LetsGoDU

Dubbie's Success Spans From DU To Big Apple

From: Rocky Mountain News
by Rick Sadowski

(left) Wade Dubielewicz stops the Sabres on this attempt in the first period last night, but it wasn't enough as Buffalo defeated the Islanders 4-1.

The New York Islanders were long shots to make the playoffs and their chances of upsetting the Buffalo Sabres in the opening round wouldn't be great even if they weren't banking on an inexperienced player at such a critical position: goaltender.
.
But stranger things have happened in postseason play, and former University of Denver star Wade Dubielewicz doesn't appear to be intimidated by the prospect of facing the high-powered Sabres, who won Game 1 of the series 4-1 on Thursday night.

Dubielewicz, 28, was thrust into the role when Rick DiPietro suffered a concussion and Islanders coach Ted Nolan could no longer count on veteran backup Mike Dunham to get the job done.

All "Dubie" did was backstop the Islanders to wins in their final four games, including the 3-2 shootout victory against New Jersey in Sunday's regular-season finale that propelled the club into the playoffs.

Dubielewicz has become the feel-good story of the postseason, although the story could end soon. DiPietro was cleared to practice late Thursday and will practice today. The team will then determine whether he can play Saturday.

"I've had three calls in the last two days from different New York writers asking me about Wade," DU coach George Gwozdecky said. "There's no question he is a big story. I talked to Wade and he is so excited and so pumped and so positive. It's really neat to see. I don't think he's surprising himself and I certainly don't think he's surprising any of us at how he's playing."

Dubielewicz's career was on the upswing during his junior year at DU in 2001-02. He posted a 20-4 record with a 1.72 goals-against average and .943 saves percentage and helped the Pioneers earn the first No. 1 ranking in the national polls in the school's history.

Only an upset by Michigan in the West Regional in Ann Arbor, Mich., prevented the Pioneers, who finished 32-8-1, from advancing to the Frozen Four.

"I still think that was our best team ever," Gwozdecky said.

Remember, DU won back-to- back NCAA championships in 2004 and 2005.

Dubielewicz turned down a contract offer from the Minnesota Wild so he could return to Denver for his senior year, but he suffered a hamstring injury that limited his playing time to 19 games.

"I don't think he ever got back to the level of his game that he was before the injury," Gwozdecky said.

The Islanders signed Dubielewicz as a free agent in May 2003 on the advice of a scout who saw him play while watching DU defenseman Ryan Caldwell, who was drafted by the Islanders and is now in the Columbus Blue Jackets system.

Dubielewicz has spent most of his four professional seasons in the American Hockey League. He was the AHL's rookie of the year in 2003-04 and this season won 22 games and played in the AHL All-Star Game.

"A lot of goaltenders take more time to mature at the pro level than at other positions," Gwozdecky said. "You've seen the maturation process of Wade over the last few years. Sometimes you put certain guys into roles and you don't really understand what they can do until all of a sudden they surprise you because you're forced into playing them."

Gwozdecky said Dubielewicz's poke check of New Jersey's Sergei Brylin to secure Sunday's shootout win was a typical play by the 5-foot-10, 180-pounder, whose smallish size forces him to compensate in other ways.

"The poke check was one of the things he made famous his final two years with us," Gwozdecky said. "He frustrated so many shooters, including our guys in practice. He was so quick with the poke check and so hard to anticipate. That was the kind of move he did so frequently for us."