All Things Denver XXX

[Old Pio]

Re: All Things Denver XXX

Taking a deep breath Blood pressure decreasing
Sure am glad we don't have to play tomorrow night

Boy Howdy. Before I got disconnected from the scoring thread, I said I had a bad feeling about the outcome. Well, somebody want to pass me some gravy to put on my dirt?

Hats off to the Mavericks.

[Puck Swami]

Re: All Things Denver XXX

An optimist Pio fan would say that DU scored the big goals in clutch moments, got good goaltending from Sammy and showed great character in coming from behind all weekend to close out the Mavs in two straight.

The pessimist Pio fan would say that DU led for about 3 minutes all weekend, and barely escaped a hard-working #11 seed Maverick team that outworked DU for large chunks of the weekend and had two potential goals disallowed on Saturday.

For me, I'll take the wins, but the 122 minutes of series video that the DU coaches will review will reveal a DU team played just well enough, and had long chunks of time when they were beaten to loose pucks and outworked by MSUM.

The Pios need to be better when the opponents they will face will be better teams than MSUM.

[MagnessMan]

Re: All Things Denver XXX

Boy Howdy. Before I got disconnected from the scoring thread, I said I had a bad feeling about the outcome. Well, somebody want to pass me some gravy to put on my dirt?

Hats off to the Mavericks.

Mavs played us surprisingly tough both nights. Tonight they beat our asses to the puck in our zone all night even late into the 3rd. They out hussled us bad. Their D played us very tough--made it hard to get quality shots, they blocked a lot of shots and closed down lanes. Our first goal was a softie. Lucky we didn't fall tonight--even with the W we fall to tied for 6th in the PWR. I've seen a lot of poor Anderson reffed games but ths one took the cake. It's a major shame that the conference leadership doesn't send him out to pasture.
Can you imagine having to work with that unprofessional/emotional idiot? Still of the opinion this team won't make it back to St Paul. Too **** sloppy with the puck!

[MagnessMan]

Re: All Things Denver XXX

So it will be UMD vs BSU and CC or UW vs AA. We'd most likely get the dogs and the Sioux get the easy draw. I hope we can get by the dogs. I like to see if we can play with the girls. All this is good news because even if we lose to UMD we don't take a very big it with our PWR before selection Sunday. Be sure to visit the CC Off Season Thread I started tonight in advance of their choke at the cement toilet tomorrow night.

[Puck Swami]

Re: All Things Denver XXX

Ten sunday morning reflections:

1) Big feeling of relief right now. DU played about 2-3 good periods all weekend and still got the job done to advance. But watching this series tells you how really close the WCHA can be. The difference between the #2 seed and the #11 seed was a bounce of the puck. We've said this cliche ad-nauseum, but I really don't believe there is a tougher conference in college sports.

2) Why did Gwoz gamble putting Salazar on the point with seven seconds left and the draw in the o-zone? I like Luke's offensive game, but at 5-7 and about 150, he's NOT the guy you need to play D going the other way if you lose that draw, which DU did and it almost cost them the game. And Luke is not really a point-shooting specialist if you do win the draw. That's a bad gamble, IMHO.

3) This DU team has long spaces of time where they glide around and don't move their feet. And when that happens in the d-zone, that's when they give up shots and goals. Hope the coaching staff can show the video of this and that future games will see more foot movement.

4) Sammy was better last night. Can't blame him on the 5-on-3 goal nor the 2-on-1. He made a huge stick save to save the game in the third as well. He's starting to play a bit more confidently now, and if he can control his rebounds, DU is in the hunt.

5) I think Gwoz must be running out of ideas to get this team to start games better, because whatever he's doing isn't working very well. Tepid starts will likely be the big reason that this team's season ends when it does, but here's hoping for a little more pre-game inspiration. I encourage all DU fans to suggest new pre-game inspirational ideas for the Pios this week...

6) MSUM's game plan to pound our defensemen on an aggressive forecheck worked very well. Other teams are going to do this to DU in the tourneys, and the Pioneers need to keep the game on the wall and chip more pucks out of trouble. The long breakout passes and the slow breakouts don't work very well. I hope the Pios can make their breakouts at bit more crisp and less predictable for the next rounds.

7) One thing DU has really done better lately on is gap control in the d-zone. Taking away time and space from opponents is crucial, and the DU is usually in good position gap wise. When they break down, it's usually because they aren't moving their feet.

8) Last night, I was thinking that I don;t care how DU does in the FInal FIve as long as they come out healthy, but this year, I am starting to think that winning twice next weekend just might get DU back to a top 4 PWR position, which could remove the chances of being sent to BC's regional. DU has proven it can beat any team in the WCHA this season, but BC is the one team I really don't want to play in a regional. I am not wild about playing UNH at Manchester either, nor Miami anywhere. And of course, Michigan is a team that Gwoz hasn't been able to beat yet, either. That said, I don't think a lot of teams are looking forward to facing us, given the speed and propensity for late comebacks DU has shown all year.

9) There is part of me that thinks this DU team has played under it's capacity for most of the last 5-6 weeks, and here's hoping DU can somehow elevate the overall effort level now that we're in elimination situations.

10) Finally, this was a really fun home season for the most part. We saw some great hockey at Magness this year. I am sure the seniors will miss playing another game at home, and here's hoping that no one leaves early.

[Old Pio]

Re: All Things Denver XXX

My favorite Rycroftism from last night was when he declared he didn't feel sorry for the Goofers!

And speaking of the Golden Garden Pests, please don't overdose on schadenfreude, it can be addicting.

[vizoroo]

Re: All Things Denver XXX

My favorite Rycroftism from last night was when he declared he didn't feel sorry for the Goofers!

I can't imagine who would. :-)

[duper]

Re: All Things Denver XXX

I think that this has been a fascinating season. I have absolutely no idea what will happen between now and the end of the national tournament on April 9, although I surely will not be surprised if North Dakota beats somebody that day.

In any case, I have high hopes that whatever happens between now and then will come off looking really good for the immediate future of DU. At the same time, it seems quite conceivable that the team has earned its last win of the season. At this point I am neither optimist nor pessimist; just an enthusiastic fan who is hoping for the best. One nice thing; I will take this team over a team with a solid chance of making a deep run that is also going to be decimated by graduation and pro defections over the offseason. Now, if we can lock up Gwoz, I will be pretty happy.

[Dmann]

Re: All Things Denver XXX

So who plays whom??? More importantly, who do we play?

[Fighting Sioux 23]

Re: All Things Denver XXX

So who plays whom??? More importantly, who do we play?

Denver will play the winner of the Duluth - Bemidji State game, Friday Afternoon.

[dave29]

Re: All Things Denver XXX

Be sure to visit the CC Off Season Thread I started tonight in advance of their choke at the cement toilet tomorrow night.

Looks like you have to eat crow on that one. I hope you keep making predictions. Keep them coming moron.

[rpihockeyrock]

My thoughts:

-UNC had a good year and got hot at the right time. That $85K coach won't be at $85K for very long now...
-DU beat UNC this year. The programs aren't very far apart in terms of talent.
-UNC has far lower admission standards than DU does, and in basketball, where many of the best players come from low-level academic backgrounds, you can build a program faster if you have low academic thresholds as UNC does.
-DU was making steady progress under Scott until this season, where I believe injuries to key players were the big reason for DU's underachievement. It will be interesting to see how DU does next season, which will likely tell us how good a coach Scott is, but if DU does not make clear progress, I think Scott will be under some serious pressure.
-Personally, I think Gwoz is a great coach and it would be awful to see him go. I really hope DU does decide to lock him up to a great long term deal. But I also understand the school's current wait-and-see position. They aren't into shelling out more big bucks without NCAA tourney performance and or full houses at Magness, the two key areas that are in short supply over the last few years.

Sorry I did not get back to you earlier, but I don't get on the board all the time. Good response. I like the rational PS, not the irrational one that gets everybody fired up. A couple of thoughts. I don't think Peg is going to hold Gwoz accountable for the lack of attendence. I think behind closed doors Peg would be the 1st one to admit that 99.9999% of the marketing resources have went to basketball. Certainly understandable with the goal and direction of the athletic dept and it has paid off with better basketball attendence. How do you get a sell out for Anchorage and a half empty building for St Cloud. They actually worked at promotions. Secondly, I think you put to much stock into the lack of recent NCAA wins. It can certainly be a point of conversation for Peg and Gwoz, but she is not going to let him walk if he doesn't win a tourny game this year. At the same time, its not going to be an open check book if Gwoz gets to the FF. The fact of the matter is, DU is a small athletic dept struggling to get by. In a lot of ways, and sports, DU vastly overachieved. I think its obvious what is going on. Since we haven't heard boo out of MichSt, they are waiting for Gwoz to finish his season, then they will bring him out to wine and dine. They get Tom Izzo and a select few alumns in is ear. Then he will have to decide between a pay day, the new big ten conf and living in East Lansing or a slight raise, a couple of more years on his contract and living in Denver. We ll see.

[coloradojake]

Re: All Things Denver XXX

And speaking of the Golden Garden Pests, please don't overdose on schadenfreude, it can be addicting.

Somebody went to Avenue Q!

[redhawk95]

Re: All Things Denver XXX

Great crowd at Magness Saturday night. While the game was lacking flow for two periods (mainly due to some inconsistent officiating), that third period was awesome. And, there was great speed and intensity throughout the game. I still can't believe the Mavs "scored" at the end of regulation. I was looking at the clock and thought they wouldn't even get a shot off, then I see the puck in the net but wasn't certain of the time. Made for an exciting few minutes.

So, I got to two games this year and can't wait for more next season. Magness is a great building. And, with multiple events going on around the facility (gymnastics, lacrosse), that was really neat to see how much activity there was on campus.

[Pablo]

Re: All Things Denver XXX

Fun and strange weekend of hockey. Two comeback wins, and an OT thrillah. Nice job by Zucker to finish it off.

I don't know what to expect, either, over the next few weeks. We could lose in the Final Five, and be one and done in the NCAA's. Or we could make it to the Frozen Four. We're fully capable of both scenarios. But we do have one of the best coaches in the game. Hopefully he can use the sweep of Mankato as the beginning of a late season charge. Bringing in Gauthier, Stastny and company to talk to the players is a great idea. They cemented their legacy at DU, and I hope they can inspire this years' Pioneers to do the same. Too bad we can't bring in Caldwell, too. That guy was a warrior.

Also, what a cool environment at the Ritchie Center on Saturday night with lacrosse, gymnastics and hockey all well-attended. It was a smorgasbord of sporting action.