Ramsey: Wakeup call could prevent CC nightmare vs. DU

You could say Colorado College’s Tigers did a nice job of sleepwalking through Saturday’s 6-0 loss to North Dakota, but that only insults sleepwalkers.

This was a disturbing, humiliating surrender by the Tigers on a silent night at World Arena.

And yet …

This defeat, if handled correctly, could serve as the perfect warmup for the University of Denver. Yes, the Evil Empire of the North invades World Arena Friday night, and it will be excessively ugly if the Tigers play with anywhere close to this level of apathy.

Coach Scott Owens now has the complete attention of his players. They will listen carefully to his commands this week in practice. They will be supremely motivated to avoid a repeat of Saturday’s pain when facing their arch-rivals.

Remember DU’s visit in March to World Arena? Yes, I’m trying to forget it, too, but I can’t. The Pioneers roared to a 7-3 victory that was more convincing than the score. At one point, DU led 6-0 in a criminally boring game. No one who cares about CC wants a repeat.

Now, Owens can offer a fresh horror film to his youthful Tigers as he prepares for the Pioneers. He can show them footage from Saturday’s debacle against North Dakota.

“You know what? I’m not going to burn the tape,” Owens said. “We’re going to look at it. We’re going to watch it.”

The loss ended a weird weekend for the Tigers. On Friday, after CC muscled its way to a convincing victory over North Dakota, hope was rampant for the Tigers.

They had delivered their most impressive and important victory of the season. They had devoured a North Dakota team that had won 10 of 12.

Could the Tigers keep this up?

Ah, no.

The answer became clear barely two minutes into the second period when Brett Hextall scored from point-blank range to give North Dakota a 2-0 lead.

Following the goal, fans in UND green were standing and shouting all over World Arena while fans in yellow and black sat quietly. It had been bad. It would get worse.

North Dakota, which rides off with a 14-6 Western Collegiate Hockey Association record, revealed itself as a legit national title contender.

“They were really, really good,” Owens said, accurately. “They were physical and tough.”

CC skates away with a 9-9 WCHA record, stuck, once again, in the middle. Over the past two seasons, the Tigers are 21-22-3 in the WCHA, the picture of mediocrity.

Still, there’s hope. This edition of the Tigers often is baffling, but it’s also resilient. As the Tigers prepared for their home clash with DU on Nov. 6, their season was in shambles. They had lost three straight by a combined score of 17-6.

They looked much like they looked after this North Dakota loss:

Doomed.

Then, in one of CC’s best performances of the 21^st century, the Tigers trashed DU, 9-2. It was a glimpse of a team that is supremely difficult to understand.

It also was a glimpse of the Tigers often-slumbering potential.