From: Inside College Hockey's "Mike Check"
by Mike Eidelbes
Of the six players named to the 2005 Frozen Four All-Tournament Team, three are currently in the National Hockey League (North Dakota's Travis Zajac, and Denver's Matt Carle and Paul Stastny), a fourth has had a cup of coffee in the NHL (DU's Gabe Gauthier played five games with Los Angeles last season), and another, the Pioneers' Brett Skinner, has just started his fourth season in the American Hockey League.
The final name on that list is Denver goalie Peter Mannino, who as a freshman was named most outstanding player of the Frozen Four that year. It's hard to believe Mannino, who turns 23 in February, is still hanging around while the others are playing for pay. Even harder to fathom is that the senior from Bloomfield Hills, Mich., is in the midst of his first season as the Pioneers' full-time starter.
Despite some extremely solid career numbers — a 44-20-4 record, 10 shutouts, a 2.29 goals-against average, and a .920 save percentage — the 6-foot, 195-pound Mannino hasn't made more than 22 starts in a season. And after patiently biding his time in a platoon with the departed Glenn Fisher for three seasons, Mannino has responded favorably to being "the man" for the Pioneers as evidenced by his 6-2-0 record, 1.54 GAA, and .940 save percentage in eight starts this season.
"I didn't really do anything different [to prepare], other than doing a little more conditioning in the summer," said Mannino. "My approach is the same. Every game you have to step up, be prepared, and work hard."
The cart-before-the-horse scenario isn't anything new to Mannino or his senior classmates. After all, he explains, the first lesson they learned as freshmen was what a team needs to do win a national championship. Having failed to qualify for the NCAA tournament in each of the last two seasons, the group learned how hard it is to win a title.
"It's weird to have success right away," Mannino admitted, "We would've liked to have been in the tournament the last two years, but we wouldn't trade that national championship just to be in the tournament. This is the seniors' last year to show people what we've got."
With Mannino in goal, that show could include a grand finale at Denver's Pepsi Center in early April.
"I didn't really do anything different [to prepare], other than doing a little more conditioning in the summer," said Mannino. "My approach is the same. Every game you have to step up, be prepared, and work hard."
The cart-before-the-horse scenario isn't anything new to Mannino or his senior classmates. After all, he explains, the first lesson they learned as freshmen was what a team needs to do win a national championship. Having failed to qualify for the NCAA tournament in each of the last two seasons, the group learned how hard it is to win a title.
"It's weird to have success right away," Mannino admitted, "We would've liked to have been in the tournament the last two years, but we wouldn't trade that national championship just to be in the tournament. This is the seniors' last year to show people what we've got."
With Mannino in goal, that show could include a grand finale at Denver's Pepsi Center in early April.
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