Colorado College Hockey: 2008-09 Season Preview

  • The Tigers will try to retain possession of the MacNaughton Cup as WCHA regular-season champions; last year's title was their third in six years and sixth in the last 15.
  • CC returns 20 letter winners including 2007-08 All-Americans Richard Bachman and Chad Rau.
  • Sophomore goalie Bachman, last season's WCHA Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year, established school records for goals-against average and saves percentage, both overall (1.85/.931) and in league play (1.75/.937), as a freshman in '07-08.
  • Bachman's .937 saves percentage while posting a 19-5-1 record in 25 conference starts is the second best in WCHA history.
  • Senior center Rau led the WCHA with 28 goals, including a nation-best six while shorthanded, as a junior last season; he scored a SHG in all four of Colorado College's games against Wisconsin.
  • Rau scored twice or more in a game on nine occasions in '07-08.
  • Head coach Scott Owens heads into his 10th season at the helm with a record of 223-121-25 (.638). Former Tiger standout R.J. Enga joins the staff as a volunteer coach in 2008-09.
  • Senior defenseman Jake Gannon was a unanimous choice as team captain.
  • Fifth-year senior Scott McCulloch, who missed most of his freshman season (2002-03) due to injury, returns with a chance to become a four-time WCHA Scholar Athlete and All-Academic Team selection. McCulloch tied with Rau for the team lead with five game-winning goals in 2007-08 and enters the '08-09 campaign with 64 career points (40g,24a).
  • Gannon, along with junior forwards Brian McMillin and Bill Sweatt, join McCulloch as returning WCHA Scholar Athletes on this year's Colorado College roster.
  • Eight of the team's top 10 point producers from last season, as well as five of its regular six defensemen, are back.
  • In addition to another league title, the Tigers will be shooting for the program's 20th NCAA playoff bid and seventh during Owens' reign behind the bench.
  • CC's non-conference schedule features a pair of series at home against Alabama-Huntsville and Sacred Heart, as well as a trip to upstate New York for a pair of games against defending ECAC champion Clarkson.
  • Colorado College allowed just 2.13 goals per game in 2007-08 to rank sixth-best nationally in scoring defense.
  • The Tigers finished fourth in the country with an 88.6-percent efficiency in penalty killing.
  • They scored 10 shorthanded goals as a team, including eight in league play.
  • While Rau led the team with 42 points overall, six other returning veterans collected at least 20. The five forwards in that group – McCulloch (13) and Sweatt (10), along with Andreas Vlassopoulos (8), Mike Testwuide (11) and Eric Walsky (12) – combined for 54 goals.
  • Between them, defensemen Brian Connelly and Nate Prosser accounted for 49 points as sophomores in 2007-08.
  • Connelly, Gannon, Vlassopoulos and Walsky were among five CC players who played in all 41 games last season. McMillin, Rau and Tyler Johnson, who logged 13 points (5g,8a) as a freshman, missed only one outing apiece.
  • While nobody on this year's roster was chosen in the 2008 NHL draft, Colorado College's roster still features five past selections – Bachman (Dallas in 2006), junior defenseman Kris Fredheim (Vancouver in 2005), McCulloch (Chicago in 2004), Rau (Toronto in 2005) and Sweatt (Chicago in 2007).
  • With 223 career victories, Owens has won more games than any head coach in seven decades of Tiger Hockey.
  • By going 3-1 head-to-head against Denver in 2007-08, CC retained possession of the Gold Pan for the second consecutive season. The trophy has been up for grabs between the archrivals every campaign since 1993-94, with the Tigers claiming it in nine of those 15 years.
  • Including a 10-1-1 record in 12 exhibition games, Colorado College is 170-60-8 (.731) in 238 all-time outings at the World Arena since opening the facility in January 1998. The Tigers were 20-3 overall at home last season.