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The Tigers took out their frustrations on the Sacred Heart Pioneers Saturday night in a 7-0 thrashing of the visitors. I can't think of a better way to enter your December break then unleashing 7 goals by 7 different players. The Tigers are out of action until January 9th when they take on Minnesota State. Links from the game are below, followed by Missy J's pics from the game and then the quick recap from CC Athletics.
Gazette: New Lines Contribute to Win
USCHO: Homepage, Tigers Blow Out Pioneers
I've been pretty slacktastic with my postings on the site due to work so I decided to toss in a few links regarding the Minnesota game that will air Saturday and Sunday nights on FSN. No the Tigers don't play tonight, something I just found out myself as I was writing this. So on that note, here are some links to read while you suffer through a Friday night without hockey. As for myself, I have my first game in the Durango Adult Hockey league tonight so that should be fun. I played inline hockey in highschool and grew up on roller blades playing in our tiny driveway but never played on ice until a month ago. Should be a good time!
Chad Rau and his ancient stock photo made the front of USCHO today and the WCHA column gives the Tigers a C- for their report card at this point and addresses the fact that we all are wondering how the Tigers have remained so high in the polls.
CHN now allows you to check scores from your cell phone, a great feature for those of us who love college hockey and can't find a score update anywhere!
And CC Athletics previews the weekend below, full press release here (PDF)
by CC Athletics
A pair of former No. 1-ranked teams square off this Saturday and Sunday when Colorado College and the University of Minnesota meet in a regional televised two-game series at Mariucci Arena on the UM campus in Minneapolis.
Only one point separates the second-place Gophers and fourth-place Tigers in the unusually tight WCHA standings. While league-leading Wisconsin takes the weekend off, CC and Minnesota are among five teams with a shot at catching or surpassing the Badgers in the WCHA standings.
This is the last weekend of conference play until January.
Still in the thick of the upper division despite winning just two of their last six league outings, the Tigers are 9-5-4 overall and 6-4-2 in WCHA play after tying (1-1) and losing (7-4) to Minnesota Duluth at the World Arena last weekend. Only two points out of first place, they currently are ranked No. 9 and 10 in the two national polls. Minnesota is No. 2 in both.
This weekend's series in Minneapolis will feature four of the WCHA’s top 11 point producers. Colorado College’s Chad Rau (10g,14a) and Eric Walsky (9g,13a) rank second and in a tie for third, respectively, with 24 and 22 points overall, while Gopher standouts Ryan Stoa (11g,9a) and Jordan Schroeder (7g,12a) are eighth and tied for 10th with 20 and 19.
from CC Athletics
Top-ranked Colorado College remains undefeated but can't exactly be thrilled with its latest result.
Playing on the road for the first time this season, the Tigers settled for a 1-1 tie with Clarkson University on Friday at sold-out Cheel Arena in Potsdam, N.Y.
CC, now 4-0-1, dominated statistically, out-shooting the Knights by a 34-23 margin and winning 50 of the game’s 80 faceoffs. But, other than a power-play goal by senior center Chad Rau that knotted the contest at 14:25 of the second period, the visitors were unable to dent freshman goaltender Paul Karpowich.
Rau scored his fourth goal of the season after pouncing on a loose puck in the slot. The tally, set up by freshman defenseman Gabe Guentzel and senior right wing Eric Walsky, extended Rau’s point-scoring streak to five games and improved his season total to nine.
Clarkson grabbed the lead at 5:54 of the middle frame, when Lauri Tuohimaa one-timed Brandon DeFazio’s centering pass from behind the net past Tiger goalie Richard Bachman, who had no chance to stop the shot. Scott Freeman also drew an assist.
It was the first goal that Bachman has allowed in three Friday-night appearances so far this season.
The Tigers, who finished 1-for-7 on the power play, got their final one during the five-minute overtime but could not capitalize. They killed all five Clarkson power plays in the game and still have not allowed a PPG in 33 opponent chances in five outings to date.
Well it wasn't always pretty and it certainly was not as easy as expected, but the Tigers came out of their opening weekend against a non-conference foe unscathed. I'm sure there will be rumors and hate spewing across the 'net from opposing teams and media wondering if CC is actually any good after struggling by a team from Alabama. After watching both games up close, I can assure you the Tigers will be fine and that UAH is much better than advertised, they will handily win more than 6 games like they did last season. Their defense and goaltending was solid; they always had three players near the defensive net which made shooting lanes almost non-existent and it was hard to get in close for a quality shot, hence the lower-than-expected offensive output (scoring, not shots). The Tigers did manage a couple powerplay goals Saturday night and 4 goals during "regular" play (Rau added an empty-netter) so they will be fine. The power play suffered from too much passing (aka indecisiveness) and the aformentioned tight defensive play. The Tigers went 0-for-8 on Friday and 2-for-6 on Saturday, a game in which EVERY hook or grab was called in the offensive zone. CC was 5-for-5 killing penalties Friday and 9-for-9 Saturday. As good as UAH may have been defensively, they certainly didn't have the elite offensive scoring of a WCHA foe, so penalties need to be kept low. Look for the obstruction calls to continue to remain high this season with the new rules changes.
Uncaged notes:
Yes you read that right. Tigers: 1, UAH: 0. Not the high-scoring blowout many of us were hoping for, even expecting. The Tigers were faster, more physical and shot more tonight and yet only had 1 goal to show for it. The embarrassingly small World Arena crowd was restless for most of the game as the Tigers danced circles around the Chargers and yet couldn’t find the back of the net. Add two cross-bars, a post hit and two empty-net near-misses to that and it made for a nervous night. UAH had numerous penalties in the area of hooking tonight trying desperately to slow down the CC speed. Numerous times, Tigers were so open that they elected for the pass instead of the shot. UAH did a horrible job of puck control throughout the game and looked like they were either bracing for a hit, or looking for an out before they had control of the puck. The Tigers stole the puck at will and ran all around the over-matched visitors. However, the goaltending by Cameron Talbot was superb and he hung with the Tigers’ shooting barrage, which ended with 45 shots on goal. The Tigers, other than scoring, looked very good and I have yet to see an area of real concern. A close win like this will only help the team when they get into WCHA action. It will be fun to see what kind of game we get tomorrow night; UAH was visibly wearing down as the night went on so it could be a radically different score.
Notes from the stands:
Chad Rau and Richard Bachman were All Americans and more as Rau had the only goal (a top-shelf rip with under a minute in the 2nd) and Bachman stayed focused and notched a shutout on 16 shots, often with 5+ minutes in between shots.
The crowd was sparse, a shame since we have such a great team and it was the regular-season opener
No injuries yet, though ex-Lincoln Star Steve Shultz did go off the ice favoring his right shoulder/arm at one point.
Cameron Talbot was visibly devastated after letting in the only Tiger goal
UAH had new uniforms that looked purple in the arena lights but, alas, followed the trend of ugly RBK NHL jerseys. I liked the old ones better.
The odd black stripe down the side was not all that attractive, and I wasn’t a fan of the black nameplates.
And the socks, ohh the socks. I HATE the funky designs that companies try to wedge onto socks (yuck!). Why can’t they stay traditional?
Tiger UNI note: CC wore their yellow alternates which are a great color but I’m still not sold on the shoulder stripe going all the way down the sleeve.
Last game I said the players’ helmets had “TIGERS” on the side this season, well that’s just the left side, the right is “CC” lettering.
It was 75 degrees in the Springs today and could be a wintry weekend, come out to the game Saturday night!!!
Game Pics Below
The Tigers started out a little slow and had some early defensive breakdowns that hung Bachman out to dry twice, but after 10 minutes the Tigers were onto their game. The Tigers played their game and used their crisp passing and smooth skating to sail past the Golden Bears 5-2. The bears were finishing up their 3rd straight game against the Front Range teams and I'm impressed they played as well as they did. The team from Edmonton played hard and stayed with the Tigers for the most part but started to run out of gas in the 3rd.
Some notes and observations from ice level:
The University of Alberta rides into southern Colorado Springs tonight to face the Tigers in an exhibition contest. Alberta has been on a three night trip down the Front Range and has yet to win against the strong Colorado teams. They had their best chance Saturday night against DU until the Pios scored the winning goal with 1.8 seconds left to win 5-4. Sunday night, Alberta was on the north side and was taken down by AFA 3-1. The Tigers hope to send them back to Edmonton 0-for-3 and get tuned up for the regular season. It will be interesting to see how CC plays, whether they will treat it like a WCHA game or go easy and just work the bugs out. I would be suprised to see Bachman play the entire game, though it certaintly doesn't hurt getting game-speed practice in.
Also, Bachman and Hobey-snubbed Chad Rau were named first team on the Preseason All CHN Team.
Bachman gets some ink in the Denver Post with regard to DU's new goalie Marc Cheverie and what may have been and what will be.
J.P. Testwuide is one of 4 Pios who were suspended for their game Saturday.
