Scratching and Clawing: Tigers look to get back on track against cross town rival Air Force and Meychurst College

This Friday night, at the World Arena, the Colorado College Tigers will play host to their rival up the street, the Air Force Falcons in a non-conference series matchup for local bragging rights. The Tigers will also host Mercyhurst College on Saturday night.

The past month has been a tough one for the Tigers. After starting the season 12-4-3, the Tigers hoped that their success would carry into the 2010 part of the season; it has done everything but that. Since the beginning of this year, the Tigers have lost six of their last ten games including losses to WCHA rivals the Univerisity of Minnesota-Duluth, the University of Wisconsin, the University of Alaska Anchorage, and St.Cloud State University. Despite the losses, the Tigers did split all their WCHA games except with the University of Minnesota-Duluth who in early January swept the Tigers 2-5 and 1-4. The University of Minnesota-Duluth currently holds first place in the WCHA conference while the Tigers are tied with the University of Wisconsin for fourth place. With 25 total points, the Tigers are just three points behind the University of Minnesota-Duluth who has 28 points. If the Tigers beat the Falcons this weekend it will do little in terms of their WCHA standing but more importantly it would help them build momentum as they head into a critical stretch in which six of their last seven games of the season will be against WCHA opponents, including first place Minnesota-Duluth. 

The Tigers skate into this weekend’s matchup coming off a superb win against St.Cloud State University in which they rallied from a 4-3 deficit to score three goals in the third period to win the game 6-4. Aided by their second ranked power-play offense, the Tigers took the lead on a power-play goal by junior defenseman Ryan Lowery who scored the winning goal with just under five minutes to play. Senior winger Addison DeBoer set up Lowery’s game winner when he tied the game with seven minutes left to play. Senior winger Bill Sweat was again superb as he added two of his own goals as well as assisting Lowery’s game winner. The Tigers will no doubt need another strong effort this weekend against a talented Air Force team. 

Friday will mark the 66th time that the Tigers and Falcons have faced off against each other since the rivalry began during the 1969-1970 season. The Tigers own a commanding lead in the series having gone 52-7-2 overall. More importantly, the Tigers have won all the previous eight meetings at the World Arena. Before last season, in which they lost 4-1 to the Falcons at Cadet Ice Arena, the Tigers had defeated the Falcons 25 straight times. The one and only time the Tigers have met Meychurst was during the 2002 season in which they skated to a 10-2 victory. 

The Falcons boast top-scoring threats in 2008-2009 All-American Jacques Lamoureux who has 17 goals and 17 assists on the season. Lamoreax is also tied for second in the nation for power-play goals, with 10 so far this season. Another threat, senior goalie Andrew Volkening has started every game for the Falcons this season and boasts 2.58 goals-against-average as well as a 91 percent-save-average.

Meychurst College boasts top scoring threats in junior forwards Brandon Coccimiglio and Scott Pitt. The duo has combined for 20 goals and 31 assists and will no doubt create havoc for the Tiger defense.

With little at stake in terms of WCHA standing, the Tigers could use this weekend as a momentum builder as they head into a stretch in which they will face three of WCHA teams, including a double-header with the University of Denver to close the regular season. If the Tigers can win-out, or at the least win their WCHA games, they could very well be at the top of the WCHA come playoff time.