(above) Minnesota-Duluth defeated DU to win the WCHA Final 5 last seasonFrom: Duluth News tribune
by Kevin Pates
Rhett Rakhshani and Tyler Ruegsegger meet UMD's Jack Connolly, Justin Fontaine, Rob Bordson and Mike Connolly.
That could light up a marquee at the DECC for men’s hockey games Friday and Saturday between No. 2-ranked Denver (10-4-2) and No. 12 Minnesota Duluth (10-5-1).
UMD fans know about their high-scoring players. Now they’ll get a chance to see two of the best in recent Denver history; a pair of senior forwards. Left winger Rakhshani impressed his coach last weekend, scoring three goals in a tie and win against No. 6 Colorado College to earn Western Collegiate Hockey Association offensive player of the week honors.
“He’s our dynamic offensive leader and he’s carrying this team,” coach George Gwozdecky said Tuesday. “The power-play goal he scored Saturday [in Colorado Springs, Colo.] was as a good as you’re going to see in any game at any level.”
Rakhshani, from Huntington Beach, Calif., is a 4.0 student who will graduate during winter quarter. He leads Denver in scoring with 11 goals and nine assists for 20 points in 16 games, and has 121 career points in 131 goals. Ruegsegger, a center from Lakewood, Colo., has 17 points this season and 99 points in 122 career games (his sister, Becca, is a freshman goalie at the University of Wisconsin).
In WCHA games, Wisconsin junior defenseman Brendan Smith is first in scoring with 16 points and Rakhshani is tied for second along with Fontaine and Jack Connolly. Bordson is fifth, while Ruegsegger and Mike Connolly are tied for sixth.
“From what I’ve seen on tape, [UMD’s forwards] are as good as we have in the league,” Gwozdecky said. “They’re very talented and can light it up quickly.”
League-leading Denver is 4-1-1 the past six games and 5-2 on the road, including a sweep at Minnesota. Aiding the Pioneers on defense is stellar junior goalie Marc Cheverie, who has four shutouts this season (eight in his career) and leads the WCHA with a .943 save percentage and is second with a 1.71 goals-against average.
The Bulldogs are 4-1 the past five games following a home split with No. 3 North Dakota. Yet, coach Scott Sandelin said he wants to see more effort from start to finish, noting UMD played well for 40 of 60 minutes in Friday’s 4-2 loss, and only 30 minutes of Saturday’s 3-2 overtime win.
“At times we’ve proven we can be a good team. Inconsistency is keeping us from showing it every night,” said Sandelin. “We’ll need to keep improving, especially this weekend, because Denver might be the best team we’ve seen.”
Gwozdecky, the dean of WCHA coaches and a native of Thunder Bay, Ontario, reached the 500-win plateau earlier this season and is 506-345-69 in 24 seasons, the past 16 at Denver.
Last season, UMD was 2-3 against Denver, but won the final two games, including the WCHA playoff title 4-0 at St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center.
That could light up a marquee at the DECC for men’s hockey games Friday and Saturday between No. 2-ranked Denver (10-4-2) and No. 12 Minnesota Duluth (10-5-1).
UMD fans know about their high-scoring players. Now they’ll get a chance to see two of the best in recent Denver history; a pair of senior forwards. Left winger Rakhshani impressed his coach last weekend, scoring three goals in a tie and win against No. 6 Colorado College to earn Western Collegiate Hockey Association offensive player of the week honors.
“He’s our dynamic offensive leader and he’s carrying this team,” coach George Gwozdecky said Tuesday. “The power-play goal he scored Saturday [in Colorado Springs, Colo.] was as a good as you’re going to see in any game at any level.”
Rakhshani, from Huntington Beach, Calif., is a 4.0 student who will graduate during winter quarter. He leads Denver in scoring with 11 goals and nine assists for 20 points in 16 games, and has 121 career points in 131 goals. Ruegsegger, a center from Lakewood, Colo., has 17 points this season and 99 points in 122 career games (his sister, Becca, is a freshman goalie at the University of Wisconsin).
In WCHA games, Wisconsin junior defenseman Brendan Smith is first in scoring with 16 points and Rakhshani is tied for second along with Fontaine and Jack Connolly. Bordson is fifth, while Ruegsegger and Mike Connolly are tied for sixth.
“From what I’ve seen on tape, [UMD’s forwards] are as good as we have in the league,” Gwozdecky said. “They’re very talented and can light it up quickly.”
League-leading Denver is 4-1-1 the past six games and 5-2 on the road, including a sweep at Minnesota. Aiding the Pioneers on defense is stellar junior goalie Marc Cheverie, who has four shutouts this season (eight in his career) and leads the WCHA with a .943 save percentage and is second with a 1.71 goals-against average.
The Bulldogs are 4-1 the past five games following a home split with No. 3 North Dakota. Yet, coach Scott Sandelin said he wants to see more effort from start to finish, noting UMD played well for 40 of 60 minutes in Friday’s 4-2 loss, and only 30 minutes of Saturday’s 3-2 overtime win.
“At times we’ve proven we can be a good team. Inconsistency is keeping us from showing it every night,” said Sandelin. “We’ll need to keep improving, especially this weekend, because Denver might be the best team we’ve seen.”
Gwozdecky, the dean of WCHA coaches and a native of Thunder Bay, Ontario, reached the 500-win plateau earlier this season and is 506-345-69 in 24 seasons, the past 16 at Denver.
Last season, UMD was 2-3 against Denver, but won the final two games, including the WCHA playoff title 4-0 at St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center.
4 comments:
Looks like Kevin Pates reads the USCHO boards. :)
Gwoz's quotes are all from his Tuesday press conference that was brodcast live on Pioneer Vision for free at www.denverpioneers.com. It is still on there for free and Gwoz begins at about the 12 minute mark after Joe Scott.
Gwoz should start praising the rest of his team as one or two players a team does not make. It must be so discouraging to the rest of the players never to be praised. I have watched every game and his young players give it their all most every game. Come on Coach lighten up!
Salazar got a ton of publicity last season when he got off to his great start as a Freshman.
Lets face it, this team isn't scoring a ton of goals and its hard for the media to focus on guys who may be doing their job perfectly, but aren't scoring goals or getting assists.
Denver has spent alot of the season playing from behind and winning one goal games. They also haven't scored many even strength goals and certainly DU's third and fourth lines haven't scored many goals. That's not only true at DU, but throughout the WCHA as a whole.
Its a Catch-22 situation. DU has been behind, so Gwoz has had to rely on the top lines more than usual. Start blowing some teams out and the other guys will get more ice time and more goals.
The second half of the season's schedule is far easier for DU. I hope that we'll start blowing some team out and scoring more goals.
If you think some guys deserve recognition, post their names here. Lots of local media read the blog and perhaps it will lead to some ink in the local fishwrap. :-)
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