New year. New look.

It's that time of year again. New hockey blood, and for me a new team. I guess some explanations along the way too.

Last year I attended the final WCHA final five in it's current format. I watched the Badgers beat the Tigers. I saw fans who hated the idea of the B1G, and I watched an old man cry over the loss of the current WCHA.

I am a life long Badger fan, but I just couldn't bring myself to be a fan of the B1G. I think the league is an atrocity, and will only showcase big money hockey. So I moved back to Denver for other reasons and swept up on an offer for Denver University tickets. This does officially make me switch sides away from CC, but I have always been of the impression to make friends at hockey games.


With that being said, here's my yearly take on the goalie situation for DU and CC.

DU: I read everything about this coming year and found that almost every college hockey writer was against DU. I read a blog which said DU would split the series against Merrimack 1-1 with DU allowing a total of 5 goals. DU actually shut out the series and scored 5 goals.
DU has always had good goalies. It's like a natural pedigree to be a decent goalie and play for DU. Sam Brittain has always been a favorite goalie of mine. He had an awesome freshman year, then snapped his ACL and had two off years. He get's his final chance at redemption this year before graduating and ceding the spot to Evan Cowley. I think Brittain has the chance to be great this year and he could backstop a superb DU team.

CC: I have had a love/hate relationship with CC goalies since Bachman left. Howe did good his first two years coming within one win of a frozen four berth. He lost his touch to Thorimbert his Junior year and competed with him during his senior season. Thorimbert is a very good goalie when he's on target. His somewhat tandem last year landed CC their first losing season in 14 years. However, I think he is a good leader in net. He talks quite a bit, and freshman Tyler Marble can learn something from that. Thorny might not be the best in net, but if he's on target like he was in his sophomore year CC could be a force in net.


Next week I'll target the forwards for both DU and CC. Should be a decent season for both.