This time DU managed to hold on in the extra frame to force a tie against the University of Wisconsin at Magness Arena. Once again the extra period featured plenty of drama. DU had sustained pressure on a power play, but as soon as the penalty ended, Sconnie sprung a fast break and Jussi Olkinuora saved the game with a fantastic save.
38 comments:
DU needs to ramp up the game night experience when the students aren't in the building. Read Chambers gamerecap, he mentions words like "snoozefest," "quiet," no "fireworks."
It's like that for most DU games. When the Badgers fans who were in attendance cheered after the W goal, I thought the roof was going to come off. There needs to be a public address announcement made that clapping and cheering is allowed. No need to sit on your hands all night. In my section - if you get up and cheer..... you're the oddball and people give you dirty looks, "oh look at the drunk"..... It's really a sad concept - and embarassing for national TV.
One positive note; I thought the Referees let both sides play hockey tonight. They seemed to look the other way on a lot of infractions. I like it - especially for a big TV game.
What a great effort by the boys to get the tie. Wisconsin is very underated and this tie will really help us down the road. We should move up in the rankings with a bc loss. I really think bc is way overrated. I would like to see fireworks inside magness too. But i think our athletic dollars would be better spent elsewhere.
these national TV games are the kiss of death. Boring game-Late start,all commercials. It sucks wait,wait wait for some dirt bag watching at home.BS all the time.Focus should be on the person paying for a ticket-what a concept
Agree with nincompoop. Question for the old timers about the old barn - did the general crowd (I.e., non students) participate in cheering that wasn't after a goal?
As nincompoop says, you are the oddball if you cheer at magness. I have no idea how to fix it, but the crowd at magness will forever suck unless that notion switches to the oddball jerk being the one who isn't cheering. Basically, have the peer pressure to be pro cheering, rather than quite.
Yes, the old barn always rocked way more than Magness ever has.
It's early in the season, I know, but the WCHA only has 1 team in top 12 of pairwise (du). At best we are getting 3 teams in tournament if season ended today (st cloud at 13 and UNO at 15). This could be cause for concern especially considering our poor showing against Yale and unh.
You know what they could do; is like the TV audience shows do, just before they go on the air, get the PA guy or some cheerleaders out there on the ice with a microphone and explain that "come on people, we're live on national TV....show the world why Denver is #1... let me hear you scream...1 2 3 SCREAM!" Do that during every time out before they come back on the air; or make a competition to see what section can cheer the loudest. They do that now - once during the game; but it needs to happen all night long. Perhaps Bring in some Avs players to do it; or DU Alums (they don't seem to be too busy right now)..... but something to inject life into these Corpse's that attend hockey games.
Maybe it's because DU fans don't know when to cheer during hockey games unless it is after a goal? It seems like most DU "fans" don't understand that you can cheer for the team at any point in the game.
Honestly, all it would take to get the ball rolling is if someone posted a list of cheers here, and if every person who read this blog did them during the game, other people could join in, and we could potentially have a snowball effect on our hands. I'm not suggesting anything particularly complex, here are some ideas:
"Lets go Denver!" chant after every first faceoff of each period, then again at 12 minutes and 3 minutes of every period.
After an opposing team kills a penalty, PA guy says "Blah Blah is full strength", yell "They still suck!" - some people already do this, and it's nice, but if everyone did it, it would be great.
There are literally thousands of ideas to choose from, I've only posted two because we need to start small.
Say what you will about CC, but I've seen a few games down there, and the atmosphere is 1000 times better from the non-students.
What it boils down to is how embarrassing it is when the three audible non-student section cheers I counted from last night were Badger fans. Wake up people! This also happened in both games last weekend, I can only imagine how energized it made the visiting teams feel and how demoralized the Pios felt being abandoned by their own "home" crowd. Embarrassing is really the only word for it.
Also, last year in the WCHA playoff series vs. Wisconsin, after our goals, the fans (non-students included) all pointed and shouted "Sieve!" in unison towards the opposing goalie. It was awesome, because I don't think I'd ever seen that from a Magness crowd in the last couple years before, and I certainly haven't seen it since. It's too bad, because it looked like everyone was having a blast doing it.
Yes the old barn rocked. Of course you felt like you were watching the Hanson Bros not a prep league for the NHL. Everything was different then. The WCHA ruled the roost. We skated a bunch of Canadian mercenaries and loved 'em. Most players stayed the full 4 years, and very few made the NHL. DU was the highlight of their career. The fans were rowdy and lubricated. Fresh squid would occasionally get tossed on the ice (not sure why). Once a live piglet squirted out there (he was fine). Students would occasionally throw a white superball from the balcony which would bounce off the ice, the far wall, the ice again, and back in the stands. Not that I recommend it, but it sure was funny. Now it's high glass, end netting, facemasks, no fighting, no drinking, fan searches, PSA's, early signings and polite applause. Oh well, life moves on.
Agree with a lot of the comments about the "home crowd" advantage. I honestly thought it was a huge save by the crowd reaction before I noticed the goal light was on. That's crazy to get out cheered in your own building. Still blows my mind that a Top 10 team can't consistently sell out.
I love Gwoz's approach and his teams. Love the Pios but being a transplanted New Englander... Denver is not yet a hockey town. I like the idea of the PR staff implementing set cheers to develop good habits. I didn't see Boone in the house last night either? DU needs to find ways to get more energy in the building.
Ok on to the game:
This looks like a different team than the first couple weeks of the season. Puck Management is the #1 issue for this team suddenly. Sloppy passing and bad turnovers are killing us. The Power play needs so work as well, the PP in OT was a joke. Gwoz should have Makowski running laps after the garbage game he had. #10's better than that.
Bright side was limited but I was very impressed with Juho between the pipes. That save in OT on the breakaway was Big Time.
Don't be cute...Shoot!
Lots of great suggestions to start here. At a minimum get the scoreboard operators to get their act together. We re supposed to be a D-1 athletic program and yet no one has looked into branding the game night experience.
I have two words for all of you.
@12:12
Was the Wisconsin goalie a sieve last night? No. So that's a stupid idea.
In the old days men wore coats and ties to the game. The students were much the same but the alumni acted like adults.
Gotta admit the World Arena crowd doing the sieve, sieve chant is as impressive as anything I've seen in college hockey. Although they still do it with an empty net which is idiotic.
But as DG witnessed at the last CC game the crowd is mostly made up local trailer park residents. Yes the cheeering is more like a rowdy minor league hockey game. But is that really what you want? After all DG and 78 were clearly intimidated by the CC fans. Sure our extra friend is a big target but I've heard similar stories from normal DU fans that went to the game. Be careful of what you ask for.
Maybe some of you superfans should go to a Cutthroat game.
Not squid. Chickens. For players that were afraid to fight.
Scott,
I don't know about you but I had a beer at the game last night.
Do you mean the players had a keg by the bench? I've seen that in rec leagues but never in college or pro games.
I'm officially dumber after reading the comments on this blog today.
@ 4:01
Hard to believe that's possible.
@ 4:09
It's a fact. Just like Colt 45... "It works every time."
Also... sieve sieve sieve, sieve sieve sieve, sieve sieve sieve!
I have to wonder what Danny Olzewski's doing this weekend. Now he can party for real when Denver plays Bucky............
In the old barn the students all wore an onion on their belt, which was the fashion at the time.
Dan "The Danimal" Olzcweski is playing hockey for the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, a D-III school
Zajac injured. DU to play tonight with 5 d men.
uh oh...
You had to carry your equipment up a ladder to the perch for the band at the old barn. If you stood up, you'd bump your head on the top of the cage. Some people remember the jazz band but before that there was a polka band. Imagine hefting up your acordian up there. But when the crowd got all worked up for roll out the barrel, it was the effort.
On Monday... it's the now-traditional mandatory tetnus, AIDS, TB, Syphillis, Herpes and Hep A/B vaccinations for the entire DU team and staff as they prepare to head to America's undisputed cesspool; Americas only city that is actually expected to smell like raw sewage! Woooo hooo! Wear latex gloves, boys!
I guess all of those vaccinations are better then the bullet proof vest we will have to wear if we dare catch a movie when we are down there in Feb. Don't have that prob up here.
@944 - yes live your life in fear....fucking idiot redneck.
See you bag on GF, your going to flooded with comments back. Sorry, buddy. Thats the choice you make when you talk shit.
10:34-
Is English a second language for you?
If it was my second language, I'd probably be a product of the Denver Public Schools.
I saw many of same odd outfits as the those described above. I understand wearing your teams jersey but what's up with wearing those sorts of outfits to the opposing teams arena?
Anon 9:14...
You don't attend many hockey games do you? I guess they're worn because UND fans know it pisses DU off. I have seen plenty of DU gear at a CC game when DU wasn't playing.
You see a lot of guys out in public walking around in just their long johns? Oh wait, you're a UND fan. That outfit would be for a black tie party in Grand Forks.
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