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College Ice Hockey: Cougars Set Sights High |
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Written by Administrator
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Tuesday, 01 March 2011 02:55 |
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Retrieved from The Signal 2/28/11, written by Joey Gulino, Assistant Sports Editor: College Ice Hockey: Cougars Set Sights High
Despite the growth of the College of the Canyons club ice hockey team over the last three years, there are still skeptics.
“If you read a lot of the message boards, they say, ‘Why don’t you stick to your surfing and your sun, and leave the hockey to the East Coast?’” said head coach John Taferner.
COC will leave for the East Coast next week.
The destination will be Holland, Mich., site of the American Collegiate Hockey Association Division III National Tournament.
For the third straight season, the Cougars will make the trip to the national tournament, where they finished fifth last year and 14th in 2009.
This has been their most impressive season yet.
COC won its third straight Pacific Collegiate Hockey Association championship in early February, which qualified the team for nationals. The Cougars are 21-0 this season in Division III, winning every game by at least two goals.
The coaches, however, are making sure the team doesn’t get ahead of itself.
“It started back when we did the PCHA championships,” Taferner said. “We said this is just a stepping stone. We focused on winning that tournament. The next step was to (play non-division games against Arizona State). That was another stepping stone. The next thing is not to win nationals, but to get out of our bracket.”
A total of 16 teams will take part in the Division III national tournament at The Edge Ice Arena in Holland, and they’re split up into four pools. The four pool winners will then play in national semifinals, and the winners will advance to the national championship game, which will take place at 8:30 p.m. next Saturday.
The Cougars’ first game is against Fredonia State at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, and the Cougars will face Loyola-Maryland at 4 p.m. Thursday before facing Saginaw Valley State at 2:45 p.m. Friday.
COC features a roster of 22 players, evenly divided between 11 freshmen and 11 sophomores. There are 11 Santa Clarita Valley natives on the team, too. Taferner credits team manager Jim Schrage with giving him the players and resources to succeed.
Taferner said that sophomore goaltender Mike McGrath is the team’s best player. Through 15 starts, McGrath had given up just 29 total goals for an average of 2.11 goals against, and he’s saved 91 percent of the shots he’s faced.
McGrath turned down the chance to play on an ACHA select team last year to stay in the Santa Clarita Valley and train and play with his teammates.
“I wanted to hang around here because the real goal for me is to win the national championship for COC,” McGrath said.
Freshman forward Brian Voogt leads the team with 48 goals, while sophomore forwards Tyler Gilmore and Alex Brodetsky share the team lead with 38 assists. Gilmore leads the team with 78 total points, including 40 goals and 38 assists.
There are plenty of other contributors, and balance has been an important part of the team this season.
“We’re much deeper than in years past,” McGrath said. “We only had a few lines that could really compete (in past years). Now we have three or four solid lines that could compete with any in the country.”
That interchangeability, coupled with the maturity of the team, has helped it navigate through several rough patches this season.
“Just because you win doesn’t mean you’re doing well,” Taferner said. “Sometimes winning can mask a lot of flaws. Like any other sport, you have your ups and downs, highs and lows. We sort of had a downer just before Christmas when they were struggling. We let them struggle. After Christmas, they started playing a lot better.”
In preparation for nationals, the Cougars have practiced three times and played two games a week for the past few weeks. They’ve played teams like Division I Arizona State and Division I San Jose State.
COC hopes those tune-ups will help the program at nationals, where it can bolster its own reputation and the reputation for West Coast hockey at this level.
“No one’s going to take us lightly this year,” McGrath said. “We aren’t thinking we’re going to catch teams off guard. This year, everyone’s expecting us to do well so they’re going to come out hard. We’re the ones with the targets on our back.”
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COC vs. SJSU (D2) This Weekend! |
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Written by Administrator
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Friday, 25 February 2011 01:16 |
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Breaking news! The San Jose State University Division 2 team is traveling to Santa Clarita to play your College of the Canyons Cougars! San Jose is headed to Division 2 nationals in the upcoming weeks. COC is headed to the Division 3 nationals in March. These should be two great home games that challenge both teams! Come check them out! Friday February 25th at 7:30pm Saturday February 26th at 8:30pm Come watch your Cougars FINAL two home games of the season! Great preperation for nationals!!! |
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COC Hockey Team on Championship Prowl After Undefeated Regular Season |
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Written by Administrator
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Tuesday, 15 February 2011 04:18 |
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Press release via College of the Canyons, printed in multiple news papers and media publications:
SANTA CLARITA — With a perfect 19-0 regular season record the College of the Canyons hockey team has done something no other team in the 400 plus member, three division American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) could do — go undefeated enroute to a No. 1 ranking and third straight conference championship.
According to the most recent ACHA polls, COC is the No. 1 ranked team in the league’s Division-III Pacific Region, placing them ahead of other better-known schools including Colorado University, Iowa State University, University of Nebraska and Colorado State University.
On Feb. 5, COC began the postseason with a trip to Fresno, CA, site of the 2011 Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) playoffs, in pursuit of the team’s third straight PCHA Adams Cup. The PCHA is a conference within Division-III of the larger ACHA.
By maintaining their perfect record with impressive double-digit playoff victories over UC Davis and CSU Northridge last weekend, the Cougars won another Adams Cup and earned an automatic invitation to the 2011 ACHA Men’s Division-III National Championship Tournament, being held March 9-12 in Holland, Michigan.
The trip will mark the third consecutive venture to the ACHA National Championships for COC head coach John Taferner and the Cougars, and presents an opportunity for College of the Canyons to continue to forge its national reputation as a hockey powerhouse.
However, before touching down in Michigan, COC will travel to Tempe, AZ to play a pair of exhibition games against ACHA Division-I No. 8 ranked Arizona State University (ASU) Feb. 11 and 12.
Aside from serving as a measuring stick for the Cougars before heading to Nationals, the trip will also provide the team’s players an opportunity to showcase their talents in front of coaches from ASU and nearby Northern Arizona University, two programs that have expressed an interest in recruiting some of COC’s players to pursue their education at these institutions.
“There are a lot of our player’s getting noticed by four year schools,” Jim Schrage, COC hockey general manager and Vice President of facilities planning, operations and construction at the college.
“More important than winning anything this season, we want these student athletes to have an opportunity to continue their education, and hopefully be able to play hockey, at the next level.”
For the past several seasons the College of the Canyons hockey team has proven time and again that it can be highly competitive both in the state and on a national stage. As a COC club sport, the Cougars primarily face off against teams from surrounding four-year colleges and universities.
Nevertheless, over the last three seasons COC has won 53 regular season games, 10 playoff games, and back-to-back-to-back PCHA Adams Cups — advancing to the National Championships in 2009 and finishing fifth at that tournament in 2010.
The margins of victory and amount of goals the Cougars have scored this season are also impressive. Over their 19 regular season games COC outscored its opponents 216-49, scoring 10 or more goals in 14 games and topping the 20-goal mark once, for an average of more than 11 goals per game.
“We have some guys on the team who can just finish,” said Schrage about the team that is primarily made up of players from the Santa Clarita Valley. “If the puck is anywhere near the net, they’re going to find a way to put it in.”
By allowing only 49 goals all season, the Cougars proved they are also very stout defensively. COC’s trio of goaltenders combined to post a 2.57 goals against average for the team, surrendering more than four goals in a game only twice during the season.
But with that success has come a new challenge. Because of COC’s offensive prowess and outstanding record, many schools in the ACHA’s upper divisions have been hesitant to schedule games against a California community college playing in Division-III.
“Actually the fact we can’t get on their schedule is quite a compliment to our program,” Schrage said.
As for the upcoming National Championships next Month, COC only has one goal.
“At Nationals our only goal is finish better than last year. To do that we'll need to win our bracket, which will put us in the semi-finals. Only then will we start to think about the finals,” Schrage said. “But this is college hockey, anything can happen.”
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Cougars Invited to 2010/2011 National Tournament |
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Written by Administrator
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Thursday, 10 February 2011 05:09 |
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Just announced! Commissioner Rick Kaminski just invited the College of the Canyons Cougars hockey team to the 2010/2011 National Tournament held in Holland, Michigan. COC is one of two that have been invited in the Pacific. Congratulations and good luck Cougars! |
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Written by Administrator
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Thursday, 10 February 2011 03:13 |
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 .jpg "Goalie Mikey McGrath Surveying the Competition During Warm-Up") Goalie Mikey McGrath Surveying the Competition During Warm-UpAfter being the only team in the ACHA to successfully complete the Regular season undefeated, the Cougars headed North.jpg "COC About Ready to Tear it Up") COC About Ready to Tear it Up for the weekend to compete in the PCHA playoffs and defend the Adam's Cup for the second time. By placing first overall in the PCHA, they were granted a first round bye as well as second place Sacramento State. The remaining teams (UCSB, CSUN, Fresno St, and UC Davis) would have to face off on Friday in order to see who would proceed onto the semi-final on Saturday and face the top seeds. The Cougars first opponent would be UC Davis, a team that they had beat during the regular season. Although the Cougars were able to beat them convincingly during the regular season, they did not want to take them lightly since they were on a 9 game winning streak with having beaten Fresno State the night before. The Cougars took the day off to their advantage though and came out strong beating UC Davis by a score of 12-1. With that victory the Cougars moved on to the Championship game on Sunday morning facing no other than their number one rival, the CSUN Matadors. The Matadors were able to make it to the Championship game by beating UCSB on Friday and Sacramento State on Saturday. With the Cougars having already prevailed against the Matadors two times previously in the season, they were headed into the championship game with high hopes looking to go back-to-back-to-back as PCHA champions.
The game would take place in Fresno .jpg "Official PCHA Playoff Shirt created by UCD") Official PCHA Playoff Shirt created by UCD at 9:45 in the morning, the first and last game the Cougars would play that early. Although the teams might have still been half asleep the Cougars were able to come out strong taking a 6 to 0 lead at the end of the first and showed no signs of slowing down. They were able to keep their foot on the pedal and successfully beat the Matadors 14 - 1..jpg "PCHA Championship Final Score") PCHA Championship Final Score The game was followed by an award ceremony crowning the Cougars the regular and post season Champions of the PCHA. The Cougars are now headed to Arizona this weekend to face-off against the Division 1 ASU hockey team. They play on Friday and Saturday with both games looking to be great ones. GO COUGARS!!!!!!! .jpg "A COC Three-Peat") A COC Three-Peat .jpg "Adam's Cup Take Home Trophy") Adam's Cup Take Home Trophy .jpg "Captain Andy Jakiel Raising the Adam's Cup") Captain Andy Jakiel Raising the Adam's Cup |
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Last Updated on Thursday, 10 February 2011 05:07 |
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