(Above) Rhett Rakhshani celebrates against Finland this summer while playing for the US Junior TeamFreshmen Ready For Home Cooking
From: Rocky Mountain News
by Pat Rooney
Fans of the University of Denver hockey team have not enjoyed many opportunities to witness the skills of the Pioneers' talented and productive freshman class.
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Beginning tonight, Rhett Rakhshani and the rest of DU's rookies hope to start showing the home crowd what all the hype is about.
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DU (6-4, 4-2 Western Collegiate Hockey Association) brings a three-game winning streak into tonight's series opener against Michigan Tech. Tonight's game also begins a stretch in which the Pioneers play eight games in Colorado, seven at Magness Arena.
"I love playing here. This is the place, ever since we committed, we have been looking forward to playing at," said Rakhshani, a native of Huntington Beach, Calif. "Getting some more opportunities to play here is going to be awesome. My uncle lives here, so he's going to be able to come to the games."
Rakhshani, fellow true freshman Tyler Ruegsegger and redshirt freshman Brock Trotter have helped offset the loss of three of DU's top four scorers from last season and an unexpectedly slow start by some of the Pioneers' veterans.
Each of those freshmen has recorded three goals and six assists, producing a three-way tie for second place on DU's scoring list.
Rakhshani led the Pioneers' sweep-clinching victory at Wisconsin on Saturday by recording the first three-point game of his career with one goal and two assists, scoring the winning goal with less than 15 seconds remaining in overtime.
"Our success is a result of everybody beginning to feel comfortable with everyone else," DU coach George Gwozdecky said. "Not only the freshmen feeling comfortable but the older players, the experienced players, being comfortable that the freshmen can do their job, that the freshmen are responsible for what they can handle and that they're able to do it. The cohesiveness is coming around."
While the freshmen have contributed four goals and four assists during DU's three-game winning streak, much of that success also can be attributed to the recent play of goaltenders Glenn Fisher and Peter Mannino, as well as improved efficiency on special teams.
DU allowed eight power-play goals during 40 chances by its opponents during the first six games of the season.
Since then, the Pioneers have allowed only four power-play goals in 30 chances and limited Wisconsin to a 1-for-12 effort during their two wins last week.
"I think it's very apparent with our penalty kill from last weekend that we're more effective," junior defenseman Andrew Thomas said. "We changed up our penalty kill, our style and rotations and stuff like that. In the WCHA, you rely a lot more on special teams. We have to try and score more goals on the power play and try to keep our penalty kill consistent."
by Pat Rooney
Fans of the University of Denver hockey team have not enjoyed many opportunities to witness the skills of the Pioneers' talented and productive freshman class.
.
Beginning tonight, Rhett Rakhshani and the rest of DU's rookies hope to start showing the home crowd what all the hype is about.
.
DU (6-4, 4-2 Western Collegiate Hockey Association) brings a three-game winning streak into tonight's series opener against Michigan Tech. Tonight's game also begins a stretch in which the Pioneers play eight games in Colorado, seven at Magness Arena.
"I love playing here. This is the place, ever since we committed, we have been looking forward to playing at," said Rakhshani, a native of Huntington Beach, Calif. "Getting some more opportunities to play here is going to be awesome. My uncle lives here, so he's going to be able to come to the games."
Rakhshani, fellow true freshman Tyler Ruegsegger and redshirt freshman Brock Trotter have helped offset the loss of three of DU's top four scorers from last season and an unexpectedly slow start by some of the Pioneers' veterans.
Each of those freshmen has recorded three goals and six assists, producing a three-way tie for second place on DU's scoring list.
Rakhshani led the Pioneers' sweep-clinching victory at Wisconsin on Saturday by recording the first three-point game of his career with one goal and two assists, scoring the winning goal with less than 15 seconds remaining in overtime.
"Our success is a result of everybody beginning to feel comfortable with everyone else," DU coach George Gwozdecky said. "Not only the freshmen feeling comfortable but the older players, the experienced players, being comfortable that the freshmen can do their job, that the freshmen are responsible for what they can handle and that they're able to do it. The cohesiveness is coming around."
While the freshmen have contributed four goals and four assists during DU's three-game winning streak, much of that success also can be attributed to the recent play of goaltenders Glenn Fisher and Peter Mannino, as well as improved efficiency on special teams.
DU allowed eight power-play goals during 40 chances by its opponents during the first six games of the season.
Since then, the Pioneers have allowed only four power-play goals in 30 chances and limited Wisconsin to a 1-for-12 effort during their two wins last week.
"I think it's very apparent with our penalty kill from last weekend that we're more effective," junior defenseman Andrew Thomas said. "We changed up our penalty kill, our style and rotations and stuff like that. In the WCHA, you rely a lot more on special teams. We have to try and score more goals on the power play and try to keep our penalty kill consistent."
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