George Gwozdecky, head coach of the Denver Pioneers joined the Sioux Coaches Show last night via telephone. The transcript was provided by Patrick Miller from The Boards Room Blog. Go to the link to find the entire transcript of UND Coach Hakstol's comments.On winning the Broadmoor Trophy at the WCHA Final Five last weekend:
We played well. It’s become such an event that every player on every team has a desire to get there. The Final Five is the highlight to cap the regular season. Everyone was very concerned when the event was first taken to the Xcel Energy Center. Everyone just assumes that if the Gophers are playing, they’ll have an advantage. That Minnesota doesn’t win every year is a testament to the parity of the league. League parity also shows in how many teams the WCHA placed in the NCAA tournament. Next to the Frozen Four, the WCHA Final Five is the best college hockey event in the country.
On whether Wisconsin should have been included:
They met the criteria and they’re in. They’re a quality team. We had our issues at some parts of the season and were struggling. It will be a terrific regional. Three of the teams playing in Madison have a lot of experience in the national tournament.
On the importance of goaltending in the playoffs:
This tournament is all about goaltending. If your goaltending is suspect, you’re not going to win all four games. Last season, Michigan State came out of nowhere because Lerg was phenomenal. Peter Mannino is playing well for us right now and he has experience playing in the NCAA tournament.
On how the Pioneers got through the adversity they faced this season:
We had some challenges, such as when Brock Trotter, our leading scorer, left the team and when Tyler Ruegsegger went down with an injury. We were challenged to figure a better way to play to give us a chance. We had to because we weren’t a team that scored a lot. We had to tweak the playing philosophy a little bit. Certain guys were able to get back into the roles they were good at. We’ve been able to score enough games and Peter’s played well enough to keep us in games. We’re playing well, but we’re not the kind of offensive team we were the first two-thirds of the season.
On the WCHA’s declining trend in goal scoring:
The problem is that the league's top goal scorers are playing in the NHL. If guys like Jonathan Toews and Paul Stastny were playing in the league, scoring wouldn’t be down as much. We’d still have Ryan Dingle and Geoff Paukovitch. The top-end players have left way early. Our team has to rely on freshmen to score. I think that’s part of the reason scoring is down. Wouldn’t you like to see Toews and Brian Lee playing for UND? There’s a ton of firepower in the NHL that could be playing in the WCHA right now.
On whether WCHA officiating is part of the problem with lack of scoring:
I think the officiating is a lot tighter in the NHL. I think the officiating in our league is similar to the way it is in other leagues across the country. It would be different if the NHL let college players get to their senior years. It used to happen in the old days when we were scoring a lot of goals. It’s a sophomore league now.
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