Colorado College Tigers (0-0) vs. Alabama-Huntsville Chargers (0-0)

CC Game Notes

Fri., Oct. 10, 2014, 7:37 pm | Sat., Oct. 11, 2014, 7:07 pm
Colorado Springs, Colo. | The Broadmoor World Arena (7,380)
Radio: KRDO 105.5 FM | 1240 AM (Ken Landau, play-by-play) | Listen Live
Live Streaming: NCHC.tv/cc | Watch Live (Friday) | Watch Live (Saturday)
Twitter: CC_Hockey1 | Facebook: facebook.com/CCTigers
Website: www.CCTigers.com

This Week
The Mike Haviland era officially starts this weekend as Colorado College opens the 2014-15 regular season with a two-game series against the Alabama-Huntsville Chargers, Oct. 10-11 at The Broadmoor World Arena. The puck drops at 7:37 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 10, and 7:07 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 11. Both games will be broadcast in Colorado Springs on KRDO NewsRadio 105.5 FM and 1240 AM and streamed live at www.NCHC.tv.

Getting Started
This season marks the 76th year of varsity ice hockey at Colorado College. This is the Tigers' second season in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference. CC was a charter member of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (1951-52) for 62 seasons before joining the NCHC with seven other schools in 2013.

Season Openers
Colorado College is 46-27-2 all-time in regular-season openers. The Tigers are 39-12-1 at home and 7-15-1 on the road (including neutral games). Last season, the Tigers opened with a 3-1 victory at home over Minnesota-Duluth. Colorado College has won its last 12 regular-season openers, dating back to a 6-2 loss to North Dakota in 2001-02.

Up Next
The Tigers will host second-ranked North Dakota at The Broadmoor World Arena on Oct. 17-18.

A New Season ... A New Coach ... A New Era
For the first time this millennium, Colorado College heads into a season with a new head coach. One year after participating in the inaugural season of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, the Mike Haviland era begins at Colorado College this season. Haviland became the 14th head coach in the history of the program on May 9, 2014.  

For the Record
Colorado College finished the 2013-14 season with a 7-24-6 record, including a 6-13-5 mark in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference … Alabama-Huntsville, entering its second season in the WCHA, finished the '13-14 campaign with a 2-35-1 overall record and a 2-25-1 mark in league play.  

The Coaches
Mike Haviland (Elmira College, '90), who enters his first season at the helm of the Tigers, came to Colorado College after serving one year as head coach of the Hershey Bears (AHL). Haviland was an assistant coach for the Chicago Blackhawks from 2008-12, helping the team win the Stanley Cup in 2010 … Mike Corbett (Denver, '96) is in his second season as the head coach at Alabama-Huntsville after spending 10 seasons as an assistant coach at the Air Force Academy, including the '12-13 campaign as the associate head coach. Corbett helped AFA win five Atlantic Hockey Association tournament championships during his tenure.

Previous Meetings
Colorado College is 5-0 all-time against Alabama-Huntsville with the last meeting coming on Jan. 22, 2011, a 4-1 victory at the World Arena.

On the Air
All CC games in 2014-15, home and away, will be broadcast live throughout Southern Colorado on KRDO NewsRadio 105.5 FM and 1240 AM, featuring Ken Landau with the play-by-play. Pre-game shows start 37 minutes before faceoff. The broadcasts also can be heard worldwide via the Internet.

Scouting the Opposition
Alabama-Huntsville is led by junior forward Jack Prince, who finished with 13 points (8g,5a) last season. Sophomore goalies Carmine Guerriero and Matt Larose split time in the nets in '13-14.

This Year's Leadership
Senior defenseman Peter Stoykewych (Winnipeg, Manitoba) will serve as the team captain in 2014-15. Stoykewych, who was an assistant captain last season, scored nine points (1g,8a) as a junior and has not missed a regular-season game the past two seasons … Senior defenseman Aaron Harstad (Stevens Point, WI), who played in every game last season, junior forward Jared Hanson (Palmer, AK) and sophomore defenseman Jaccob Slavin (Erie, CO), will be the alternate captains.

Brand New Coaching Staff    
Mike Haviland brought in a completely new coaching staff to join him at Colorado College. Gene Reilly (Elmira College, 1986) comes to CC from the NHL's Carolina Hurricanes, where he was a scout for the last two seasons. Reilly has served as head coach of the Springfield Olympics (EJHL) and interim head coach at the University of Maine. He also was an assistant coach at Maine, Harvard and Northeastern ... R.J. Enga (Colorado College, 1995) returns to his alma mater after spending the last three seasons as assistant coach and director of player development with the Chicago Steel (USHL). He began his coaching career as an assistant with the with the Topeka RoadRunners (AHL). Enga is tied for 37th place on CC's career scoring list with 143 points (61g,82a). During his senior year, Enga set career highs with 23 goals and 46 points while leading the Tigers to the championship game of the WCHA Tournament and a berth in the NCAA Division I Ice Hockey Championship ... Chris Kawano (Colorado College, 2007) is the program's first director of hockey operations and video coordinator. Kawano recorded a 2-2 record in eight career appearances as a goalie at CC. Following his graduation, Kawano spent two years as a graduate assistant with the Bemidji State University women's hockey team, working with the goaltenders and coordinating the XOS/Vega video analysis system and spent the last three with Planet Hockey.

Slavin Named to NCHC Preseason Team    
Colorado College sophomore defenseman Jaccob Slavin was named to the National Collegiate Hockey Conference's Preseason All-Conference Team. The conference's inaugural Preseason All-Conference Team (a team was not selected last season) was voted on by local media members from each school, along with select national media members.

Five NCHC teams are represented on the six-man NCHC Preseason All-Conference Team, led by two from Miami in senior forward Austin Czarnik and junior forward Riley Barber. The lone unanimous selection on the team is North Dakota junior goaltender Zane McIntyre, who was listed on all 25 ballots. Rounding out the group of forwards is St. Cloud State junior forward Jonny Brodzinski, while the defensive pair of Denver senior Joey LaLeggia and Slavin complete the team.
 
NCHC Preseason All-Conference Team
F - Austin Czarnik, Miami, Sr. – 23 votes
F – Jonny Brodzinski, St. Cloud State, Jr. – 19 votes
F – Riley Barber, Miami, Jr. – 12 votes
D – Joey LaLeggia, Denver, Sr. – 19 votes
D – Jaccob Slavin, Colorado College, So. – 13 votes
G – Zane McIntyre, North Dakota, Jr. – 25 votes (unanimous)

Six Opponents Played in Postseason    
Six of Colorado College's 14 opponents this season played in the NCAA Division I Hockey Tournament last season. NCHC foes North Dakota, Denver and St. Cloud State as well as Boston College, Wisconsin and Providence were among the 16 teams to battle for the national championship last spring. North Dakota and Boston College advanced to the national semifinals.

Tigers Picked Eighth in Media Poll    
Colorado College was picked eighth in the 2014-15 NCHC preseason media poll:

School (First Place Votes) | Pts.
1. North Dakota (12) | 181
2. Miami (9) | 167
3. St. Cloud State (4) | 151
4. Denver | 117
5. Minnesota Duluth | 112
6. Omaha | 73
7. Western Michigan | 67
8. Colorado College | 32

The Youngsters Scored a Lot Last Season
CC's top three returning scorers are sophomores, including 2013-14 NCHC Rookie of the Year Jaccob Slavin, who led the squad with 25 points (5g,20a) last season. Sam Rothstein (Minnetonka, MN) finished third with 20 points (6g,14a) while Alex Roos (Prairie Grove, IL) was fourth with 17 (10g,7a).

Six Tigers Drafted
Six players on this year's roster have been drafted by National Hockey League teams.  They are seniors Peter Stoykewych (Winnipeg) and Aaron Harstad (Winnipeg), junior Hunter Fejes (Arizona), sophomore Jaccob Slavin (Carolina) and freshmen Teemu Kivihalme (Nashville) and Chase Perry (Detroit).

Number Change
Junior Cody Bradley (Tampa, FL), who wore No. 10 during his freshman and sophomore seasons, will wear No. 13 this season. Bradley has 29 points (10g,19a) in his career at CC.

Tigers Gather Preseason Accolades
Three Tigers were recently honored by hockey publications. Sophomore defenseman Jaccob Slavin and freshman defenseman Teemu Kivihlame were named to the 50 NCAA Players to Watch list by The Hockey News. Slavin is ranked No. 34 and Kivihalme 40th. Also, freshman goalie Chase Perry (Andover, MN) was named to College Hockey News' All-Freshman Team for the 2014-15 season.
 
CC and McGill Skate to 4-4 Tie in Exhibition Play
The Mike Haviland era began at Colorado College Sunday night with a 4-4 tie against McGill University in an exhibition hockey game at The Broadmoor World Arena. The two teams competed in a shootout after a scoreless five-minute overtime, which McGill won 1-0.
 
"We had a lot of positives tonight," said Haviland. "We all want to win, but we did a lot of good things. I really liked the way we competed throughout the game. If we continue to play like this, we will be just fine."
 
The Tigers jumped out to an early 1-0 lead after the reigning NCHC Rookie of the Year Jaccob Slavin (Erie, CO) scored just 29 seconds into the game with a rocket from the right circle past McGill goalie Karel St. Lauren. Sophomore Sam Rothstein (Minnetonka, MN) and junior Peter Maric (Milwaukee, WI) assisted on the play. Slavin then helped put CC up 2-0 at the 5:12 mark as he and Rothstein assisted on sophomore Alex Roos' (Prairie Grove, IL) power-play goal.
 
McGill's Cedric McNicoll cut the CC lead in half with a power-play goal at the 8:20 mark of the first period, then the Redmen used goals from Mathieu Pompei and Alexandre Lemieux in the second period to take a 3-2 lead at the second intermission.
CC, which outshot McGill 46-25, stormed back in the third period and senior Charlie Taft (Edina, MN) started things off with an impressive individual play to even the score. Taft took a pass from junior Hunter Fejes (Anchorage, AK), swung around to the left side of the net and snuck a shot inside the near post past St. Laurent. Freshman Duggie Lagrone (Plano, TX) also collected an assist on the play.
 
The Tigers kept the pressure on and it paid off when Maric made it 4-3 with a power play goal with 12:34 left in regulation by lifting a backhand off his own rebound into the net over a sprawling St. Laurent. Rothstein collected his third assist of the night on the play and sophomore Luc Gerdes (Eden Prairie, MN) also was credited with an assist.
 
"Sam Rothstein was really good tonight," said Haviland. "He is a smart and reliable player. He is going to gain confidence from this game and be a big part of our team's success this season."
 
The Tigers tried to hold the lead but Pompei took a centering pass from Patrick Delisle-Houde and scored his second goal of the game, beating CC freshman netminder Chase Perry (Andover, MN) with the McGill net empty at the 19:16 mark of the third period.
 
Despite the wide shot margin, the Tigers capitalized on just two of it 12 power-play chances, while McGill was 2-for-4. Sophomore Tyler Marble (Detroit, MI) started in the net for CC and made 13 saves while allowing McGill's first two goals. Perry entered the game midway through the second period and made eight saves.