Two goals by Andrew Hamburg brought Colorado College back from a 2-0 deficit, then the Tigers blew a 3-2 lead in a season-ending 4-3 overtime loss against Michigan Tech in the WCHA playoffs Saturday at World Arena.
Contact Brian Gomez: 719-636-0256 or brian.gomez@gazette.com. Facebook: Brian Gomez. Twitter: @gazettehockey. Google+: Brian Gomez. YouTube: Colorado College Hockey, Covered by The Gazette. For the CC homepage, visit www.gazette.com/sections/sports/cchockey. For the CC blog, visit http://cchockey.freedomblogging.com.
Well, another year pass’s by and as usual everyone is saying “wait till next year”.
I would actually like to have a quick look at this year:
In the beginning everyone was so excited, ticket sales were up the team looked set for a great year. The boys came out like storm troopers, all looking to succeed and be part of a winning season. Coach’s set up lines and it clicked! One of the Top scoring teams in the nation. Then someone decided it wasn’t good enough and lines were changed and the group started to have some cracks. This someone continued to change the lines right up till the 2nd last playoff game but never back to the group they had at the start of the season, why I have no idea.
In the end the power play was in shambles, no real puck control, very few scoring chances. The last weekend the boys scored one PP goal and that was on a 5 on 3.
This time the coach’s changed nothing, again I ask why? The power play was the one group the coach’s should of changed but they were to wrapped up with 3 or 4 players that they felt could do wrong. I’m not blaming these players but if you are on one of the special teams and you know that you will never be questioned you become complacent. Where was the coaching? Someone on the coaching staff has really become complacent and everyone knows it! I feel he is riding the horse as long as he can and doesn’t care a bit about the boys who are looking up to him for guidance!
Sorry to say but the Athletic director in Colorado College better wake up! I feel the
blame now rest’s on him to do something! These boys are coming to CC to get a good education and coaching! I can also tell you these boys all have NHL on their minds and what I’ve seen lately no one is helping them achieve this goal!
“Wait till next year” As far as I’m concerned and by the looks of the empty seats this weekend a lot of people won’t be waiting!
Ralph…agree with you about the season being a huge disappointment. Have to wonder why Owens makes some of the calls he makes. Hard to understand his way of thinking. I certainly believe their is a growing discontent among tiger fans with the teams performance. I heard a lot of boos and fire Owens comments and chants last night. Seems people are sick of him a well. Unfortunately the AD at CC just extended his contract so we’re stuck embracing mediocrity for several more years. Only thing that will force a change at CC is if recruitment drops off and the team begins to lose year after year.
Well CC has lost year after year. “If you don’t win the last game of the year nothing else matters”. I have been through sport disappointment before. See I am a 35 year old Red Sox Fan. And tell 2004 I seen them do the same thing year after year. And also being a Cubs fan I am use to all the hype for a dull finish. But I will be there next year and the year after, and the year after that becuase I am a CC fan. Next year will be the year…….
I am disappointed, but I will renew my season tickets and enjoy CC Tiger Hockey for 2012-13, it really is a great event. In my opinion its the best event to attend in Colorado Springs – by far.
But if I was the Athletic Director, I would definitely take a hard look at the program, the team’s performance since Christmas and talk to Owens about it. Give expectations for 2012-13 and if he doesn’t meet/exceed expectations make a change. Lucia got the program going again and Owens has done a fine job, but this team is capable of more. Losing at home in 2 games in the playoffs to Michigan Tech is bad. WIth the players we had, that should not have happened. This team should have been a lock for the WCHA Final Five and NCAA Tournament, now I’m not saying we would have won championships, but this team should have been there.
I hope Owens is bringing in some defensemen that can start right away, and get Boivin, Harstad and Stoykewich better in the off-season. Personnally, I think Marciano is bad.
I like the forwards we have, especially if Rylan Schwartz returns. I’m assuming Jaden is gone. But Krushelnyski, Winkler are pretty darn good. And you see moments with Hamburg, Rapuzzi, Skalbeck, Collett. I am concerned with the freshmen forwards we had, they really didn’t do anything all year…bad recruiting??? I know Wamzganz was supposed to be a good recruit.
And then for goalie, Thorimbert is really one of the tops in the country, he can take us a long way……especially if our defensemen can improve. But that will be the COACHING question, can he improve our defensemen, can he make Hamburg, Skalbeck, Collett, Wamzganz, better and bring in a couple top players that can contribute right away.
If past history serves, he will, we always are a better team when we don’t have high expectations – which is great. BUT it is getting old when we do have expectations and we have a year like this year. Coaching???
There is no doubt that coach Owens is the sole reason this team underperformed this year. The talent that CC had this year was probably the best since some of the teams under Lucia.
The pre-season pols indicated that CC should have been very competitive and probably gone deep into the playoffs. Then the coach got involved and screwed up that idea.
Why Owens was given a contract extension confuses me as he has really done nothing to deserve this extension. Maybe it was a reward for getting CC into the new league and potentially saving a programs life. Other than that, Owens has proven that he can coach a team just not take it to the next level with any sort of consistency.
It is sad that such a talented group of young men have been let down by a coach whose talents could not rise to the level of talent that the team provided him.
I have said this all year, it is long past time for Scott Owens to go somewhere else. Maybe give Eric Rud an opportunity to excel and hopefully move this team to the next level. Or maybe even recruit a new coach and bring in a fresh staff that has a winning instinct that Scott Owens does not seem to have.
We’ll continue to support the program with our renewal of season tickets. But don’t think for a minute that I will be cheering anything good that Scott Owens does throughout the next season. It always ends up being ‘what might have been’ by the end of the season.
Hey Scott, you are not the only person that is ‘disappointed’ about how this season finished up. There are a whole lot of Tiger fans that share that same sentiment. Maybe you should reflect a little on your dissapointment and do the right thing and leave. Do it soon though, please.
I’m personally very concerned about life after next season more than anything else. Look at the teams we will be with in the NCHC…. UND, UMD, DU, UNO, SCSU… all teams typically beat the pants off the Tigers year after year – or at least give them serious trouble. Add into that Miami and the Tiger’s are looking at ugly seasons. I think we’ll probably have another winning season next year and then reality is going to hit this organization like a punch in the face. We have one year to fundamentally change how we do business or we will be the alaska-anchorage of our new conference… for potentially a long time. You think the stands are empty now, just wait until the Bemidji’s and the MSU’s aren’t around to make us feel good about ourselves every other week. CC doesn’t have the deep pockets to sustain a D1 hockey team if the stands are empty, it makes me nervous.
I am happy with our regular season’s under Coach Owens, but I don’t believe he is a good postseason coach. It’s been proven too many times now. Next season may be his last year…
Strength and conditioning may be an issue as well in terms of peaking at the end of the season.
WE SHOULD NEVER HAVE LOST AT HOME IN THE PLAYOFFS TO MICHIGAN TECH WITH OUR TALENT.
I couldn’t agree more with these comments about Scott Owens. We have seen the same pattern year after year. At the beginning of this year CC, because of its talent and experience, was perceived by those in the know as one of the top five teams in the country. (This isn’t the first time) How does this talented, experienced team end up 18th or 20th in the nation, not attending the WCHA final five, and not close to a NCAA championship game. There is really only one person that is ultimately accountable and responsible — that’s the coach. If the comments critical of Owens are seen as merely reactive, I suggest you look at the pattern over the past five years.
@CCFan says:
WE SHOULD NEVER HAVE LOST AT HOME IN THE PLAYOFFS TO MICHIGAN TECH WITH OUR TALENT
=================
“We”? What position do you play?
could Ken Ralph the athletic director please offer his rationale for rewarding a coach who has unfortunately earned the nickname ” coach fizzle” ?
it seems when the team wins ,the boys do it in spite of the coaches
also, one can argue 25 % of Owen’s wins are a function of the opposing team adjusting to the altitude for their first game of a two game serie. Look what happens when a team stays in town for a week and adjusts to the altitude, ala Mich. Tech
Don’t just go back 5 years. Go back and look at the balance of Owens career as a coach. Many wasted talents at the hands of this man. Tiger hockey is in desperate need of an overhaul. I would love to give Eric Rud a chance to become head coach. Every program he’s coached prior to CC has seen an improvement. Rud may be the long awaited answer CC fans are hoping for.
It must stink to have your season ended by such a mediocre team.
I hear the golfing weather in Colorado Springs is quite nice in March. Probably joining you shortly. Enjoy, and see ya next year!
DU, North Dakota, St. Cloud, Minnesota and Duluth all won at home in the 1st round….except CC…..again.
As a long time tiger fan, I agree – Owens needs to step down. No passion, no leadership – the team and the FANS need a change. Maybe we should all hold out paying our 2012/2013 season ticket bill (I am sure it is on the way) until a change is made!
I have never seem a team burnt by horific coaching by Scott Owen as the tigers experienced. To beat a team 2 games in a row, then the following series to completely change ALL of the lines then get beat 2 in a row is uttlerly a coaching blunder of epic purportions. What kind of a coach juggles the lines in a important game when the existing lines beat the team. All of the shame and 99% of the blame belongs to the bumbler self centered Scott Owen as CC had one of the best talent groups in the NCAA.
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