From: Rocky Mountain Newsby Pat Rooney
(left) Peter Mannino is expected back this weekend
Glenn Fisher and Peter Mannino weren't looking forward to it.
Yet each trudged dutifully into the office of University of Denver hockey coach George Gwozdecky about nine months ago, bracing for the one-on-one meetings he conducts with each of his players at the end of a season.
Like their coach, Fisher and Mannino were ruing the dreary end to what had been a promising season. For the first time in three years, and the first time in Fisher's DU career, the offseason did not begin with the celebration of another national championship.
Though no one said it out loud, Fisher and Mannino were feeling the heat as a team with offensive firepower was unable to secure a berth in the NCAA tournament.
Each expected his performance during the 2005-06 season to be dissected during the respective meetings with Gwozdecky.
Mannino, coming off his Most Outstanding Player performance at the 2005 Frozen Four, suffered a precipitous rise in his goals- against average and a disturbing drop in his saves percentage.
And while Fisher's numbers actually improved slightly, his frustrating penchant for allowing soft goals never allowed him to reach any sort of consistency.
Gwozdecky's solution? Take away his goalies' usually secure playing time by opening the competition for the job.
It was a shrewd decision and one that could have caused disharmony on a team that would have to rely more heavily on depth and defense after the loss of three of its top four scorers.
Two of DU's top offensive performers, Paul Stastny, now an Avalanche forward, and Hobey Baker Award winner Matt Carle, now with the San Jose Sharks, became sensations in the NHL.
Months later, the competition clearly has brought out the best in Fisher and Mannino, who have emerged as perhaps the top goaltending tandem in the nation, one that is quite capable of leading the Pioneers back to college hockey's Promised Land.
"The past few years, it has been split, but with coach saying in the offseason that (competition) was going to happen, both goalies knew they had to be ready for the season," DU captain Adrian Veideman said. "The difference between this year and last year is that both of our goalies are ready to play. It has definitely worked out well for us."
The resurgent play of Fisher and Mannino is the biggest reason DU will take the nation's No. 5 ranking into tonight's series opener against fourth-ranked St. Cloud State in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association showdown at Magness Arena.
On the surface, it is easy for pundits to point out Gwozdecky still is playing two goalies regularly, but he has stuck with his vow to leave the competition open.
Gwozdecky has not shied away from bestowing consecutive starts upon the goalie with the hot hand, and opponents have been unable to plot which goalie will open any given series.
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the continued goalie competition is not how the veterans have accepted the challenge but how their play on the ice has pushed each other to new peaks. Led by the duo, DU has limited its opponents to two goals or fewer in nine of its past 11 games.
"We weren't as good as we needed to be last year," Fisher said. "(Gwozdecky) wanted us to feed off each other and not just know that we are going to play a certain night, no matter what happens. He wanted us to really work, and that's why we've improved so much this year."
Though Mannino has missed the past two series because of a groin injury - he hopes to return this weekend - the junior has shown flashes of regaining the form he displayed during the 2005 postseason.
He has gone 6-1-1 in his past eight starts, a stretch that includes consecutive shutouts against Alaska Anchorage and Mercyhurst, and his 1.99 goals- against average ranks second in the league and fifth in the nation.
Both goalies' saves percentages - Mannino's is .932, Fisher's .930 - would trail only Wade Dubielewicz's single-season DU record of .943 (2001-02) if the season ended today.
Fisher's turnaround has been more dramatic. In the first 57 games of his career, the senior from Edmonton, Alberta, recorded one shutout. He has posted three in his past 13 games, including dominating efforts at defending national champion Wisconsin and top-ranked Minnesota, and narrowly missed a fourth Dec. 30, when Massachusetts Lowell scored a meaningless goal with 4.3 seconds remaining.
After watching Adam Berkbrohoel lead DU through the stretch run in 2004, then sitting out the 2005 Frozen Four as Mannino took over, Fisher wants to prove his mettle in the postseason. It'll mean more if DU plays in the West Regional in Denver.
Gwozdecky hopes to face a dilemma any coach would crave during the postseason. The competitive platoon has worked to perfection, but riding a hot hand was a big factor in DU's two national championship runs.
"Both have proven they can handle it and both are supportive of each other," he said. "There is no reason to believe that can't happen with both guys carrying the load."
Notes: DU's depth will be tested, particularly tonight. Freshman defenseman Cody Brookwell will miss two to three weeks because of a sprained knee he suffered Saturday at Minnesota and forward J.P. Testwuide will serve a one-game suspension tonight because of a game disqualification penalty he received in the same game. . . . Senior wing J.D. Corbin suffered a setback in his rehabilitation from ankle surgery and is not expected to return until February at the earliest. . . . DU is in third place in the WCHA, two points behind St. Cloud State. . . . Ruegsegger led DU with two goals and one assist during a split at St. Cloud State in the first league series of the season in October. . . . Nodl, Trotter and Lasch are ranked among the top four freshman scorers in the WCHA.
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