Like children awaiting their Halloween bounty o’ candy, Tigers fans’ eyes dialate at the very thought of the wonder that is the CC-DU series. Knowing how I am about my favorite teams, (recalling how I forced myself to change the channel on the Rays last week, convinced that it was me that was causing them to choke at the plate) what are your superstitions? Are there certain jerseys you must wear or cheers you must do? How do you decide whether to continue with your tradition or leave it behind? Leave me a comment below.

So, here’s what you’ve really been waiting for (have had computer issues this week!). Here’s some random notes and observations from practice this week:

The Tigers have been doing anything and everything they can to practice shooting AND scoring. On Thursday, CC worked on its power play and 5-on-3 (Denver is a highly penalized team).

For its penalty kill, the Tigers focused on forcing the mock Denver players to the wall, using an inside-out approach to protect the middle of the ice. I noticed that defenseman Art Bidwill, who was playing on the scout power-play unit, has quite a shot from the point: considering he was able to get three in a row through CC’s penalty kill, it was tough to miss. Looks like he’ll be a good addition to the power play as he continues to develop.

Then, CC worked on face-offs as a team, which is a departure from last season, where centers would just practice taking draws by themselves. But the Tigers worked on offensive- and defensive-zone face-off situations, reinforcing the concepts for the wings and defensemen especially. Then, volunteer assistant R.J. Enga worked specifically with the centers to improve their technique.

As is typical at this juncture of the season, the lines have jumbled a bit. Part of that has to do with going on the road, part of it is trying to spark CC’s offense. You could see a freshness on the ice in practice, it will be interesting to see how it pans out Friday.

Hall-Rau-Walsky
Sweatt-Vlassopoulos-Testwuide
McCulloch-Johnson-Schultz
DeBoer-McMillin-Civitarese
Overman-Dineen-Quilico

Three quick alumni notes:

–Aaron Slattengren is getting a chance with the Portland (Maine) Pirates of the American Hockey League. Slattengren, who is the Augusta Lynx (ECHL) captain and one of the top-scoring forwards in the ECHL, has played in the AHL before with the Providence (R.I) Bruins.

–Jack Hillen was sent down from the New York Islanders to the Bridgeport (Conn.) Sound Tigers to make room for defenseman Andy Sutton. Hillen said he’s looking forward to playing more than the 15 minutes he averaged in six games with the Islanders.

–Hillen’s classmate, Derek Patrosso, landed close to home with the Port Huron (Mich.) Icehawks. Patrosso was released from the Fresno (Calif.) Falcons (ECHL) after training camp, but reached an agreement with the IHL’s Icehawks.

USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine
Men’s College Hockey Poll
(first-place votes in parentheses)

Others receiving votes: Northeastern University, 18; Cornell University, 17; Northern Michigan University, 14; University of Vermont, 10; Harvard University, 8; University of Wisconsin, 8; U.S. Air Force Academy, 5; University of Minnesota Duluth, 3.

Former Tigers round-up:

**Mark Stuart talks to his hometown paper about his whirlwind year.

**A shoulder injury to Radek Martinek could keep Jack Hillen in the New York Islanders’ line-up a little longer.

**Marty Sertich scored for the Lake Erie Monsters (AHL) on Saturday.

**Brandon Straub and Jimmy Kilpatrick helped the Las Vegas Wranglers (ECHL) to a 5-2 win on Saturday. Kilpatrick is on a tryout agreement and trying to land a permanent gig.

**Brian Salcido had a goal in his first game with the Iowa Chops (AHL). It’ll be interesting to see if and how much he plays for the Anaheim Ducks this season.

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.

**Former CC defenseman Jack Hillen helped the New York Islanders top the Boston Bruins and won some praise from the Islanders’ Eastern pro scout. Check out this photo, too.

**Brett Sterling, a former CC left wing, made his case to stay with the big club, scoring the Atlanta Thrashers’ only goal on Saturday. It’ll be a tough road, considering the Thrashers went an NHL-worst 1-5 in the preseason.

**Sounds like former CC defenseman Brandon Straub is trying to carve out a spot as an enforcer for the Quad City Flames (AHL), who topped the Iowa Chops in preseason action (that’s where Brian Salcido plays now).

Around the WCHA:

Again, it’s a youth movement at Minnesota. The Gophers have 12 freshmen and only two seniors.

Check out INCH’s WCHA preview. It’ll sit well with you Tiger fans out there.

In my mind, college hockey season begins in earnest on Wednesday with the release of the Grand Forks Herald annual WCHA coaches’ poll. If last week’s USA Today poll and Chris Dilks’ musings over on the Western College Hockey blog are any indication, Colorado College won’t enjoy its typical darkhorse status this season.

**Interestingly enough, former Colorado Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville will be monitoring Bill Sweatt’s progress this season while serving as a pro scout for the Chicago Blackhawks. He’ll mostly focus on college hockey, specifically CC and Denver, according to this article on TSN.ca.

Plenty of CC alums relocated over the weekend:

**Defenseman Brian Salcido played in Anaheim’s first two exhibition games before being moved to the Ducks’ new AHL affiliate: the Iowa Chops.

**Forward Trevor Frischmon was released on Sunday by the Columbus Blue Jackets. He spent the bulk of the last two seasons playing for the Blue Jackets’ AHL affiliate in Syracuse.

**Not including defenseman Jack Hillen, who along with former Minnesota forward Kyle Okposo, continues to hang on to the New York Islanders’ preseason roster.

The OC Register caught up with former CC defenseman Brian Salcido. See what he had to say about former Shattuck-St. Mary’s teammate Sidney Crosby and his prospects with the Anaheim Ducks this season. He spent the week being paired with Chris Pronger.

**Also, it sounds as if another CC d-corps alum, Jack Hillen, is getting some quality ice time with the New York Islanders. Newsday’s Greg Logan blogged that Hillen ran the point on the Isles’ second power-play unit in their 2-1 preseason win over the Boston Bruins (who sport another CC defenseman Mark Stuart on their roster). Not too shabby.

All indications are that former CC defenseman Jack Hillen could see considerable time with the New York Islanders this season, according to this article by Newsday’s Greg Logan. General manager Garth Snow equated him with a “late first-round pick.” Not bad, especially since Hillen has a college degree to boot. And not surprising either, based on Hillen’s performance last season.

Swung by captain’s practice for the first time Monday night and — maybe it’s just because I’ve been away from the rink for the summer — I was surprised by how much bigger CC looks this year. Former CC defenseman Brandon Straub, who is 6-foot-4 without skates, used to tower over everyone. Now, he’s not alone out there (he’s skating with the team while still in town). Freshman David Civitarese, a rangy forward from Calgary, joins junior Mike Testwuide and sophomore Stephen Schultz in giving the Tigers serious height around the net. The defensive corps simply looks giant to me with Jake Gannon, Nate Prosser, Kris Fredheim and new addition Ted Behrend (listed as  6-foot-1).

CC, which has a reputation from smaller, quick skaters, has certainly placed greater emphasis on the physical side of the game since I’ve been covering them. It got me thinking: How much do you think size could help CC compete down the stretch, especially in the NCAA tournament, which is played primarily on NHL-sized sheets? Is that the missing ingredient in March and April?

*Speaking of Schultz: The sophomore said he has recovered from concussions that shortened his freshman season.

*No contact: Hitting was fairly limited on Monday, but freshman Nick Dineen sported a non-contact jersey nonetheless. He’s recovering from an off-season shoulder surgery, which trainer Jason Bushie said is progressing nicely.

*No sign of slump: From the saves goaltender Richard Bachman was making, it’s pretty clear the sophomore took his summer seriously (no big surprise there). The one moment that sticks out in my mind was when he made a quality three-man rush look pathetic, making an initial save and then coming all the way across the net to save another shot to the upper left corner with his glove.

My last casual observation was how many faces on the ice were familiar. Sure, it helps that I’ve been doing this for a while now. But the truth is that the Tigers return quite a bit, including their All-American goaltender, eight of their top 10 scorers and five experienced defensemen (Brett Wysopal left the program in the off-season). Their main losses are defenseman Jack Hillen, who ranks as one of CC’s top offensive-defensemen in program history, and Jimmy Kilpatrick, who ranked third in team scoring last year.

So that brings me to another question, what do you see as CC’s biggest question mark this season? And just how optimistic are you allowing yourself to be?

Where are they now?
Jimmy Kilpatrick, who this time last year was thinking he might miss two months of the season recovering from hip surgery, is taking part in the Anaheim Ducks’ rookie camp with hopes of catching on. In the rookies’ second scrimmage, held in Las Vegas against the San Jose Sharks’ rookies, Kilpatrick got credit for a goaltender screen from his linemate. The organization has stocked up on ex-WCHA players, including former CC defenseman Brian Salcido, Denver’s Ryan Dingle and Minnesota’s Stu Bickel. At rookie camp, there’s even more: St. Cloud’s Nate Dey, Alaska-Anchorage’s Charlie Kronschnabel, Denver’s Adrian Veideman and Andrew Thomas.

On the East Coast, Jack Hillen started rookie camp with the New York Islanders on Monday. Having signed a two-year deal in the spring, Hillen will try to land an Islanders roster spot. Also at Islanders rookie camp is former Denver goaltender Peter Mannino.

Mucking In The Corner has a new home on The Gazette’s website. Let us know your thoughts by leaving a comment.

I was out of the country for the bulk of the NHL playoffs, so I missed that CC alum Toby Petersen was the talk of the Dallas Stars-Detroit Red Wings series.

Here are some links that capture the buzz in Dallas:

And this is also old news, but important nonetheless: Defenseman Gabe Guentzel, a Woodbury, Minn., native and son of recently departed Minnesota assistant coach Mike Guentzel, committed to CC for the upcoming season, the Sioux Falls Stampede announced May 14. Guentzel, who had six goals and 22 assists in 60 games for the Stampede, joins Arthur Bidwill and Joe Marciano as new additions to the defensive corps this fall. Captain Jake Gannon will be the lone senior defenseman and leader of a group that returns six of seven players, losing Jack Hillen to graduation. Nine defensemen will be the most the Tigers have had since the 2004-05 season, when they also had nine defensemen.

Former Colorado College defenseman Mark Stuart, who played all 89 games this season for the Boston Bruins, was named to the U.S. national team roster for the International Ice Hockey Federation World Championship, USA Hockey announced Thursday. The tournament takes place May 2-18 in Nova Scotia and Quebec City, Quebec.

Stuart, a product of the U.S. national team development program (2000-02), captained to the U.S. under-18 national team to its first-ever gold at the IIHF World under-18 Championship in 2002 and repeated the success as captain in the 2004 World Junior Championship.

—
Also, New York Islanders pro scout Toby O’Brien said newly signed defenseman Jack Hillen went from “level 1 to level 9″ while at Colorado College.