Apparently I wasn't the only one suprised at the score last night. Both the Tigers website and USCO put it as a major upset. The Tigers now have 60 minutes to keep their season alive or else it will plummet into a huge disappointment for a team once ranked #1. Below you will find the CC Athletics recap and below USCHO for your Saturday reading pleasure. I'm off to play on the red rocks of Moab!
------------------------------------------------------

CC Athletics

Colorado College really has its work cut out now.

The Tigers head into Game 2 of their first-round WCHA playoff series with the University of Minnesota Duluth in a do-or-die predicament, facing elimination after suffering a 4-1 loss to the Bulldogs in Friday’s opener at the World Arena.

In plain and simple terms, CC must bounce back and win on Saturday and Sunday, or the season is over.

Senior center MacGregor Sharp set up a power-play goal then scored one of his own in the first period, as visiting UMD got an early jump and never looked back in Game 1 of this best-of-three set. Freshman forwards Mike and Jack Connolly collected a pair of assists apiece while Josh Meyers, Jordan Fulton and Justin Fontaine each clicked for a key tally in the victory.

Colorado College’s only goal, at 15:53 of the middle frame, came on a semi-breakaway by Eric Walsky. Sophomore net minder Richard Bachman banked a pass off the boards to Walsky as Duluth finished killing a long 5-on-3 power play for CC, and the senior winger soloed in to score his 11th goal of the season to pull the Tigers to within 3-1.

Fontaine’s red lighter at 3:52 of the third period ended any further hopes for a comeback.

Bachman finished with 35 saves compared to 36 by Bulldogs goaltender Alex Stalock, who made 15 of his stops in the second period when CC had four consecutive power plays, including the two-man advantage for 1:56.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Duluth Shocks CC
Bulldog Power Play the Difference in Crucial Game 1 Win
by Theresa Spisak/WCHA Correspondent

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (March 13) — Though the lower seed in this series, the University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs proved why they have the fourth best power play in the country, getting two power-play goals to beat the Colorado College Tigers, 4-1, in the first game of the best-of-three series Friday night at World Arena.

The Tigers controlled play early, but they couldn’t get anything past Bulldog netminder Alex Stalock (36 saves).

“I thought Al made some big saves early,” said Duluth coach Scott Sandelin. “There’s no question he was good early.”

As a result, the Bulldogs got on the board first at the tail end of a five minute power play thanks to a Cody Lampl checking from behind call. About halfway through the period and with 32 seconds remaining in the power play, Josh Meyers unleashed a slapshot from the right face-off circle that beat Tiger goaltender Richard Bachman (35 saves) under his right shoulder.


“It happened early and it set the tone and we did a pretty good job killing it for about four and a half minutes until they score but it gave them life; it gave them momentum and life,” said CC coach Scott Owens.

Duluth took a 2-0 lead with 1:58 left in the first period when MacGregor Sharp’s power play shot from the slot beat Bachman five-hole.

The Bulldogs went up 3-0 on another five-hole goal from the slot 7:21 into the second period with Jordan Fulton doing the honors.

CC got on the board with about four minutes left in the middle period in the waning seconds of a 5-on-3 penalty. The Bulldogs cleared the puck out of their zone, but Bachman controlled the clear and quickly dished it to Eric Walsky for the breakaway. Walsky came down the center of the ice, cut to Stalock’s right and slid it under the sprawling goaltender to make it a 3-1 game.

Though the Tigers tried to get back into the game, the Bulldogs only furthered their lead with a goal four minutes into the third period when Justin Fontaine beat Bachman high glove side right off a face-off.

The Tigers almost had a goal with 16.8 seconds remaining, but Stalock made a goal-line glove save on Scott McCulloch.

“It was huge for us to get the lead and build on that lead,” said Sandelin. “I thought our [penalty-] killers did a great job, I thought Al came up big on certainly that last save [which] kind of epitomized his night, but you need your best players to play like your best players.”

“It was there for us to get back into it,” said Owens, “and it didn’t happen. They got better with confidence as they went along and I think their top guys outplayed our top guys tonight.

“In the end, you tell them, hey, it’s one game. You live to fight as a desperate team tomorrow and whatever happens, happens on Sunday. It’s not over.”

The two teams meet again on Saturday, March 14 at World Arena. Game time is at 7:05 p.m. Mountain.

The Tigers still have a pretty good shot at making the NCAA Tournament if they can play good hockey and win some WCHA tournament games. Unfortunately, that road looks a little tougher at the time of this posting as the Tigers are down 3-1 going into the third period against Duluth. I'll have a quick update of the score when it ends (nothing more since I'm in Moab!). In the meantime, here's Frank Schwab's assessment of the Tigers' postseason chances.

CC hockey team knows what it has to do to make the NCAA Tournament
FRANK SCHWAB

Unlike college basketball, which will engage in nonstop "in or out?" bubble-team debate until Sunday afternoon, college hockey's postseason berths are easier to figure.

If the power ratings in hockey say you're good enough to make the NCAA Tournament, you're in. That's why coaches pay so much attention this time of year to the U.S. College Hockey Online PairWise rankings. Those rankings mirror the formula used by the NCAA selection committee.

"I like it because there are no opinions, there's no subjectivity," Colorado College coach Scott Owens said. "There's always those thoughts if a guy is sitting around in a cigar smoke-filled room paying back people to get teams in. This takes that out of it. It's very fair."

At the beginning of February, PairWise wasn't a big factor for the plummeting Tigers. Now they're in a tie for 14th after a strong run in February and early March. Depending on how many lower-ranked teams get automatic bids by winning conference tournaments, the top 12 or 13 teams in the PairWise rankings usually get into the NCAA Tournament.

CC has a best-of-three home series in the opening round of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association playoffs this weekend against Minnesota-Duluth. Two wins in the tough matchup could help the Tigers move up in the PairWise. Duluth is barely behind the Tigers in PairWise, tied for 17th.

"If you don't win, you're done anyway," Owens said. "If you do win, you might as well pick up some value points."

If CC advances, there is a good chance it will participate in the extra game at the WCHA Final Five in St. Paul, Minn. The Tigers are the fourth seed, and the top three remaining seeds get byes to the semifinals. That could give CC a chance to get an extra win and help its NCAA Tournament standing.

"I think if we can win this series and win two games in St. Paul, we have a decent chance," Owens said.

CC could also get in the NCAA Tournament by winning the Final Five, but that won't be easy. The Tigers have never won the event and if they play in the extra game, that adds some difficulty.

The players understand they can't pay too much attention to what happens to teams like Princeton, Minnesota, Ohio State and St. Lawrence - teams that are directly ahead of or tied with CC in the PairWise. The Tigers hope to win and let the computers figure out the rest.

"I just try to focus on the games," senior forward Eric Walsky said. "All we have control over is winning and those wins are only going to help in the PairWise."

Humpday means that the WCHA tournament is only a mere two days away and the Tigers get the chance to redeem themselves and squeak into the WCHA tournament. CHN has the Tigers as one of the bubble teams that could sneak in with a good showing over the next two weekends.
The Tigers are currently in a 3-way logjam tie for 14th in the Pairwise rankings which translates to being right on the outside.
On a fun note, I noticed that Dre Vlassopolous changed his Facebook pic to one that Missy J took over the weekend, pretty freaking sweet. Oh and for those of you that call me a stalker-I found it because one of my visits to the site today tracked back to his profile and bamo, there you go. Not much else in the way of Tiger news today but I'll have some more coverage of this upcoming weekends' battle with the Bulldogs tomorrow.