 of the middle stanza. But Kilpatrick evened the score just 30 seconds later, unleashing a wicked wrist shot from the high slot after taking a pass from Scott Thauwald. Walsky, an Anchorage native who played for UAA during the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons, added his sixth goal of the season and second game winner with just 33 seconds left in the frame. Kilpatrick and sophomore defenseman Brian Connelly clicked for a pair of power-play goals in the third period as the Tigers improved to 10-4 overall and 10-2 in WCHA play. Freshman netminder Richard Bachman finished with 24 saves while junior center Chad Rau extended his point-scoring streak to eight games with an assist on Connelly’s goal, which Kilpatrick also helped set up.

CC Wins Defensive affair

From CC Athletics:

While Drew O’Connell and Matt Overman have yet to establish themselves as household names, they came through big-time for Colorado College on Friday. O’Connell made 28 saves and Overman scored the only goal of the game at 6:01 of the first period, leading the Tigers to a 1-0 victory over the University of Alaska Anchorage in the opener of their two-game series at Sullivan Arena. Overman’s tally, set up by junior center Chad Rau, was the first of the sophomore winger’s collegiate career. O’Connell, meanwhile, posted his first victory of the season as first-place and fourth-ranked CC improved to 9-2 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association and maintained its four-point lead over Denver in the league standings. The junior goaltender, an Anchorage native, made key stops in all three periods to frustrate his hometown Seawolves in a contest that saw Colorado College kill six UAA power plays. Rau extended his point-scoring streak to seven games.
Box Score

Game Night!

Alright, the blog is back after some technical issues this week. The goal was to change the actual address of the site but I ran into some complications, SO, I just added another address to the site. You can enter the current address "www.supportcctigerhockey.blogspot.com" OR you can enter "tigerhockey.info". Both will get you to the same place but I will be publicly using the new one, something about it rolling off the tongue easier :).
So, most of you are probably wondering why its 9pm and I'm just now putting up the info for the game, games are usually over in about an hour from now right? Not so tonight. CC is on Alaska Time Zone this weekend which is 2 full hours behind Colorado. I never even knew this existed so I had to go do some research. The game is scheduled to start at 9:37 Mountain time so while you are waiting, here is some reading from the week:

Anything you could ever want to know about the game is found on the CC Athletics site

From the USCHO Week in WCHA
No. 4 Colorado College @ Alaska-Anchorage
Poll Movement: CC — stayed put after splitting with DU. UAA — went from receiving five votes to three after being idle.
Overall Records: CC — 8-4 (8-2 WCHA). UAA — 4-3-3 (1-3-2 WCHA).
Head-to-Head: CC leads the all-time series 41-11-3.
Top Scorers: CC — Chad Rau (9-6-15). UAA — Kevin Clark (5-6-11).
Goaltenders: CC — Richard Bachman (10 gp, 8-2, 1.70 GAA, .944 sv %). UAA — Jon Olthuis (9 gp, 3-3-3, 2.93 GAA, .888 sv %).

From the WCHA blog
Colorado College at Alaska Anchorage
Friday – 10:30 p.m. CST
Saturday – 10 p.m. CST

The first place Colorado College Tigers will look pad their four-point lead over DU for first place in the WCHA as they head north to take on Alaska Anchorage this weekend. They key to these games will be the Seawolves’ ability to slow down CC’s high-octane offense, which is led by the likes of Chad Rau, Jimmy Kilpatrick, and Billy Sweatt. They are averaging 3.6 GPG in WCHA play; the Seawolves have been scoring just 2.17 GPG in conference play, and go up against one of the conference’s best goaltenders in the form of Tiger freshman Richard Bachman, who has been the biggest surprise of the season so far. Expect CC to handle UAA handily in one night, but don’t be surprised if the Seawolves push the Tigers to the limit in one of the two contests.

IMPORTANT BLOG NOTICE!

The blog will be down Tuesday night until Thursday night as it transitions over to its new domain name: TigerHockey.info
For those of you who have the old address bookmarked, don't worry! It will still work and will redirect you to the new name. Nothing will change just the name but I felt it was more appropriate and relevant to the site!

Media Rivalry

If you haven't read it already, Mike Chambers of the Denver Post recently wrote in his blog about the CC-DU series. Naturally, some over sensitive fans got mad about "bias" in his blog and wrote him letters. Naturally, he wrote a response to that in his next blog, saying it's all in perception and of course, the Denver Post is a state wide paper (and the best by far) so they cover everything. Now we have some bickering going on in the comments section (like usual). Great huh? Here is what I have to say about that, so what? It's college hockey! Just sit back and watch. Yea we hate DU and they hate CC, but we all live in freaking Colorado! So hate each other when we play and just sit back and watch and quietly route for the CO teams the rest of the season. There are plenty of other teams to hate for better reasons: michigan just cuz it's michigan and they suck at life, notre dame because they think they are entitled to the world, and any boston area team for any sport because the media loves them and they think they rule. Sorry New Englanders, but I would rather take my 65 degree sunny December's than your crappy humid, wind, dreary, snow-filled winters. So what if your live in Boston, we live in freaking Colorado!

Splitsville, CC 2 DU 3

The Tigers go 1-for-6 on the power play and fall 3-2 as DU rebounds at home Saturday night.

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!