(left) One of roughly 200 banners hanging in World ArenaFrom: Colorado Springs Gazette
by Kate Crandall
Colorado College isn't looking past this weekend's series with rival No. 4 Denver, but two ties at Clarkson last weekend reminded the Tigers of their ultimate destination.
To excel in the NCAA Tournament, No. 1 CC - which posted an 18-3 record on World Arena's Olympic-sized ice sheet last season - must learn to win on the road in strange buildings and on NHL-sized ice surfaces, which are narrower by 15 feet.
That hasn't been the Tigers' strong suit in the past couple of seasons, captain Jake Gannon said, noting the two losses at the Western Collegiate Hockey Association Final Five last season.
At Magness Arena, where CC will play the front end of a home-and-home series with Denver on Friday, the Tigers have fared well, racking up a 13-6-1 record in its 10 years of existence.
"Coming down to the postseason, road games are always important," Gannon said.
"Hopefully we get into the Final Five - and that's going to be away - and regionals and Frozen Four and all that. That's when you've got to play your best hockey."
Just like in the NCAA Tournament, CC faced foreign officiating and an intense atmosphere at East Coast Athletic Conference member Clarkson, which required "the longest travel day I've had here," center Andreas Vlassopoulos said, putting the trip to Potsdam, N.Y., ahead of WCHA journeys to Michigan Tech (Houghton) and Alaska-Anchorage.
"It was a good team-bonding thing," Vlassopoulos said. "It was really tough, so guys had to really rely on each other. When you play on the road, especially a place like that, you can't even really hear each other. They scored a goal and it was ridiculous."
Even amid the deafening combination of crowd, fog horn, bell and band, the Tigers were communicating encouragement and strategy to one another, Vlassopoulos said.
"Everybody was just trying to get everybody else confident, even when we were getting killed with a ton of shots and we were kind of all over the place," he said.
Despite CC's scoring woes - the Tigers average just 2.5 goals and 10 of 15 forwards are searching for their first goal - Vlassopoulos said the team came out of the weekend tougher and more motivated to face the Pioneers, who rank first nationally in team offense (4.80 goals).
"That's underachieving for a lot of us, but with how tough it was to play there, getting two ties gives us that much more confidence," he said "I wouldn't doubt, if we have big-time comebacks this year or we're down late, I wouldn't put it past us that we come back."
Tickets In Colorado Springs
CC student tickets sold out on the first day, leaving less than 600 tickets available for Sunday's 5 p.m. series finale against Denver. Tickets may be purchased through cctigers.com, 576-2626 and at World Arena box office.
To excel in the NCAA Tournament, No. 1 CC - which posted an 18-3 record on World Arena's Olympic-sized ice sheet last season - must learn to win on the road in strange buildings and on NHL-sized ice surfaces, which are narrower by 15 feet.
That hasn't been the Tigers' strong suit in the past couple of seasons, captain Jake Gannon said, noting the two losses at the Western Collegiate Hockey Association Final Five last season.
At Magness Arena, where CC will play the front end of a home-and-home series with Denver on Friday, the Tigers have fared well, racking up a 13-6-1 record in its 10 years of existence.
"Coming down to the postseason, road games are always important," Gannon said.
"Hopefully we get into the Final Five - and that's going to be away - and regionals and Frozen Four and all that. That's when you've got to play your best hockey."
Just like in the NCAA Tournament, CC faced foreign officiating and an intense atmosphere at East Coast Athletic Conference member Clarkson, which required "the longest travel day I've had here," center Andreas Vlassopoulos said, putting the trip to Potsdam, N.Y., ahead of WCHA journeys to Michigan Tech (Houghton) and Alaska-Anchorage.
"It was a good team-bonding thing," Vlassopoulos said. "It was really tough, so guys had to really rely on each other. When you play on the road, especially a place like that, you can't even really hear each other. They scored a goal and it was ridiculous."
Even amid the deafening combination of crowd, fog horn, bell and band, the Tigers were communicating encouragement and strategy to one another, Vlassopoulos said.
"Everybody was just trying to get everybody else confident, even when we were getting killed with a ton of shots and we were kind of all over the place," he said.
Despite CC's scoring woes - the Tigers average just 2.5 goals and 10 of 15 forwards are searching for their first goal - Vlassopoulos said the team came out of the weekend tougher and more motivated to face the Pioneers, who rank first nationally in team offense (4.80 goals).
"That's underachieving for a lot of us, but with how tough it was to play there, getting two ties gives us that much more confidence," he said "I wouldn't doubt, if we have big-time comebacks this year or we're down late, I wouldn't put it past us that we come back."
Tickets In Colorado Springs
CC student tickets sold out on the first day, leaving less than 600 tickets available for Sunday's 5 p.m. series finale against Denver. Tickets may be purchased through cctigers.com, 576-2626 and at World Arena box office.
3 comments:
After 52 years of practice, CC has perfected the art of making excuses. There are so pathetic.
Can we help it if playing DU is the "Super Bowl" for CC hockey players? :-)
"waaaah, we don't play well on NHL sized ice"
I think this is a reason why so many Tiggers don't excel in the pros. Some do, of course, don't get me wrong; but even a blind squirrel with find an acorn every once in a while.
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