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All Things Denver, XXVIII

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Re: All Things Denver, XXVIII

Rookie goalie Sam Brittain gave up 3 goals on 6 shots in the 1st period. You could see he was nervous and played like a frosh having trouble handling the puck, etc. DU could never get things going once they fell behind even though they outshot Lethbridge. DU had 7 freshman in the line-up as well as a few upperclassmen who have seen minimal games in their careers. Freshman can look great one night and then look lost another. The team looked a step slower tonight and their passing was off the mark. A good learning experience for this young team to see that you have to play hard every night.
 
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Re: All Things Denver, XXVIII

dxmnkd316 said:
I take it he's not your starter?
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Gwoz said that Soph Adam Murray and Brittain will split the first 3 series of the year and he will see how everything shakes out. DU's biggest question mark going into this season is goaltending. Murray looked very good last night, Brittain not so tonight. Both were highly sought after goalies before coming to DU. Murray sat behind Chevy last season and only played a handful of games with mixed results. He looks much improved over his rookie season. We will see. Gwoz has had goalie tandems which split the games all year long as well as a single goalie who played most of the games. The goalies and their play will determine if one wins the starters job or if they split the season series all year long. Both came to DU with the credentials to be a No. 1 but its a whole different ball game than juniors.

Tonight's Boxscore
 
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Re: All Things Denver, XXVIII

It really does sound like bad goal tending. Unless you played a different team than we did down here in the Springs last night…

I think there is also a real chance that Lethbridge will beat AFA. I might have to go and watch. Admission is free.

FYI – the exhibition game PK icing rule was not enforced at all here this weekend.
 
Re: All Things Denver, XXVIII

ronmexico said:
FYI – the exhibition game PK icing rule was not enforced at all here this weekend.
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Apparently the NCAA bailed on using it in the exhibitions at the 11th hour. Mike Chambers notes that in today's blog in the Denver Post.

Tough to win a game with a .773 Save % and a 5.0 GAA. He will get better as he gains experience at this level.
 
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Re: All Things Denver, XXVIII

The first 5 weekends of the regular season are going to be a meatgrinder for DU. They open up on the road at Vermont for 2 games next weekend. The following two weekends they host defending national champ BC for 2 games and Wisconsin for 2 games. They then go on the road to Grand Forks for 2 games and return to Colorado for a home and home series with CC. With this young team, I will be happy with a .500 record after the first 10 games. This will be baptism by fire for this young squad.
 
Re: All Things Denver, XXVIII

Gwoz in his post-game comments said the team did not play well in front of Brittain tonight. He thought Brittain made some good saves and had a few plays that he would probably like back. He said some of the best players on Saturday night were some of the worst players tonight. He knows Sam is capable of playing better than he did tonight but he is not worried about him. When the team got down, players pressed and tried to do too much on their own, holding the puck too long, making ill-advised passes, etc. He said it was good learning experience. They will get at it tomorrow to get ready for UVM and show the players where they need to improve.

Old Pio made a good point in the game thread that on the 3rd Lethbridge goal, Brittain made about 3 saves before they finally put it past him. There was nary a DU player near him to take the pressure off and get the puck. With the upcoming schedule, it was good to play back-to-back exhibition games like DU plays in the regular season.
 
Re: All Things Denver, XXVIII

I was at the game, and it was 90% goaltending problems. When Lethbridge scored on shots 1, 3 and 6 in the game, you could see the fear on 18 year old Brittian's end was palpable and his team could not overcome the lack of confidence that comes when your goalie can't stop the puck in his first college game. Normally, he'd been given the hook on the third goal, but Gwoz was trying to let him generate some confidence, but it was too late. At the other end, LU's 25 year old goalie, St. Goddard, got the job done.

It reminded me of Murray's horrendous start last year, and Chevy's horrible start and Fisher's horrible start years ago. Sometimes, your freshmen play like freshmen, and that's what happened to DU tonight.

DU will not have the firepower to win many games, so goaltending is crucial. What we learned is that Murray should be the DU starter. I doubt I would play Brittain again until after the CC series, when I would ease him into some games against some lower level teams.
 
Re: All Things Denver, XXVIII

du78 said:
The first 5 weekends of the regular season are going to be a meatgrinder for DU. They open up on the road at Vermont for 2 games next weekend. The following two weekends they host defending national champ BC for 2 games and Wisconsin for 2 games. They then go on the road to Grand Forks for 2 games and return to Colorado for a home and home series with CC. With this young team, I will be happy with a .500 record after the first 10 games. This will be baptism by fire for this young squad.
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If somebody's offering, I'd take .500 in the first ten to the bank.
 
Re: All Things Denver, XXVIII

It's been 11 years since DU had lost to a Canadian school (1999, Manitoba).

It was bound to happen sooner or later.
 
Re: All Things Denver, XXVIII

Everyone seems calm after last night, I expected to open this thread and see panic all over the board. I like the comment about how our past three goalies were all terrible in their first starts, that makes me feel a little better. I wonder if DU might have taken this team a little too lightly as well. CC crushed them, we looked awesome on Saturday, etc. I bet they were over confident.
 
Re: All Things Denver, XXVIII

Lethbridge's coach said his team played very poorly at CC, especially on the big ice there (which Canadian University teams almost never play on), which took away their physical style, and that they played with much more energy on the NHL size rink vs DU.

Frankly, when Lethbridge scored on 3 of the first 6 shots they took, it was bound to make them play better.

That said, DU got down early, and when the goalie is playing that poorly and isn't being yanked, it's hard to play with any confidence.

In other words, had Murray been in the nets last night, the DU confidence level would have been there and I think DU beats Lethbridge by 2-3 goals.
 
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Re: All Things Denver, XXVIII

Brittain had his baptism by fire!
The team didn't look as sharp.
The freshmen played like freshmen and the upperclassmen not much better.

Practice today will not be fun.
 
Re: All Things Denver, XXVIII

dave29 said:
DU got punked tonight by a Pronghorn? Awesome! What happened up there tonight? Lethbridge was horrible down here last night. If AFA beats Lethbridge tomorrow night then maybe you guys are the #3 team in the state of Colorado now. :D :cool: I can't wait to read DG's blog tomorrow. :p
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Its amazing to see how popular LetsGoDU has become in Grand Forks and Colorado Springs.

It just goes to show you that like a b1tchy girlfriend, if you treat people like crap, they will keep coming back for more. :D
 
Re: All Things Denver, XXVIII

dggoddard said:
Its amazing to see how popular LetsGoDU has become in Grand Forks and Colorado Springs.

It just goes to show you that like an *****y girlfriend, if you treat people like crap, they will keep coming back for more. :D
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I'm only there to annoy your gumba fans. Turnabout is fair play. :D It is nice to see that they finally seem be developing ideas of their own instead of just following you like the Pied Piper. Fawning over every one of your words, while I'm sure was flattering for you, was rather pathetic.
 
Re: All Things Denver, XXVIII

Dirty said:
I'm only there to annoy your gumba fans. Turnabout is fair play. :D It is nice to see that they finally seem be developing ideas of their own instead of just following you like the Pied Piper. Fawning over every one of your words, while I'm sure was flattering for you, was rather pathetic.
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One day there will be 10,000 DG/DU Clones on the internet :D
 
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