Website issues… here’s the story about Friday’s game.

By Kate Crandall
The Gazette

The two biggest names on the Colorado College roster carried the weight Friday in the Tigers’ 1-0 win against Alabama-Huntsville.

Despite launching 44 shots on net, only center Chad Rau managed to crack 6-foot-3 goaltender Cameron Talbot.

For the Tigers, goaltender Richard Bachman started the season with a shutout, turning away the 16 shots he faced.

“That’s the No. 3-ranked team in the country, so we were just coming out here trying to compete and skate with them, play our systems and try to take away a lot of their opportunities,” said Talbot, whose 43 saves were a career high.

CC improves to 1-0 while Huntsville — which won only six games last season — drops to 0-1.

A major focus of the Chargers’ strategy was shutting down Rau, who didn’t have a shot in the first period and finished with five for the game.

Rau noticed, especially on the power play, where CC went 0 for 9.

“I wasn’t getting many chances,” he said. “They were doing a good job keeping us from getting much going.”

After a scoreless first period, the Tigers squandered a 54-second 5-on-3 opportunity to open the second.

But the chances just kept on coming at World Arena.

There was a textbook 2-on-1 by Brian McMillin and Dan Quilico midway through the period that ended with Talbot making a cross-crease save.

Minutes later, Eric Walsky got his own rebound and walked across the slot but couldn’t get the extra touch on the puck.

“We were forcing it a little bit,” he said. “We were waiting that extra second and trying to pick a spot, when we really should just try to get it on the net. … We made that extra pass a few too many times.”

Finally, with 37.6 seconds left in the period, Walsky found Rau in front of the net, where he unleashed a wrist shot that whizzed between Talbot’s left ear and his glove.

“I saw it at the last second,” Talbot said.

With 5 minutes left in the third, defenseman Brian Connelly, who led the Tigers with seven shots, hit the right post with a rocket from the top of the left circle.

Left wing Addison De-Boer’s shot 2 minutes later caromed off the goalie before hitting the left post and the crossbar.

“We did quite a few things well tonight — except finish,” coach Scott Owens said.

It was that kind of night.

Website issues… here’s last night’s notes.

By Kate Crandall
The Gazette

Plenty of calls in Friday’s game between Colorado College and Alabama-Huntsville probably left fans scratching their heads.

The NCAA rules committee implemented a number of changes this summer, most with the intent of generating more scoring.

The biggest differences are the increase in offensivezone faceoffs and an upped focus on eliminating clutching and grabbing by defensemen. Other points of emphasis include tougher enforcement of slashing, hooking and tripping.

The result, according to Western Collegiate Hockey Association coaches, should be a marked increase in power plays, upping the importance of quality special teams.

For a penalty resulting in a power play, the team with the man advantage earns a faceoff in the offensive zone.

Another key change for CC, which owned a 12-2 mark at home last season, is the rule that no longer permits the team that ices the puck to line change. At altitude, that could be a factor.

As was expected, the rules committee passed the tworeferee, two-linesman system, which was experimented with last season.

“All the coaches loved it when we did it and they voted for it,” WCHA supervisor of officials Greg Shepherd said.

Also, the ever-controversial rule about kicking the puck to score a goal was amended again.

“If it hits the skate and goes in without any movement, it’s a good goal,” Shepherd said. “If there’s any movement, there is no goal. The only exception is if the player is in the act of stopping, which is the referees’ judgment call.”

While seated on the bench, goaltenders must wear their helmets. This change resulted from the career-ending injury to Alaska-Anchorage goaltender Matthew Gordon, which he suffered in a game against CC last December when an errant puck cleared by a CC defenseman hit him in the eye.

After Alabama-Huntsville goaltender Blake MacNicol made several eye-popping saves, the Tigers finally cracked him when right wing Eric Walsky passed to center Chad Rau at the bottom of the left circle. Rau’s wrist shot whizzed between MacNicol’s left ear and his glove and hit the top shelf to give CC the lead it had been fighting for. The Tigers outshot the Chargers 44 to 16.

Key points:

–As predicted, the rules changes resulted in more penalties. CC had nine power play opportunities to Huntsville’s five. Both teams were scoreless on the PP. The bulk of the penalties were hooking, but a couple interference calls were whistled on faceoffs. With the increase in offensive-zone faceoffs and the 2-and-2 referee system, there’s increased scrutiny on contact between the wings during the faceoffs. It’ll take some getting used to.

–The defense was much, much tighter tonight after a weak first period in Monday’s exhibition. I thought defenseman Brian Connelly demonstrated confidence as the de facto leader of the defensive corps (after the graduation of Jack Hillen). I think the Tigers got a great pick-up in freshman Gabe Guentzel, who is playing point on Rau’s power-play unit. Of course, Richard Bachman was a sponge in net. Will Drew O’Connell play tomorrow? That’d be my guess.

–As for the offense, there was far too little possession in the first period and far too many unnecessary backhand passes and shots. If the Tigers keep their game simple on Saturday, they should score quite a bit. I’ll be interested to see what changes are made to the lines for Saturday’s game. I thought CC missed Scott McCulloch’s maturity on Friday; he was out with a strained hip flexor. “Nothing serious,” he said.

–The Tigers start 1-0 at World Arena, where they were 12-2 last season.

**Kurt Russell was rumored to be at Friday’s game. His son, Wyatt, with long-time partner Goldie Hawn is a sophomore goaltender for the Chargers, but was scratched for Friday’s game in favor of junior Blake MacNicol and sophomore Cameron Talbot, the starter.

**Check out this sweet photo of Jack Hillen in Newsday. As one of the earlier links stated, Hillen’s spot on the New York Islanders’ roster comes with a timestamp. He and fellow rookie Josh Bailey are expected to be demoted just as soon as veterans Chris Campoli and Andy Sutton are healthy. This will be a good chance for Hillen to gain some experience. Unfortunately, the Islanders start 0-1.

**CC named a ‘team to watch’ by the Boston Globe. But the Tigers’ situation is better than Marrapese-Burrell indicates: CC only lost 2 of 6 top scorers since McCulloch was granted an extra season of eligibility.

Colorado College
21 Bill Sweatt — 14 Chad Rau — 22 Eric Walsky
23 Tim Hall — 19 Andreas Vlassopoulos — 25 Mike Testwuide
5 Addison DeBoer — 17 Tyler Johnson — 28 Stephen Schultz
12 Dan Quilico — 9 Brian McMillin — 16 David Civitarese

11 Brian Connelly — 15 Nate Prosser
7 Kris Fredheim — 4 Jake Gannon
10 Gabe Guentzel — 24 Ryan Lowery

30 Richard Bachman
31 Drew O’Connell
1 Tyler O’Brien

Injured scratches: Scott McCulloch (hip flexor), Nick Dineen (shoulder)
Healthy scratches: Arthur Bidwill, Ted Behrend, Matt Overman

Alabama-Huntsville
Coburn–Sweazey–Campbell
Tanaka–Federoff–Fairbanks
Morrison–Murray–Easton
Train–Ruffini–Koudys

Kalichuck–Durnie
Barker–Roshko
Baxter–Burkholder

Talbot
MacNicol

Future CC forward Dakota Eveland, who says he plans to study business at CC, and fellow recruit Joe Marciano, a defenseman who played with the U.S. under-18 team last year, are part of the infusion of California players dotting the Omaha Lancers’ (United States Hockey League) roster. Read here.

It’ll be a couple more years until Minnesota-Duluth has a new facility, but check out the design for the new Duluth Entertainment Convention Center here. HOK Sports, the same company that designed the Pepsi Center, was hired to design it.

Also, St. Cloud State goaltender Jase Weslosky points to the Huskies’ 5-3 loss at World Arena last season as his turnaround moment. Weslosky, who broke single-season records for save percentage and goals against average (previously held by Bobby Goepfert) last season, is hoping for a break-out year, Kevin Allenspach writes.

**Defenseman Jack Hillen made the New York Islanders 23-man active roster. There’s no telling how long he’ll stay there, but the organization is definitely high on Hillen, who was running point on the first power-play unit during practice this week.

**Defenseman Brandon Straub didn’t make the Quad-City Flames roster, but joins former Vegas-gold line player Jimmy Kilpatrick in Las Vegas, playing for the Wranglers of the ECHL. Kilpatrick signed Wednesday with the Wranglers.

**Former right wing James Brannigan lands a pro hockey gig in his hometown.

**There are high expectations for the Dallas Stars, where Toby Petersen is expected to be an every-night guy.

**More chatter about goaltender Curtis McElhinney, who is playing backup for his hometown Calgary Flames.

**Defenseman Brian Salcido joins former Denver defenseman Adrian Veideman and former Minnesota defenseman Stu Bickel in the Iowa Chops (AHL) defensive corps.

**Defenseman Richard Petiot landed a spot with the Toronto Marlies, the AHL club for the Toronto Maple Leafs. After spending the first part of his career in the Los Angeles Kings organization, Petiot was signed as an unrestricted free agent to a one-year contract with the Maple Leafs.

**Not surprisingly, defenseman Mark Stuart is expected to be a key piece in the Boston Bruins’ success this season.

**And finally, Joey Crabb and Colin Stuart are back in Chicago, playing for the AHL’s Wolves, while former CC teammate Brett Sterling hangs on with the Wolves’ parent club, the Atlanta Thrashers. (If you read the comments, fans want Sterling to play (1) and not to be forced to play right wing (2).)

CC coach’s show is Tuesday at 6:30. Click here for info.

A couple of points to ponder (there was plenty to take in!):

–We all knew that CC has depth in the forward lines (just glance at the line-up), but in Monday night’s exhibition, I was more taken by the Tigers’ depth in goal. Goaltender Richard Bachman made some spectacular saves to keep the score 2-0 and showed increased nimbleness over last season as he moved in the crease. Then, senior Drew O’Connell made his case for CC’s most improved player since last season’s exhibition. He came off the bench for the final 30:34 and saved 10 of 10 shots. But more importantly, O’Connell’s confidence stood out to me. I could feel it eminating up in the press box and when I spoke with him after the game. He’s been in the zone in practice as well. Look for a story about the strides the goaltenders made in the off-season later this week.

–How many points is Chad Rau going to put up per night? That was the question on my mind after Rau sliced through the slot on multiple occasions, leaving Alberta players in his dust. Any predictions out there?

–Who is David Civitarese (4 shots, 1 goal) going to end up playing with? The freshman has been the odd-man out in practice and was the extra skater Monday, filling in on different lines. He combined well with Rau and seemed to be in sync with Bill Sweatt. Looping back to the idea of forward depth: I don’t envy the coaches’ decisions on Thursday nights, especially when Stephen Schultz (lower body) and Nick Dineen are cleared for contact. With a healthy lineup, the Tigers 15 forwards to choose from.

–As a last point, I thought the fourth line — centered by Brian McMillin with Matt Overman and Dan Quilico on the wings — did a nice job defensively and also generated some quality chances. McMillin finished second with five shots (to Rau’s seven).

I’m interested to hear who or what jumped out at you during Monday’s exhibition, so please post a comment if you get a chance.

I’m just going to go with Colorado College’s lines tonight. Forwards Stephen Schultz and Nick Dineen (shoulder) are scratches as expected.

26 McCulloch — 14 Rau — 22 Walsky
21 Sweatt — 19 Vlassopoulos — 25 Testwuide
23 Hall — 17 Johnson — 5 DeBoer
12 Quilico — 9 McMillin — 18 Overman
Extra forward: 16 Civitarese

11 Connelly — 15 Prosser
7 Fredheim — 4 Gannon
10 Guentzel — 27 Bidwill
3 Behrend — 24 Lowery

30 Bachman
31 O’Connell
1 O’Brien