St. Cloud scored a dramatic 3-2 victory over on Friday night at Magness Arena. DU looked to be perfectly content to settle for a tie on Friday night after giving up two early first period goals. But a St. Cloud goal by Aaron Marvin with 1:36 remaining in the game sealed Denver's fate.
Luke Salazar & Nick Shore scored for DU.
All is not lost for DU however. Thanks to Minnesota Duluth's victory over UNO, DU still can wrap up the #2 seed in the WCHA playoffs with a victory tomorrow night. Denver will face either Minnesota State or Bemidji State in the first round of the playoffs in Magness Arena next Friday.
All is not lost for DU however. Thanks to Minnesota Duluth's victory over UNO, DU still can wrap up the #2 seed in the WCHA playoffs with a victory tomorrow night. Denver will face either Minnesota State or Bemidji State in the first round of the playoffs in Magness Arena next Friday.
11 comments:
Zucker is now one point behind UND's Matt Frattin in the WCHA scoring race with one game to play.
Yea, that's really important right now isn't it?
Gosh where were all the students last night? It seemed like the usual folks were not in their spots by the glass.
DU gets Kyle Ostrow back and then Anthony Maiani gets suspended. Addition by subtraction.
Not exactly a winning formula.
Somehow DU controls their own destiny for 2nd place. Very lucky after the past five weeks, but we'll take it.
Another way to get the crowd into the game. Find someone who can actually sing the National Anthem. When the Anthem is finished the crowd should be fired up. The singer at Fridays game made it feel like funeral home. Maybe they could get a recording of Robert Merrils version.
Lamien Gwoz is the best coach in the nation? Look what Blaise has done at UNO genuise You are the worst no mention of Maini on your bad boyz. Go eat something chunky
Tough loss for DU last night, but quite frankly, I thought St. Cloud looked like the better team. Hard to believe those guys are in the bottom half of the league. They have size, speed, skill, and played a physical game. DU had all sorts of problems with the Huskies forecheck, and the Pios went through long periods without any type of offensive flow, thanks to pressure by St. Cloud. St. Cloud will be a formidable opponent for anyone.
Right now DU is a mediocre hockey team. 4-5 in the last 9 games and still prone to sloppy puck handling, inopportune turnovers, and some questionable goaltending. DU has not been doing enough good things to win consistently over the last 6 weeks. Still, this team the potential to do some good things in the next few weeks.
One other note (someone brought this up in an earlier thread on this blog): DU needs to get tougher. We need bigger kids who can knock someone down, be tough in the corners, and keep the other team honest. I think the "finesse" approach has worn out its welcome, and over the course of a long season, the Pios get pushed around too much.
So much for Code Boone. Lots of empty seats all over Magness. Very few students. At times it looked like the team forgot to show up as well. And even Boone didn't make it.
I think we are seeing a young DU team that overachieved early, but is now fading into inconsistent play late. You must defend your home ice in this league, and DU never led last night.
This fade is tough for DU fans to watch, but realistically this young team was expected to finish fourth, and the team has overachieved to get this far. But the young guys are clearly hitting a mental wall, and all the good stuff they've done is quickly tarnishing with yet another late season fade. The goaltending has gone from top notch to inconsistent, and that really kills confidence. Letting in those first shot early goals is killing this team's ability to build a lead, and the comeback energy and resilience is not as strong as it was.
But as other WCHA teams sharpen their games and come together down the stretch, this DU team has not been able to put together the kind of consistent performances that would suggest playoff success. The mental toughness is in and out, and when you have seniors breaking team rules this late in the year, it's indicative that this team's mental makeup may not be at the level of the competition.
As for the students, I am not going to make excuses for them. Most of them have lost interest in this team, and with so many other entertainment options available to them, they are voting with their feet.
Honestly, I am now seriously worried about Gwoz leaving. I don't see a serious NCAA run in this team, and I worry that the school will look at the last 6 years of poor playoff endings and wonder if resigning him to big money is worth it...
I think the Swami is right on.
Also the students don't exactly get a receptive treatment from the ushers on a power trip.
Swam- have the noticed the silence from Mich. State on signing a new coach. I am apprehensive and will be watching and listening closely right after the pios play their last game. I hope my suspicions are wrong.
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