WCHA Playoffs

DU To Face Defending National Champs

From: Rocky Mountain News
by Pat Rooney


COLORADO SPRINGS - The University of Denver's opponent for the first round of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association playoffs was in doubt literally until the final seconds of the regular season.

But, in the end, the matchup that perhaps was meant to be finally became a reality. DU will host Wisconsin in a best-of-three series beginning Friday at Magness Arena in a battle between the teams that have captured the past three national championships.

"They are a terrific defensive team and a team that prides itself on defense and frustrating the other team," DU coach George Gwozdecky said. "They are the defending national champions and they've got a lot of pride. They battled hard the second half of the season to put themselves real close to getting a top-five finish but they just weren't quite there."

DU managed to secure the fourth seed in the WCHA after Keith Seabrook and Ryan Dingle scored goals in the final 36 seconds of regulation Saturday at Colorado College to salvage a 5-5 tie.

DU swept the Badgers at Madison, Wis., in November and split a series at Magness during the first weekend of January.

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