All Things Denver, XXX1X

[thedunker]

After tonight's game, I have no trust in Cowley. Going to have to go with the Freshman Jaillet in the NCAA tournament.

If we win on Saturday and BU LOSES,we stand good chance of being #1 seed. Might need a MINNY St win or Miami loss

Good chance no matter what, seeds 5-8 will all be from west which means 2 flights. All #4 seeds will be from the East which means 2 flights

 

[Riz]

If we win on Saturday and BU LOSES,we stand good chance of being #1 seed. Might need a MINNY St win or Miami loss

Good chance no matter what, seeds 5-8 will all be from west which means 2 flights. All #4 seeds will be from the East which means 2 flights

I'd rather be a #2 seed in South Bend with Mankato or Mich Tech than as the #1 seed than out east somewhere with us as the #1 seed with a possibility of playing Boston College, Providence, Umass-Lowell, etc. playing virtually a home game. DENVER NEVER plays well on the east coast.

 

[MagnessMan]

Re: All Things Denver, XXX1X

No, I am not seeing parallels. The 2003-2004 team had Adam Berkhoel in goal. I see neither Cowley nor Jaillet this year being as good as Berkhoel was in the 2003-2004 season. Berkhoel had seven shutouts that season while this year's tandem has four.

The 2004-2005 team had freshman Peter Mannino in goal. Again, I see neither of this year's goalies playing as well as Mannino did then. Mannino had five shutouts as compared to the current tandem having four. A freshman goalie helping his team win an NCAA title is a remarkable achievement.

The 2003-2004 team had 8 players score 10 or more goals. The 2004-2005 team had 8 players score 10 or more goals. This year's team has 6 players who have scored 10 or more goals.

Fifteen players on the 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 teams scored 10 or more points. On the current team eleven players have scored 10 or more points. There's less scoring depth on this team than the earlier squads.

The 2004-2005 team had 5 players score more than 40 points with one--Gabe Gauthier--scoring 57. The current team has two players--Heinen and Moore--who have scored 40 or more points. LaLeggia may make it three players, but there will not be five players hitting the 40 point plateau. Heinen needs a robust thirteen additional playoff points merely to tie Gauthier's scoring toal from 2004-2005. I hope Heinen does it, but I'm not anticipating he will.

I think the current team has played and is playing well. Apart from the first period in each of last weekend's series against Duluth, I thought the Pioneers played in impressive fashion. In the hypothetical exercise of comparing apples and oranges--that is the 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 teams with the current team--I think both the earlier teams are superior to the current squad. Nevertheless, I feel the current team is in a strong position to do well in the NCHC event this weekend and the NCAA event beginning next week.

I've been a season ticket holder/DU fan since 2006 so I can't speak from personal experience about the championship teams. I did see Peter M play for three years. I agree with your assessment of the current team being weaker in terms of goal tending. I think we're at about 2.3 goals a game. You really want to be at or below 2. Given the strength of our D that would be attainable with a rock solid goalie. I think this team is a two seed with about a 1/4 chance to make it to Boston (which is way better than I imagined back in the Fall). So much of it is where you land in the bracket and how you play next weekend. My hope is that they'll break through the first round curse we're under. DU has been to the dance 8 straight years and dropped the first game 7/8. Let's just win the first game!

I worry about playing a 3rd place game in that you increase the risk of injury and you run kids who are already hurt, harder.

Miami is a really good team when their forwards are humming (which they were tonight). They make you pay for mistakes and you pay quickly! If they can stay focused they'll be in Boston. I thought David Carle's comments about us not sticking to the game plan were very informative tonight. He talked about how our offensive strength is being able to get down low-past the D and work for/create open space. I've been watching it gel in the second half. The first line is amazing at it but the fourth was turning it on down the home stretch too. Levin, Loney and Romig are also adept at it. When you think about it this is one of Monty's key systems and uses the offensive D guys to increase the effectiveness. Super fun to watch.

 

[MagnessMan]

Re: All Things Denver, XXX1X

After tonight's game, I have no trust in Cowley. Going to have to go with the Freshman Jaillet in the NCAA tournament.

I'm sticking with my answer from earlier in the week. They will continue with the rotation.

 

[Riz]

I'm sticking with my answer from earlier in the week. They will continue with the rotation.

I don't think so. Monty has leaned with Tanner lately and after this showing by Cowley, I bet he goes with Tanner the rest of the reason.

 

[MagnessMan]

Re: All Things Denver, XXX1X

I don't think so. Monty has leaned with Tanner lately and after this showing by Cowley, I bet he goes with Tanner the rest of the reason.

With the kind of odd man rushes Miami had tonight it wouldn't matter who was in the net. I'll take your bet. I'll be in Boston. You?

 

[MagnessMan]

Re: All Things Denver, XXX1X

Man! I love Rico's style. Watch his post-game presser. He is a super humble guy and he tells it like it is without one bit of fluff. He presents as loose and I think it has a big impact on his players. I think his time to win it all is getting closer. He's still a pretty young guy too. He's going to be up there with Jerry, Jack and Red one day. I was at the DC game when they had it nailed down and then let BU sneak back in. He's grown a lot as a coach since then.

 

[Riz]

Re: All Things Denver, XXX1X

With the kind of odd man rushes Miami had tonight it wouldn't matter who was in the net. I'll take your bet. I'll be in Boston. You?

I'm only going to consider it if DU goes to Boston. Then, I'll have to see if I can actually afford tickets. I am currently in college and the finances are very tight.

 

[vizoroo]

Re: All Things Denver, XXX1X

I'd take a 2 seed as long as it is not in Fargo

Monty had Jaillet stretching before the 3rd goal--going to make change at next stopage in play.
Cowley not "square to the puck."

Jaillet--my choice for today

 

[vizoroo]

Re: All Things Denver, XXX1X

Lines--READY?
mOORE-hEINEN-rOMIG
Janssen-Shore-Loney
Larraza-Levin-Marcinew
VanVoorhis-Tabrum-Arnold
Butcher-Zajac
Plant-Didier
Hammond-Neville
Jaillet
Cowley

Very interesting....

 

[Pablo]

Re: All Things Denver, XXX1X

I'd rather be a #2 seed in South Bend with Mankato or Mich Tech than as the #1 seed than out east somewhere with us as the #1 seed with a possibility of playing Boston College, Providence, Umass-Lowell, etc. playing virtually a home game. DENVER NEVER plays well on the east coast.

I think a lot of us can remember some excellent games by DU on the east coast--at least under Gwoz. Sure, you wouldn't want to play in BC's barn, Maine's barn, or North Dakota's barn (just throwing some random teams whose home ice would matter), but besides that I'm not sure that it matters all that much, especially if the games are in those AHL arenas or whatever they are. More concerned with how we're playing--last night should have been a preview of DU starting to click down the stretch run, but Miami looked MUCH better. 3 on 1's, Miami guys just skating around our d-men (or straight at them with impunity), and Cowley didn't have enough big saves to keep us in the game. ONE positive--the play where Doremus made a backward pass between his legs to Heinen, who had the vision and unselfishness to pass to Moore, who finished it...WOW, professional quality. Those guys are clicking, the rest of the team needs to join them. Otherwise, it's probably a one and done. I wonder if Montgomery might pull back our defensemen a bit...of course with that kind of talent he won't give them a red light, but maybe a yellow. When you give up 6 goals in playoff hockey you might need to change something up.

 

[Riz]

I think a lot of us can remember some excellent games by DU on the east coast--at least under Gwoz. Sure, you wouldn't want to play in BC's barn, Maine's barn, or North Dakota's barn (just throwing some random teams whose home ice would matter), but besides that I'm not sure that it matters all that much, especially if the games are in those AHL arenas or whatever they are. More concerned with how we're playing--last night should have been a preview of DU starting to click down the stretch run, but Miami looked MUCH better. 3 on 1's, Miami guys just skating around our d-men (or straight at them with impunity), and Cowley didn't have enough big saves to keep us in the game. ONE positive--the play where Doremus made a backward pass between his legs to Heinen, who had the vision and unselfishness to pass to Moore, who finished it...WOW, professional quality. Those guys are clicking, the rest of the team needs to join them. Otherwise, it's probably a one and done. I wonder if Montgomery might pull back our defensemen a bit...of course with that kind of talent he won't give them a red light, but maybe a yellow. When you give up 6 goals in playoff hockey you might need to change something up.

For every good game on the east coast, even under Gwoz I can probably name three bad ones.

 

[vizoroo]

Re: All Things Denver, XXX1X

Pios with 3 to 6 seed. Just say NO to♥ Fargo!

 

[Pablo]

Re: All Things Denver, XXX1X

For every good game on the east coast, even under Gwoz I can probably name three bad ones.

Maybe my memory is skewed on that, but Gwoz had the 9-2 win vs. New Hampshire in the NCAA's (long time ago), the 2 Frozen Four wins in Boston in 2004, the 2 regional wins in Amherst in 2005, and 2 Frozen Four wins in 2005 (Ok, that was Columbus...kind of east...not really) I couldn't tell you DU's record on the east coast from 2005 to the present. But I never remember saying, "oh crap we have to play in the east." Maybe because Gwoz's teams were generally good in hostile environments (see his record in Wisconsin, North Dakota, Minnesota.) In any case, ancient history, new coach. I just think that tightening up our D and goaltending are exponentially more important than who or where we play.

 

[Pablo]

Re: All Things Denver, XXX1X

Wow, did anyone actually see this game today? Were we that good, or was North Dakota that bad? College game perplexes me, how we go from losing to Miami 6-3 one day, to beating North Dakota 5-1 the next while resting 2 of our star players. Hoping that Jaillet and the D were stellar. Nice to see a relatively new name on the scoresheet, too. Here is the Post's take on it:

http://www.denverpost.com/colleges/ci_27760976/du-pioneers-whip-north-dakota-nchcs-third-place

 

[burd]

Re: All Things Denver, XXX1X

Well. Those refs sure sucked.

 

[MagnessMan]

Re: All Things Denver, XXX1X

Wow, did anyone actually see this game today? Were we that good, or was North Dakota that bad? College game perplexes me, how we go from losing to Miami 6-3 one day, to beating North Dakota 5-1 the next while resting 2 of our star players. Hoping that Jaillet and the D were stellar. Nice to see a relatively new name on the scoresheet, too. Here is the Post's take on it:

http://www.denverpost.com/colleges/ci_27760976/du-pioneers-whip-north-dakota-nchcs-third-place

Both

 

[MagnessMan]

Re: All Things Denver, XXX1X

Looking like NH or RI.

 

[vizoroo]

Re: All Things Denver, XXX1X

First Star: Quentin Shore (Denver)
Second Star: Trevor Moore (Denver)
Third Star: Nick Neville (Denver)

 

[vizoroo]

Re: All Things Denver, XXX1X

Looking like NH or RI.

We go with Miami--still a chance for South Bend.
We fly wherever