Icers Set To Host SCSU

Schedule continues to toughen.

Nov. 6, 2000

HUSKIES NEXT TEST FOR CC: Colorado College, which remains the Western Collegiate Hockey Association's only undefeated and untied team, tries to maintain its hold on first place this week with a two-game WCHA series at home against St. Cloud State University. Faceoff is 7:35 p.m. (MT) Friday and 7:05 p.m. Saturday at the Colorado Springs World Arena (7,343 seating capacity).

ON THE AIR: All Colorado College games this season, home and away, are broadcast live throughout Southern Colorado on The Jock (AM 1240 KRDO), with Jeff Thomas calling the action. Pre-game show starts 20 minutes before faceoff. The broadcasts are available worldwide via Yahoo!Sports at broadcast.com, as well as throughout North America by calling TeamLine (1-800-846-4700, ext. 8475). Thomas also hosts the Scott Owens Coaches' Show every Tuesday evening on The Jock, from 6 to 7 p.m. (MT). This week's games against St. Cloud State will be televised live in Colorado Springs, courtesy of Adelphia and the Pikes Peak Broadcasting Co., on cable channel 4. Both games can be heard live in the St. Cloud area on KNSI Radio (AM 1450), with Don Lyons handling the play-by-play.

TEAM RECORDS: Colorado College 6-0, St. Cloud State 4-1-1

ALL-TIME VS. THE HUSKIES: The Tigers and SCSU have met 41 times previously in a rivalry that began during the 1988-89 season. Colorado College, which owns a 23-15-3 advantage overall, tied (2-2) and defeated the Huskies (4-3 in overtime) last February at the World Arena. It was the only series between the teams during the 1999-00 season. CC does travel to St. Cloud later this campaign for a Feb. 2-3 series at the National Hockey Center.

COACH'S CORNER: Scott Owens (Colorado College `79), the 13th head coach in the history of Tiger Hockey, is in his second season at the helm of his alma mater. Owens previously spent eight seasons as a head coach in the United States Hockey League, where he posted a record of 328-173-18 (.649) with the Madison Capitols and Des Moines Buccaneers. The former goaltender also served on the CC coaching staff for four years (1991-95) between stints in the USHL. He's 24-18-3 (.567) at the Colorado College helm.

ABOUT THE HUSKIES: St. Cloud State, which hasn't played since splitting with the University of Denver at home the weekend of Oct. 27-28, is 4-1-1 overall and 1-1 in the WCHA. The Huskies are coached by Craig Dahl (Pacific Lutheran `76), who is in his 14th season at the SCSU helm. Dahl is 233-235-39 (.498) in 507 games there and 309-322-40 (.490) in 21 years overall as a collegiate head coach. The team's top scorer heading into this weekend is junior winger Mark Hartigan, who has 8 points (3g,5a) in five outings. Junior goalie Scott Meyer, who also has played in five games, boasts a 1.58 goals-against average and .946 saves percentage.

LAST WEEK'S RECAP: The Tigers skated to their third consecutive sweep with 5-1 and 4-1 victories over Minnesota-Duluth at the World Arena. Senior right wing Justin Morrison (Los Angeles, CA) scored twice in each game, including the game-winning goal on Saturday when he struck twice within 30 seconds midway through the second period to snap a scoreless tie. Morrison also picked up an assist on Friday, giving him 5 points for the weekend. Junior center/assistant captain Mark Cullen (Moorhead, MN) also had 5 points (2g,3a) while freshman left wing Peter Sejna (Liptovky Mikulas, Slovakia) continued his fine play with 3 assists in the series. Junior Jeff Sanger (Madison, WI) and senior Colin Zulianello (Thunder Bay, Ont.)split the goaltending duties again, Sanger making 20 saves on Friday and Zulianello finishing with 26 on Saturday. CC also got solo tallies from junior forwards Shaun Winkler (Bemidji, MN), Chris Hartsburg (Villa Park, CA) and Alex Kim (Fullerton, CA). Hartsburg notched the game-winning goal on Friday. Junior defenseman Mike Colgan (Rochester, MN), sophomore left wing Noah Clarke (LaVerne, CA) and sophomore defenseman Tom Preissing (Rosemount, CA) had an assist each night.

ROOKIES MAKING AN IMPACT: Three CC freshmen recorded their first collegiate points against the Bulldogs last weekend. Forwards Colin Stuart (Rochester, MN) and Reid Goolsby (Ipswich, MA) combined to set up sophomore linemate Shaun Winkler (Bemidji, MN) to open the scoring in Friday's 5-1 victory, while defenseman Andrew Canzanello's (Rochester, MN) steal led to Morrison's game-winner on Saturday. Sejna's 3 assists bumped his season points total to 11 (4g,7a), most by any freshman in the WCHA. Already named WCHA Rookie of the Week twice this season, he has at least a point in five of six games to date.

ON A STREAK: Morrison, who has scored twice in a game on three occasions already this season, has logged at least a point in five consecutive outings. The 5-point series improved his career total to 86 (40g,46a), most among current Tigers. A third-round draft choice of the Vancouver Canucks in 1998, he now has had a hand in 15 game-winning goals at Colorado College, scoring seven and assisting on eight. His rapid-fire goals against UMD last Saturday, both with the teams skating 4-on-4, marked the second time this season that CC has struck twice within a minute.

CULLEN STAYS HOT: Mark Cullen, one of only two WCHA players averaging 2 points per outing so far in 2000-01, logged his third 3-point game of the season with a goal and 2 assists last Friday. Like Morrison and Sejna, he also has at least a point in five of CC's six games to date. Cullen currently is tied for third among WCHA scoring leaders with 12 points (6g,6a) in league play. His third-period power-play goal on Saturday bumped his career points total to 76 (25g,51a). He's been involved in 12 game winners as a Tiger, scoring seven and assisting on five.

SOLID TANDEM IN NET: With his 26-save performance against the Bulldogs on Saturday, Zulianello bumped his career record at CC to 24-10-3, good for a .689 winning percentage. He's 17-5-1 (.761) in 23 WCHA regular-season decisions, and currently leads the league with a 1.00 goals-against average and .959 saves percentage after two appearances so far this season...Sanger, meanwhile, raised his three-year record at Colorado College to 41-26-2 (.609) with Friday's triumph.

NICHE IN HISTORY: The 1949-50 Colorado College hockey team, which claimed the program's first of two NCAA championships and was inducted into the CC Athletics Hall of Fame in 1998, is among the Colorado Springs Sports Hall of Fame's inaugural class which will be officially inducted this week. The ceremony will take place Thursday at the World Arena.

TIGER TIDBITS: With the three sweeps this season, Colorado College already has matched its total of the entire 1999-00 campaign...The current six-game winning streak is CC's longest since the Tigers won six in a row late in 1998-99. They also opened that season by winning seven straight...CC enters this week's series with a 39-16-3 (.698) all-time record at the World Arena. That includes three exhibition games against Canadian teams...The Tigers now have at least a point from 18 different players in their six games to date ...Preissing has been involved in a team-high 3 game-winning goals this season, matching the total of his entire freshman year, after setting up Hartsburg's GWG during a first-period power play last Friday. He's scored one and assisted on two ...Three of Hartsburg's 10 career goals have been game winners...The Tigers have held their opponent scoreless on the power play in four consecutive games and in five of six so far this season, including both last week when UMD went 0-for-8.

ELSEWHERE IN THE WCHA: A full slate of activity is on tap this weekend as Minnesota and North Dakota clash in Grand Forks, N.D., Alaska Anchorage visits Wisconsin, Michigan Tech travels to UM-Duluth, and Denver is at MSU, Mankato. Undefeated Minnesota knocked Wisconsin out of a No. 1 national ranking last week, sweeping the Badgers (4-0, 5-2) at Mariucci Arena in Minneapolis. North Dakota and MSU, Mankato, swept on the road, the Sioux winning twice at Denver (5-2, 7-4) and the Mavericks prevailing at Michigan Tech (2-1, 5-1).