LetsGoDU

Let It Snow - Denver Cup Begins Today

From: Denver Post
by Mike Chambers

According to Coach Gwozdecky the Denver Cup games will be played today (Friday) at 4:30 and 7:30.

The memories from last year's dismal showing at the Denver Cup still loom large for the University of Denver hockey team.

Losses to Princeton and Ferris State led to the Pioneers' last-place showing of the four-team tournament, and ultimately contributed to their omission from the NCAA Tournament after winning national championships in 2004 and 2005.

This year, similar Denver Cup circumstances await DU. To get to Saturday's championship game, the Pioneers need to avoid what would be a monumental upset. The Mercyhurst Lakers (4-10-4) of Erie, Pa., are looking for that upset in tonight's second scheduled semifinal game at Magness Arena.

Barring a one-day postponement of the tournament because of the snowstorm, Brown (6-4-2) and Massachusetts-Lowell (3-10-4) will begin play this afternoon. The second semifinal game begins DU's 18-game, second-half stretch that has the seven-time national champions playing at home 13 times.

"We need to take advantage of our home ice, and we want to get back into a much better frame of mind with the Denver Cup," said DU coach George Gwozdecky, whose program is 22-5-1 in the Denver Cup with 11 titles in 14 years. "Last year's showing is a very vivid bad memory. This time, we want to give ourselves a chance Friday and get into the championship again."

Last year's embarrassing losses "have been addressed numerous times," DU junior center Ryan Dingle said. "We can't look past any of these teams. Nobody is going to hand us a game."

The Pioneers, 9-2-2 in their past 13 games, are on a modest four-game unbeaten streak (3-0-1). During that span they played without three seniors, including captain Adrian Veideman.

"It says a lot about our team, the character and leadership of our younger guys," Dingle said. "We lose three seniors, and we still have a lot going for us.

"That's one reason we started off so slow. We had a lot of freshmen and younger players playing important roles. It took some time for us to mold together."