In the end, the Colorado College Tigers couldn’t protect their backyard.

That was the mission at the beginning of the year. To make it to the Frozen Four, the Tigers wouldn’t have to leave the Front Range. “In Our Backyard”

They wore it on their shirts. I’m sure they had it in their hearts and minds.

A 3-1 defeat to the Michigan State Spartans spoiled the Tigers’ backyard party.

The Tigers played an absolutely amazing season in their backyard and in nearly everybody else’s yard.

They found a way to take the fight to everybody in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. They were without a doubt the best team in the nation’s best conference. Opponents verbally backed CC’s prowess.

The Tigers simply didn’t show up after beating the University of Denver on March 8 and hoisting the MacNaughton Cup high over their heads as they skated around the World Arena – at least the Tigers we expected to show up, didn’t.

“It’s a whole different game,” Tigers captain Scott Thauwald said about playoff hockey.

That DU game was almost three weeks ago.

Sure the Tigers beat the University of Alaska-Anchorage twice to earn a trip to the Final Five. But Alaska-Anchorage, which took the Tigers to overtime in the second game, was simply outmanned.

Combine Friday’s showing with the play of the past 20 days and we have to wonder what happened to those good players.

The crowd didn’t know what to think. Nine minutes, 27 seconds into the second period, the Tigers were on the bottom of a one-goal game. Michigan State goalie Jeff Lerg was looking like he was ready to pull off the same magical run he did last year when he took the Spartans to the NCAA title.

And after stopping 41 Tigers’ shots Friday, he just might do it again.

The Spartans scored another goal at the 18:03 mark, giving the crowd a bewildered look. Surely many of the 6,287 in attendance were wondering what was happening at this regional. The final goal had the home crowd justifiably worried.

Everybody knew what was at stake.

New Hampshire, the top seed in the regional had been embarrassed by Notre Dame earlier Friday. From a statistical standpoint, a CC victory would’ve meant an easier trip to Denver’s Pepsi Center and a berth in the Frozen Four.

Still, the home team was down.

The Tigers opened the game taking the fight to the Spartans. The Tigers got plenty of shots on goal early on.

With 7:53 remaining, Derek Patrosso gave the Tigers some life when he finally got the puck passed Lerg. The goal temporarily brought the CC faithful to life, too. The goal was a good shot, but it was way too little. It was way too late.

Just like they did in the past four games, all in the postseason, the Tigers didn’t get dirty enough long enough. They couldn’t manufacture anything inside offensively.

Maybe it was coaching. Maybe it was the players’ playoff inexperience.

But somehow the Tigers forgot how they got to their backyard.