Meet the Staff

Scott Owens
The proof is in the numbers. Ten seasons, over 250 victories. Three regular season championships, seven appearances in the NCAA's. Not too shabby by anyone’s standards. If there ever were any doubts that Scott Owens is a perfect fit at the Colorado College helm, they are long gone.

The 13th head coach in the program’s 70-year history, Owens has averaged more than 25 victories per year since accepting the position. CC's 31 wins in 2004-05 is the team's highest ever in one year. It’s no mere coincidence that the Tigers have kept a firm foothold among college hockey’s elite, while attendance figures at the Colorado Springs World Arena continue to rank among the nation’s best.

True, Owens has compiled an impressive list of coaching credentials spanning more than two decades. But when he returned to campus in April 1999 after four successful seasons in the Junior A-level United States Hockey League, he also brought with him an intimate familiarity with the college that few other individuals could possibly possess.

A 1979 graduate with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, Owens lettered for four seasons as a goaltender with the Tigers. He later spent four campaigns (1991-95) as a member of the Colorado College coaching staff, serving as recruiting coordinator and playing a key role in the program’s revival in the mid ’90s. He was promoted to associate head coach for the final two years of that stay. Before leaving to become head coach and general manager of the Des Moines Buccaneers in 1995, he had helped lead CC to its first of five consecutive appearances in the NCAA playoffs as well as two of three straight regular-season championships in the WCHA.

He understands the school, its students and its athletes. Having experienced, as a player and a coach, what works and what doesn’t at Colorado College, he knows exactly what the ingredients of success for the hockey program have been. He’s at home in the community, and his achievements everywhere he’s been are testimony to his ability to motivate players.

In his four years at Des Moines, Owens posted an overall record of 179-76-9 and winning percentage of .695, including a record-setting 62-12-1 (.833) mark in 1998-99 when the Buccaneers claimed the USHL’s regular-season and playoff titles. Also national Junior A champions a year earlier, they came within one victory of repeating the feat in 1999 when they finished as runner-up to Detroit Compuware. In 13 seasons combined, as a head coach in the USHL and at Colorado College, he’s won 450 games.

Prior to his first return to CC in 1991, Owens spent six years as general manager (1984-90) and head coach (1986-90) of the USHL’s Madison Capitols, followed by one season (1990-91) as an assistant coach at the University of Wisconsin. A native of Madison, he guided the Capitols to four consecutive appearances (1987-90) in the National Junior A Tournament. His four-year coaching record there was 149-97-9, including a 41-18-3 mark in 1989-90, the club’s best ever. He was voted USHL General Manager of the Year in 1986-87 and 1997-98, as well as the league’s Coach of the Year in 1987-88.

The 53-year-old Owens, who coached the South at ’86 and ’87 U.S. Olympic Festivals, also spent five years as a player, assistant coach and youth program coordinator for the Kempten Ice Hockey Club in Kempten, West Germany, after graduating from CC in 1979.

He appeared in 50 games for the Tigers during his collegiate playing career, backstopping 12 victories as the team’s No. 1 goalie his senior season in 1978-79. He attended and played hockey at Madison’s Memorial High School under coach Bill Howard, another former CC goaltender. Owens then played one season for the St. Cloud (Minn.) Blues of the Mid-West Junior League. He also represented the United States at the 1975 Junior World Championships, competing against teams from Canada, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Russia and Sweden.

He and his wife, Sally, were married New Year’s Eve, 2000. He has two step-sons, Evan and Sean, ages 24 and 20.

Joe Bonnett
Joe Bonnett is in his ninth year as an assistant coach at Colorado College, where he has helped the Tigers average 24 victories the last six seasons.

While overseeing areas of recruiting and concentrating on the defensive aspects of the game, Bonnett is known for working “hands on” with the blue-line corps and the development of individual skills. Under his guidance, CC’s team defense and penalty kill have continued to rank among the nation’s best.

Prior to joining the Tigers staff, Bonnett was the recruiting coordinator at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio (1997-01). He started his coaching career as associate head coach of the Kalamazoo Jr. K-Wings (NAHL), guiding them to an appearance in the 1994 junior “A” national tournament. Bonnett served as a volunteer assistant at Miami from 1995–97. While there, he earned his master’s degree in sport organization and helped coach the RedHawks to their second NCAA appearance in ‘96-97.

Bonnett was a four-year letterwinner as a forward at Western Michigan University (1989–93) and an assistant captain his senior year. A 1993 graduate of WMU, where he received a bachelor’s degree in secondary education, Bonnett was named Western Michigan’s Most Improved Player as a junior in 1991-92, then was named recipient of the program’s Catherine Lawson Sportsmanship Award as a senior in 1992-93.

During the summer months, Bonnett has continued to be very active as a volunteer with USA Hockey. He has served as a head coach for Team Michigan and Rocky Mountain districts at national select -14, -15, -16 and -17 festivals. In 1999 his select-16 team Michigan won a gold medal in St. Cloud, Minn. Bonnett served as an assistant coach with the United States under-17 select team that won the gold medal at the 2003 Five Nations Tournament in Prievidza, Slovakia.

The Canton, Mich., native and his wife Laura, who celebrated their eighth anniversary in June, are the parents of two sons, Noah and Sam, ages 5 and 2 1/2.

RJ Enga
Former Colorado College standout RJ Enga serves as the Tigers volunteer coach, working in particular with the forwards and assisting with the daily practice and game plans. Enga, who graduated from CC in 1995 with a degree in international political economy, complied 142 points (61g,81a) during his four year collegiate career and is tied for 36th place on the program’s all-time scoring list. He missed only one of a possible 159 games while at Colorado College. A veteran of the United States Select 17 and 18 festival programs before enrolling at CC, he skated for Team USA at Finland’s Tampere Cup competition in August 1994.

Enga went on to play professionally in both Europe and North America- until retiring after the 2002-03 campaign which finished with the San Diego Gulls of the East Coast Hockey League. He earlier spent four seasons with the Colorado Springs Gold Kings.

Always a fan favorite on and off the ice, Enga currently is in his sixth year as director of the Colorado Springs Amateur Hockey Association’s Junior Tigers.  He and his wife Katie are the parents of two daughters-five year old Kaelin and three year old Makenna.