Brittain To Start In Goal Against Gophers

(above) Sam Brittain will start on Friday night

by Mike Chambers

University of Denver coach George Gwozdecky today said he will likely ask freshman goalie Sam Brittain to open this weekend's series at Minnesota, and that the 18-year-old might also start Saturday's afternoon game at Mariucci Arena [read rest of article].

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Obviously the best choice. I mean, there is absolutely no comparison between Brittain and Murray. I like this, since Murray is NOT the one which we will ride in the playoffs. We need Big Sam on top of his game and need to scrap the rotation, which only makes sense when both goalies are actually good.

dggoddard said...

Anyone else think that Gwozdecky likes beating Minnesota more than Colorado College?

msbdu@earthlink.net said...

I want to know what has happened to this Minnesota team. Underachievement, lack of leadership,coaching? On paper they should be in the top tier of the standings. How embarrasing to trail AA and CC.

Anonymous said...

I don't know if I would put it necessarily as Gwoz likes beating Minny more than CC -- more like he likes beating tDon more than Scotty. :-)

Anonymous said...

It's kind of sad. I mean, what a storied program they have... I wonder what's Herbie thinking up in Heaven??? Certain teams just should always be contending and be respected and feared... and UM is one of them, in my opinion. They have knowledgable and rabid fans. I hope they turn it around, and I hope they weather the supposed upcoming WCHA changes. I really like when DU plays UM.

dggoddard said...

What ails Minnesota hockey? Not sure anybody really knows.

Here's an in-depth two part series that tries to get to the bottom of it, but I'm not sure its completely accurate.

http://www.thedailygopher.com/2011/1/21/1942178/whats-wrong-with-minnesota-gophers-hockey

http://www.thedailygopher.com/2011/1/26/1948244/whats-wrong-with-minnesota-gophers-hockey-part-ii-can-the-gophers-win

Anonymous said...

Didn’t Swami say the both DU goalies were useless and the Pioneers would be lucky to get a point in the Minnesota series this year?

CO14ers said...

With Minnesota's plethora of first and second round NHL picks, I hear Herbie saying, "I'm not looking for the best players, Craig. I'm looking for the right ones."

Anonymous said...

I was all like WTF when he let Murray play on Friday.

Mike B said...

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait just a minute here, fellers. I certainly understand that "The U" has been struggling for the past few seasons, but let's not feel too sorry for them yet. It seems as if too many of us are counting these points before they hatch. And yes, all the stats and the data point to a DU sweep this weekend, but come on. This is Minnesota at Mariucci in February. I just hope that the players are not taking the Golden Ground Squirrels as lightly or feel as sorry for them as some of these posts.
As far as the starting goalie goes, great start Brittain. Start him both nights if you have to. But I know that in the back of Gwoz's mind he is thinking that he would rather give up a few WCHA games and even the McNautty Cup than to have a goalie run out of gas in the NCAAs again. Simply put, you cant over-play a freshman goaltender down the stretch and hope to have success on the national stage. Just ask Mannino. Even "The Dead" Fisher played some games late that season.

puck swami said...

Swami said no such thing.

What I said was that Road Sweeps in the WCHA are rare. We haven't swept one all year so a split is the likely result, a three point weekend would be great, and a sweep pretty rare.

DU will NOT have an easy time with UM, any more than CC or UAA.

Anonymous said...

All I know is, if George's/Steve's boys don't pull thier head out of thier asses with these seemingly-sleeping pill-induced starts... the Golden Gophers just might get a couple early pux past Sam and wind up taking DU down for the count on the big ice. If I remember correct, brittain has had a couple one shot on goal, 1 goal games. The Defense they tout so much needs to handle thier bid'ness like they can, instead of relying on the youngins' to make it up later in the game with scoring