Head Coach Scott Owens

Already a decade into his tenure as head coach at Colorado College, Scott Owens has reserved a special niche in the annals of Tiger Hockey, having won more games than any of his 12 predecessors in the program's 70-year history.

The math speaks for itself. Ten seasons, 239 victories and .630 winning percentage. Not to mention three regular-season championships in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association and six appearances in the NCAA tournament, including a trip to the Frozen Four in 2005. Oh, yeah. Don't forget 15 All-America selections, two Hobey Baker Award winners and five WCHA Scholar-Athletes in each of the last two years. Who ever could dispute that Owens is a perfect fit at the CC helm?

His teams have averaged almost 24 victories per year since he accepted the position. The 31 triumphs in 2004-05 and 28 in 2007-08 represent the program's second and sixth highest totals ever. It's no mere coincidence that the Tigers have kept a firm foothold among college hockey's elite, while attendance figures at the Colorado Springs World Arena continue to rank among the nation's best.

True, Owens has compiled an impressive list of coaching credentials spanning more than two decades. But when he returned to campus in April 1999 after four successful seasons in the Junior "A"-level United States Hockey League, he also brought with him an intimate familiarity with the college that few other individuals could possibly possess.

A 1979 graduate with a bachelor's degree in business administration, Owens lettered for four seasons as a goaltender with the Tigers. He later spent four campaigns (1991-95) as a member of the Colorado College coaching staff, serving as recruiting coordinator and playing a key role in the program's revival in the mid '90s. He was promoted to associate head coach for the final two years of that stay. Before leaving to become head coach and general manager of the Des Moines Buccaneers in 1995, he had helped lead CC to its first of five consecutive appearances in the NCAA playoffs as well as two of three straight regular-season championships in the WCHA.

He understands the school, its students and its athletes. Having experienced, as a player and a coach, what works and what doesn't at Colorado College, he knows exactly what the ingredients of success for the hockey program have been. He's at home in the community, and his achievements everywhere he's been are testimony to his ability to motivate players.

In his four years at Des Moines, Owens posted an overall record of 179-76-9 and winning percentage of .695, including a record-setting 62-12-1 (.833) mark in 1998-99 when the Buccaneers claimed the USHL's regular-season and playoff titles. Also national Junior "A" champions a year earlier, they came within one victory of repeating the feat in 1999 when they finished as runner-up to Detroit Compuware.

In 18 seasons combined, as a head coach in the USHL and at Colorado College, he's won 567 games.

Prior to his first return to CC in 1991, Owens spent six years as general manager (1984-90) and head coach (1986-90) of the USHL's Madison Capitols, followed by one season (1990-91) as an assistant coach at the University of Wisconsin. A native of Madison, he guided the Capitols to four consecutive appearances (1987-90) in the National Junior "A" Tournament. His four-year coaching record there was 149-97-9, including a 41-18-3 mark in 1989-90, the club's best ever. He was voted USHL General Manager of the Year in 1986-87 and 1997-98, as well as the league's Coach of the Year in 1987-88.

The 53-year-old Owens, who coached the South at '86 and '87 U.S. Olympic Festivals, also spent five years as a player, assistant coach and youth program coordinator for the Kempten Ice Hockey Club in Kempten, West Germany, after graduating from CC in 1979.

He appeared in 50 games for the Tigers during his collegiate playing career, backstopping 12 victories as the team's No. 1 goalie his senior season in 1978-79. He attended and played hockey at Madison's Memorial High School under coach Bill Howard, another former CC goaltender. Owens then played one season for the St. Cloud (Minn.) Blues of the Mid-West Junior League. He also represented the United States at the 1975 Junior World Championships, competing against teams from Canada, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Russia and Sweden.

He and his wife, Sally, were married on New Year's Eve, 2001. He has two stepsons, Evan and Sean, ages 24 and 21.