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| (above) DU will have a chance to get its "Mojo" back on Friday night against Wisconsin in a nationally televised tilt on NBC Sports Network |
From: NBC Sports.com
by Joe Yerdon
Things were going so well for Denver University this season until they invited a pair of teams from New England to town this past weekend. The Pioneers were 9-0-1 and the No. 2 team in the country heading into action against Yale and New Hampshire. But once things were over with on Saturday night, they’d lost 2-1 in overtime to the Bulldogs and blew a 4-1 second period lead to UNH before losing 6-4.
On their overtime loss to Yale, coach George Gwozdecky told Mike Chambers of The Denver Post, “Fortunately, we saw this coming. It was not a good week of practice. … Some of the plays we couldn’t make, whether it was the 5-on-3 power play or the other four power plays. It was awful. No other way to put it. If I had been sitting anywhere else, I would have been booing.”
And that was after their first loss of the season. If there’s a potential cure for Denver it comes in the form of this weekend’s visitors from the University of Wisconsin as the Badgers are just 1-7-2 to start the year and swept last weekend by Minnesota State.
While Denver will surely slip when polls come out later today, the question here for Gwozdecky’s team is if this is just a hiccup or a sign of problems on the way. With talent like Nick Shore (Los Angeles), Joey LaLeggia (Edmonton), Chris Knowlton, and David Makowski there’s plenty of balance in their attack.
The Pioneers’ loss to New Hampshire was almost single-handedly because of junior Kevin Goumas. While he assisted on the first two of teammate Grayson Downing’s three goals, he helped ice Denver scoring a natural hat trick of his own in the five point effort.
7 comments:
Needless to say, a very disappointing weekend for DU. After the 4-point weekend vs CC, DU took a big step backward. Friday's effort was lackluster and uninspired, and Saturday, after the quick start, DU was content to sit back and watch UNH do all the skating and make all the plays. Combine that with lousy puck management and mediocre goaltending, and it was a crappy weekend all around.
Still, let's keep it all in persective. DU had a bad weekend, but that shouldn't mar what has otherwise been a great start. I'll be shocked if the Pios don't come out firing this weekend against Bucky.
Late 8 PM starting time due to NBC Sports Network doubleheader. Should give fans plenty of time to pregame at the local watering holes.
Haven't seen anybody mention how devastating it would be if we lose Josiah Didier because of his apparent leg injury in Saturday's game...no good news to report, just saw him "walking" around campus with crutches and a boot on his leg.
We'll be just fine. Look we aren't going to just run away with the WCHA title either. I am sure MN, and UND will be in the mix with us. We should finish at least 2 or 3 and make the tourney without an issue.
Couldn't find a better place to put this, but FWIW Jeff Goodman at CBS Sports just tweeted that DU has accepted an offer to join the Summit Conference. Not the WCC as most had hoped, but at least it brings stability (for a year or two).....
Thanks for the heads up on the Summit League. Its a step forward.
I never knew that Gwoz was roommates with Brian Engblom at UW. I sure would like to sit down over a pitcher of beer with George, Eaves, Engblom and Mark Johnson to hear their stories. I noticed that Brian dodged the question a couple weeks ago on Root TV about how Gwozdecky behaved back then. I bet George was a party animal.
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