Go Figure

…as soon as I’m home in North Carolina on vacation, all havoc breaks loose in the college hockey world.

–Minnesota’s offensive woes are likely continue now that sophomore Kyle Okposo has decided to join the New York Islanders after World Junior Championships, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune and first reported by Minneapolis radio station KFAN.

–Follow World Juniors via podcasts and videos here. Also, the medal round of World Juniors will be broadcast by NHL Network, which is available on Comcast, DirecTV, Dish Network and other major distribution channels. The schedule is here:

IIHF World Junior Championship Schedule
NHL Network U.S. Coverage

Date	Event		Time (EST)
Jan. 2	Quarterfinal #1		10:00 a.m.
	Quarterfinal #2		2:00 p.m.
Jan. 3	Quarterfinal #1 re-air		3:00 a.m.
	Quarterfinal #2 re-air		12:00 p.m.
Jan. 4	Semifinal #1		10:00 a.m.
	Semifinal #2		2:00 p.m.
	Semifinal #1 re-air		5:30 p.m.
	Semifinal #2 re-air		10:00 p.m.
Jan. 5	Bronze Medal Game		10:00 a.m.
	Gold Medal Game		2:00 p.m.
Jan. 6	Gold Medal Game re-air		3:00 a.m.
	Bronze Medal Game re-air		5:00 p.m.
	Gold Medal Game re-air		7:00 p.m.

Recruiting news:

–Colorado College picked up a recruit for 2009 in defenseman John Moore of Winnetka, Ill. Moore, who attends New Trier High School and plays for the Chicago Steel of the United States Hockey League. Moore will be brought in to replace Jake Gannon, another Illinois native, and join Ryan Lowery and Brett Wysopal, also Illinois natives, on the defensive corps. Moore was also recruited by Dartmouth. More on Moore when I return from vacation. Updated recruit stats are here.

–Colorado Springs native Corson Cramer, a former Pikes Peak Miners goaltender, committed to Michigan Tech of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. Cramer’s dad, Scott, was a World Professional Figure Skating champion from The Broadmoor Skating Club and attended Colorado College. Cramer plays for the Ohio Jr. Blue Jackets (USHL) with CC recruit Tim Hall.

Colorado College roundup:
The Tigers head into break ranked fourth nationally, behind rival No. 3 Denver and tied with the Pioneers for first place in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. On Tuesday, defenseman Jack Hillen was named WCHA Defensive Player of the Week, the third time this season a Tiger has won the award (goaltender Richard Bachman won twice).

CC’s individual honors stack up like this:
WCHA Offensive Player of the Week: Chad Rau (11/20, 11/27)
WCHA Defensive Player of the Week: Bachman (10/23, 11/27), Hillen (12/18)
WCHA Rookie of the Week: Bachman (11/13)
Commissioner’s Choice Rookie of the Month: Bachman (November)

Tiger Tracks:
–Aaron Slattengren was a named an ECHL All-Star and a starter for the American Conference team.
–The Grand Rapids Press’ Griffins beat writer implores fans to fill out AHL All-Star ballots and suggests they include Mark Cullen, who is second on the team with 23 points.
–This is pretty cool. Former CC defenseman Lee Sweatt has been hard to track since I can’t read Finnish. But his girlfriend, a CC alumna, has been keeping a blog on what I assume is the local newspaper’s Web site. Check it out.

Tiger Tracks

Updated alumni statistics can be found here. Some highlights:

Iowa Stars captain and former Colorado College captain Toby Petersen is third in the American Hockey League scoring standings (13 goals, 14 assists). Mark Cullen, who played with Petersen for two seasons at CC, also leads his team, the Grand Rapids Griffins in scoring (six goals, 15 assists).

In his second AHL season since he left CC after his junior year, Brian Salcido is the top-scoring defenseman with 23 points (six goals, 17 assists).

In just 14 games, Brett Sterling is fourth on the Chicago Wolves’ scoring list with 20 points (13 goals, 7 assists).

In the ECHL, Aaron Slattengren of the Augusta Lynx is second in league scoring with 17 goals and 10 assists (27 points) and was named player of the week. Read here.

Finally, the latest on CC recruits can be found in this updated spreadsheet.

Speed, Defensive Systems Are Focuses Monday

With less than two weeks until Colorado College’s first hockey game, coaches Joe Bonnett and Norm Bazin began implementing defensive systems on Monday night. As in seasons past, the Tigers will play a man-to-man defense and minimize switches–when one player trades his defensive assignment to another player–which Bonnett said promotes an aggressive mentality.

During one-on-one defensive drills in the corners, defenseman Brett Wysopal was a standout. Even though he is the shortest player at 5-foot-7, Wysopal uses his lower center of gravity to his advantage. Against left wing Scott McCulloch, Wysopal was a downright pest with his stick and not afraid to check McCulloch whenever possible.

Bazin also had the forwards practice backchecking by having them sprint down the ice, take a shot, and sprint back.

Fitness in the form of cross-ice sprints and serpentine skating patterns was integrated throughout the practice to Bazin’s and Bonnett’s chorus of “speed, speed, speed!” and “go, go, go!”

All together the practice laid out the ingredients of success for the Tigers this season. They’ll be going all-out up the ice, generating shots with their speed. With the forwards backchecking aggressively, they’ll try to create turnovers in the neutral zone and keep the puck from even reaching the young defensive corps and untested goaltender. When the puck gets into the defensive zone, each player will play in-your-face defense with the hopes of never giving their opponents an open look or an easy lane to drive the net.

Of course, all of this is easier said than done.

Only 11 days left until the season-opening exhibition against Calgary and 24 until the first game against Minnesota.

***
Here were Monday night’s lines:
White Sweatt–Vlassopoulos–Walsky
Red McCulloch–Johnson–Testwuide
Blue DeBoer–Rau–Schultz
Gold Overman–McMillin–Patrosso
Maroon Thauwald–Lampl

What are your thoughts about these combinations? Post a comment.

***
An interesting article on the utility of face shields, which features the contrasting stances of Boston Bruin and former CC defenseman Mark Stuart, and his father, Michael Stuart, who is USA Hockey’s Chief Medical Officer. It mentions Stuart’s older siblings and former Tigers, Colin and Mike Stuart.

Tiger Tracks:
–Mark Cullen assigned to Grand Rapids (AHL).
–Marty Sertich reports to Iowa Stars (AHL) training camp.

Tiger Tracks and Practice Notes

After watching classmate Brandon Straub compete Sunday at Avalanche rookie camp in Centennial, former Colorado College goaltender Matt Zaba boarded a plane bound for New York on Wednesday. According to Newsday’s New York Rangers beat writer, Zaba is displaying his Tiger pride at Rangers training camp.

Former Tiger Mark Cullen (1998-02) signed a one-year contract with the Detroit Red Wings in July. He’s one of 68 players on the Red Wings’ training camp roster.

This is a little old, but better late than never: Tyler Liebel, a right wing who played for CC from 2000 to 2004, will return to the Wichita Thunder of the Central Hockey League this season.

***

Some notes from captain’s practice (Tuesday, Sept. 11)

The Tigers didn’t scrimmage, aside from a chippy game of continuous 3-on-3 hockey at the north end of the rink. Freshman Tyler Johnson, who is listed as 5-foot-8, 155 pounds, caught some glass-bending checks from junior defenseman Jake Gannon. Johnson’s hands are as quick as advertised. A few of Johnson’s shifty moves to goal prompted ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ from the onlooking players, so maybe Gannon was hoping to toughen Johnson up for significant minutes this season. I will look into this at the next practice.

Aside from the 3-on-3, CC did tons of skating, shooting and conditioning drills. I happened to be sitting at the south end of the rink during one round of 4-on-goal. Freshman goaltender Richard Bachman stopped eight or nine shots and rebounds during one impressive succession, which left some of the forwards shaking their heads in disbelief. The drill was not intended to be a “goalie success” drill.

Injured alternate captain Jimmy Kilpatrick (hip labrum) appeared in sweats and watched practice from behind the glass with trainer Jason Bushie and strength coach Mark Stephenson. The practice was scheduled from 9:15-10:15, but Stephenson put the Tigers through a few extra conditioning drills at the end.

Lastly, it took me about 10 minutes to figure out that sophomore forward Addison DeBoer was on the ice because I simply did not recognize him. In a few months time, DeBoer is taller, his neck is thicker and his shoulders are broader — all indications that some hard work occurred over the summer. After the skate, I spoke with him about his summer training regimen.

In addition to skating “a lot” and training six days a week, DeBoer also worked 40 hours a week for the City of Spring Lake Park (Minn.), his hometown, picking up trash, landscaping and working on other public works projects.

DeBoer added at least 10 pounds and “an inch or so,” which puts him at 6-foot, 190 pounds, he said.

“It was bound to happen sooner or later,” DeBoer said of his growth spurt.

He said he can tell the difference on the ice. So can I.

***

Other notes:
–Some might have missed the audio slideshow that Gazette photographer Todd Spoth and I produced about Straub’s experience at Avalanche rookie camp. Check it out here.

–For those of you that will be out of the area over the Thanksgiving weekend, it might behoove you to know that Denver’s new Webcast service will carry the Nov. 24 CC-DU matchup at Magness Arena. It’ll cost you $8.95, but you know how the Visa commercials go.