The tough losses

Note: Subjective blog, do not read any further if that bothers you..........



Colorado College hockey has been around for many years. In fact, the record books indicate that of the three major teams in Colorado....CC,DU and AF, CC has been around the longest. That's a good thing, as tradition is a multiple of time.

CC hockey has been a staple to the Colorado Springs area. The arena is usually at 80% or better capacity, and according to the jumbotron is the top attended winter sport in the state.

CC fans are loyal, as they should be. The great thing about the relationship between the school and the community is that they are almost one. Being from Wisconsin, I know a thing or two about watching big time hockey. The badgers and the gophers were always on t.v. But they never offered anything like CC does. In Colorado Springs, fans are able to skate with their favorite players twice a year in a program called "skate with the tigers". Nothing similar to this is found at any other university that I am aware of.

So when CC loses like they did tonight, fans tend to get a bit grumpy about others talking negatively about their team. It's almost like a direct insult. But even past that point, one has to look at the reality of the situation: where is CC this season?

I don't know if anyone knows that answer. The only thing that has been for sure is who is the captain of this team, as far as inside the actual team goes. The goaltending has been unreliable. The season started with the same goalie for the past two years, transitioned into a platoon and now features the back up goalie as the starter from last year.
Lineup changes in front of the goalie have left fans scratching their heads. The defense started week while the offense started strong. Then a mid season shift happened and things started to go the other direction. Then line up changes like tonight happen and I just wonder if Scott Owens is not content with this years team.

No doubt, it's tough being a coach. Especially one with such passionate fans as CC. The point here is that Colorado College hockey has to make some serious rebounds to get anywhere. They came out strong in their Friday night series against UNO. I predicted a second game loss or tie due to an adjustment by both teams. I was unfortunately right. Coach Blais altered his netminder and gave his team a talking that they really needed.

CC came out in the second game and looked absolutely flat offensively. Defensively, the team showed no signs of life and players came as they pleased towards Josh Thorimbert. Luckily, Thorny only let in 1 goal during the first. That was obviously enough to get the blood flowing in Coach Owens veins to pump this team up.
The second period featured an offensive explosion and a more up tempo defense. Then the third period came and the game returned to 1st period style. The offense lagged, the defense lagged and thorny just couldn't do the shots by himself.

It's these kinds of losses that put this Tiger team at a disadvantage. Their backs are against the wall nationally. CC needs life support to stay alive in the pairwise. As a tiger fan, I can only look past that ranking at this point and believe that Coach Owens can use these next four games as motivation for the WCHA playoffs. Last season was a truly remarkable one. CC finished the regular season at Wisconsin and brought the badgers back to the world arena for a playoff feast. To get a home series this year, CC will likely have to do the same against michigan tech during the final regular season game and continue that into the playoffs.

The tigers can win it. They just need a solid team effort.