Adrian Dater: DU Focused Heading To St. Paul

(left) The bronze cast WCHA Broadmoor Playoff Trophy was redesigned in 2010

by Adrian Dater

On the surface, it would seem anathema to a college hockey player's desire: to want his season over as fast as possible.

Nonetheless, the perception was that last season's University of Denver hockey team was done in come playoff time by too many players who might have been distracted at the thought of turning pro as soon as the season stopped [read rest of article].

18 comments:

Twister said...

Interesting perspective on the possibility of players being distracted last year. I guess only the players themselves know that. The bottom line is in these one-and-done formats, everyone has to "buy in" and play his tail off. There's no room for a let down game or a mulligan.

I have a different feeling going into this postseason with this team than last year. Maybe I was overconfident about last year's team. I think many of us thought the FF was close to a lock last year, if not a certainty. I don't have quite the confidence this year, but my gut feeling is this year's team is poised to do something special. Hopefully all of the pieces fall into place.

GO DU said...

I don't care what some of our DU fans think, --though, they should be forgiven because they don't know any better :-) -- this tournament is important for a variety of reasons:

-To be on top of your game and heading into the NCAA's without a week of rust

-It's a showcase of our conference, in front of 18,000 college hockey fans

-Pairwise positioning at this time of year is quite important and in flux and you would rather be playing so you can better control your own destiny

-Auto NCAA bid

-Having your team immortalized as "WCHA Champions" (this is the WCHA championship tournament after all)

Anonymous said...

Insert two word response here...

Twister said...

GO DU,

I'm not sure what fans would claim the WCHA tournament isn't important? Every posteason game is important. DU started building momentum with the last regular season victory over SCSU. It continued last weekend with the series against Mankato, and it continues this weekend in the Final Five. That said, this weekend is not one-and-done, do-or-die type scenario, assuming DU has locked up a spot in the NCAAs. Still, it's a big weekend.

If I were ranking goals for the team, they would be:

1. National Championship
2. Frozen Four
3. MacNaughton
4. Broadmoor

Anonymous said...

2:36- do you mean GO DU? That's all that matters right now.

Anonymous said...

2:53- I meant

**** ** or
**** ** *****

The choice is yours.

Imaws Kcup said...

Poor CC. Their team goals are:
1) avoid constant stalking of CCTig.
2) win gold pan
3) get home ice in wcha playoffs
4) everything else is gravy

Anonymous said...

@ imaws

5) hang participation banner

GO DU said...

@ Twister

Swami and his minions hold onto this ideal of a meaningless WCHA Tourney. Personally, I love and support it; it is a true battle and a spectacle to behold.

PS:

Two Words for the swams and his blind minions
SUCK IT

Anonymous said...

Beavers beat UMD in overtime, 3-2, DU will face them tomorrow. Let's hope those Beavers are good and tired from today's action. -- chase

Silky Smooth said...

Slap that beaver!
Pound the beaver!
Kill the beaver!
Skin that beaver!
Pound the beaver!
etc...

Anonymous said...

a postseason {can't mention his name} attack is on!

destruction of {can't mention his name}'s false bullshit is imminent

when will {can't mention his name}'s true identity be unveiled?who knows...

DU/CC Dad said...

CC up 3-0 with 9 minutes left to play in the 2nd.

Anonymous said...

Interesting thought....if DU wins tomorrow and by some miracle CC defeats UND tomorrow night, DU and CC would play in the WCHA final game. That would make for an interesting playoff game!

Anonymous said...

You Swami haters are all idiots. Go away.

ISayISay said...

If you don't respect the players, the coach or the team - why should we respect you? Most of us have never had a player's grandma threaten to kick our ass, so what do we know.



That's a joke boy.

Anonymous said...

ISay....go take a flying leap. And take the rest of the dipshits who cut on PS with you.

Anonymous said...

To be fair, Grams has mad ninja skills with her walker.