CC vs. UNO: what to expect

Good news, according to Brian Gomez of the Colorado Springs Gazette, Josh Thorimbert will likely start this weekend.
Bad news: Trying to think of something......nothing coming to mind......

In my past couple of blogs I have given brief details of what goalies are going through in games. I have been critical of our goaltenders and of our coaching staff. Today I am going to take things on the players and what they must do in order to get the "W".


Lines:

Offense:
This will be key for the Tigers. When CC went into Omaha last fall they had a rolling offense putting up stats somewhere in the 2nd in the nation category. Things have slipped a bit since then. Scoring 2 goals against a slow Bemidji team and not putting up much of anything against Denver or Minnesota the weeks prior, really points to where this offense is headed.

This time last year, the talk was getting Jaden back. This year the talk is again, getting Jaden back. For different reasons of course. Let's face it, Jaden has not been himself this year. Many things could be at stake here, such as the passing of his sister or just a sophomore slump. It's hard to tell. Jaden has done well, not to take any credit from him. One would just expect that last seasons showcase performance minus 15 games would make a full season this year the ride of the World Arena's life. Hasn't been the case.

Rylan has been a HUGE factor this year. Even with Jaden gone, he still has been taking feeds from others and scoring big. For his first two years, Rylan really didn't do this much. Last year he became the other Schwartz brother. This year he's come out of his shell. Something tells me that if he does stay at CC for next season, this could be the non-NHL draft pick to watch out for.

David Civatrese: I know, he's on defense. However his work during last year's tourney brought him many praises. He still has been the same old defender over the regular season as in years before. Hasn't really put up the goals that people thought he could after the BC game.

Will he or won't he? William Rapuzzi has always been a mid level star for CC. He's been a backbone for pissing the other teams off. He's always been good playing against Alaska. I guess I was just hoping for a break out year for this kid. Possibly a hobey nomination. Maybe his off season surgery was just too much to recover from.

Defense:
This is an area that I am excited about. UNO poses no serious threats to CC's game plan. Then again neither did Bemidi, and CC got swept back to Colorado in that series. I don't expect CC's defense to fail like they did in Omaha, but one's got to think that with the pressure this side of the puck has been getting that something is going to let loose. I feel fairly confident that the Tiger D can show up during this series.


Goaltending:

I'm a little worried about this one. The team and the fans will know really quick if thorny still has concussion symptoms. He'll likely let everything his way come in. Reeling from a bad weekend in net, Joe Howe has some serious thinking to do. He's got a year left at CC and coming back to the starting position with one season to go is really hard. I think Joe might have lost his starting position for good. At best he can expect to be platooning next fall should Thorny show any regression. After Howe's great performance last year, I can firmly say that anything is possible.

Overall:
I picked CC to get a win and a tie out of this with thorny in net, well before his concussion I might add. Not a whole lot has changed since then. A couple of losses due to injuries but nothing so significant that another tiger couldn't pick up.

I still think CC has a guaranteed shot at winning one of these games. I think all things remaining equal that if CC wins the first game and Omaha adjusts for the second one that the defense and goaltending can remain strong for the tigers. I do believe they can handle an extended period of time without much offense. However, not having a good offense is not good either.

I still think CC will lose or tie the second game. If they win, I'll be happy. The only way they will do that though is if this offense grows up and plays hard on the saturday game....when really, only 7,000 people will be watching....


THANKS FOR READING!