College Hockey   CC Tigers and USAFA Falcons Hockey

The Denver Post reports that the Avalanche will buy out former Tiger defenseman Tom Preissing, who is too expensive after spending all of last season in the AHL. And indicative how Preissing ‘scareer has gone since Ottawa, he is only a footnote toward the bottom of Adrian Dater’s blog entry.

No big surprise. Dean Blais has signed some top recruits.

Things keep looking up for former Tiger defenseman Nate Prosser whose outlet-passing skills are paying off nicely only a few days before he gets married this weekend. Nice wedding present, huh?.

Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports Prosser, a likely Nos. 5 or 6 defenseman with the Wild, signed a two-way deal. It’s worth $650,000 when in the NHL and 4105,000 if he’s sent to the AHL. Expect to spend ample time in both leagues unless injuries open up ice time in Minnesota, according to beat writer Michael Russo.

The St. Louis Blues are planning a live online chat with their first round draft pick and CC recruit Jaden Schwartz  on Friday, July 2 at 10 a.m. Mountain. Looks like a good opportunity for CC fans. Take advantage of it and remind how welcome he will be in Colorado Springs.

Transcript available here.

Another excellent way would be to step up and raise money for his sister Mandi’s battle with leukemia at a July 6 fundraiser.

Also, here’s CC recruit Peter Stoykewych’s reaction to being drafted Saturday in the seventh round by Atlanta.

Gavin Hartzog, originally a 2011 signee, is reportedly being called up to Wisconsin a year early after Matt Lindblad reversed his decision to back out of Dartmouth for Madison.

The College Hockey News reports that two 2011 sites, Green Bay and Bridgeport, Conn. will be repeats. There was talk that Mariucci will not be the West regional site with the Xcel the likely replacement. There’s some time to change that, of course.

From CC athletics …

CC marketing staff earns national recognition

The athletics marketing staff at Colorado College was the recipient of four awards – two gold and two silver – last week at the National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators’ 19th annual convention in Anaheim, Calif. The staff is comprised of Scott Lowenberg, Jessica Bennett and Matt Gaudry.

All four awards related to the marketing and promotion of Tiger Hockey during the 2009-10 season.

CC claimed gold (first place) in the radio and television commercial classifications, as well as silver (second place) in the single-day attendance promotion (Give Blood, Get Hockey) and newspaper ad categories.

“It’s a great honor – for Colorado College and our outstanding coaches, administrators and student athletes who work so hard on a daily basis – to win national awards such as these,” said Lowenberg, assistant director of athletics. “We also must thank Marco Hernandez, Larry Hinkle and Craig Rae of HHR Creative for their  contributions to the ‘Get Your Growl On’ marketing campaign.”

Initiated in 2003, the NACMA Awards program honors outstanding achievement in marketing and promotions. Awards now are presented in 13 categories, each divided into three groups based upon school size and conference affiliations in order to ensure fairness. Colorado College has won a total of 13 awards the last three years.

More than 650 entries were received for the 2009-10 academic year from schools such as the Colorado, Kansas State, BYU, North Dakota, Boston University, Wisconsin, California, Oregon, LSU and Tennessee.

The Colorado Thunderbirds announced that Joshua Didier will sign with DU. He had been mentioned by a fan blog as a possible CC recruit when Didier was quoted as saying he was considering  two Colorado schools.

Here’s a well-done story on Jaden Schwartz by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and another by U.S. College Hockey Online. 

Here’s the CBC’s take on him …

14. St. Louis Blues: Jaden Schwartz, F. Tri City (USHL). Schwartz led the USHL in scoring this season with 83 points in 60 games. Smallish but highly skilled offensively, Schwartz has terrific hands. He’ll go to Colorado College to play with his brother. A few years away but the Blues have enough prospects they’ll be working into their lineup in the next few years that the team can afford to wait for him.

… and the other first-rounders.

Also, CC volunteer goaltending coach Terry Kleisinger’s son  Casey was announced as part of Air Force hockey’s Class of 2014.

2011 CC signee Peter Stoykewych was drafted by the Atlanta Thrashers with the 19th pick of the seventh round (199th overall) in the NHL draft on Saturday.

The Avalanche made the smart choice in the second round  on Saturday.

Seattle’s Calvin Pickard, 6-foot-1, 195 pounds, went with the 19^th pick (49^thoverall). The Moncton, New Brunswick native was rated as the top North American goalie prospect by NHL scouts. Here’s a feature on the projected first-round pick.

In the third round, Colorado made a trade with Dallas to move up to the 61st pick (11th, third) to select Michael Bournival of Shawnigan, Quebec. The left wing had 62 points (38 assists) in 58 games for Shawnigan in the QMJL. He was rated No. 75 among North American skaters by NHL scouts.

In the fourth, defenseman Stephen Silas of Brampton, Ontario was picked. The 6-1, 183-pounder was paired with NHLers P.K. Subban (’07) and Shawn Lalonde (’08) early in his juniors career.