LetsGoDU

Harsh end to season still pains Owens

Scott Owens has reflected on the past season (Lemme guess, he would have liked to work on the PK the week before the Frozen Four, but he was too busy helping Marty Sertich write his Hobey acceptance speech).

Colorado College's hockey coach likes what comes back to him when he looks at the entirety of the year. But certain parts of the season stick with him more than others.

The season was similar to a Picasso - part real, part caricature and at the end, definitely part tragic (If CC season was a Picasso, DU's season was a Monet).

Owens doesn't wake up in cold sweats, but he would love to get back a few minutes of his last game (Uh, 24 minutes of shorthanded hockey is more than a "few" minutes, its almost half the game). Refreshing your memory, that was a 6-2 loss in the national semifinal to the national champion Denver Pioneers (cue the DU fight song).

The Pioneers looked like champions in that game, the Tigers efficiently played the role of chumps (chumps, chimps its all the same).

"I have a pain in my gut for how we lost," Owens said. "If it's up and down, end to end, great play after great play and we lose 3-2 - OK. But to give up 12 power-play opportunities and to give them six (goals) . . . "

Owens paused a few moments, to drink his scotch and finished, "We didn't give ourselves a chance," he sobbed.

Losing to Denver, for the third consecutive game (and 149th time overall), was like your daughter marrying a Texan. From an emotional standpoint, a loss to Wayne State or Alabama-Huntsville would've been easier to take.

Original Story From: MILO F. BRYANT Gazette Sports columnist