WCHA Playoffs: CC 4 - DU 3 FINAL


Former walk-on goalie Juho Olkinuora climbed an improbable ladder to become the University of Denver's No. 1 goalie, but Sunday he fell to the depths of athletic despair in what could be the Pioneers' season-ending loss. 

Olkinuora scored on himself midway through the third period in what turned out to be the game-winning goal in a 4-3 victory for rival Colorado College in the deciding Game 3 of the WCHA first-round playoff series at Magness Arena [read entire article].

37 comments:

Murray's Hat said...

Classy comment from Coach Owens. .. good luck to CC vs boys formerly named Sioux. I hope we see the Tigers in the tournament.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm.... Maybe I should of been in Denver supporting my hockey team instead of playing with my life size doll in Las Vegas.

No more anonymous posts....decesion is final.

More zero credibility bs from DG.

Anonymous said...

I guess you can't cry about how useless the Final Five is this year. We'll see how a well rested 15 seed does in the Tourney. Or are there conference tourney upsets and DU doesn't make the dance???

Twister said...

Stinging defeat last night to cap off a very frustrating and disappointing weekend for DU. Hard to believe that on home ice, the Pios couldn't beat a CC team that is decent but far from elite. A bitter pill to swallow.

Have to tip your cap to CC's goalie Howe. He played well this weekend. DU generated 121 shots during the series and Howe made some big big saves.

If there's a silver lining, DU gets some time off to rest and recharge before (hopefully) an at-large invite. Still, missing the opportunity to play in the Final Five has to be disappointing.

Anonymous said...

2 goals from CC's freshmen??? Where's your pride DU?

Jordan, how important is that gold pan now?

Jordan said...

The Gold Pan was never that important.

The losses though, will probably either be the very best thing for this team (because of the rest and lack of depth), or the very worst thing (because of bad seeding, or worse, no seeding at all).

In both the long term and the short term, DU has earned this position. So has CC.

Anonymous said...

DU is about 98% sure to be in the NCAA tournament. There is 0.3% chance for a #2 seed, and 83% chance for a #3 seed and 14.5% chance as a #4 seed. There is a 2% chance of not making it.

Anonymous said...

CC should feel very fortunate to get the series win. DU was the better team in all three games with a subtatntial difference in SOG and scoring opportunities, although CC had the better goaltending, which made their victories possible.

The difference ended up being a fluke goal where DU's goalie steered the puck into his own net.

anonevermore said...

I don't understand that 98% figure. Doesn't it all come down to the question of whether 3 "unheralded" teams will pull off big upsets and win their conference tournments? If so, how can someone say that there is only a 2% chance of that happening?

Jordan said...

Based on the number of possible permutations for the games remaining (almost 400k), there are only 2% of those whereby DU would not make it, based on Pairwise and AQ's. Statistically speaking. Yes, most of those would depend on low PWR or non-TUC teams getting the AQ and taking away at-large spots.

Anonymous said...

PWR experts run what are called "Monte Carlo" simulations where all possible remainiung game combinations are run through a computer to determine probablity of a given scenario.

Here is how it plays out:

Quinnipiac #1 100% invite
Minnesota #2 100% invite
Miami #3-8 100% invite
Boston College #3-12 100% invite
Yale #3-18 96.9% invite
Mass.-Lowell #3-11 100% invite
North Dakota #3-12 100% invite
New Hampshire #5-13 100% invite
Notre Dame #3-19 81.8% invite
Mankato #3-14 99.7% invite
Niagara #4-15 95.9% invite
St Cloud #3-15 94.1% invite
Denver #7-15 98% invite
Western Michigan #13-18 56.5% invite
Union #8-22 41.5% invite
Wisconsin #10-23 13.3% invite
Providence #13-26 25.1% invite
Boston University #12-23 25.8% invite
Rensselaer #13-21 8.2% invite
Alaska #16-27 <.01% invite (43 of 393216 scenarios)
Cornell #18-27 No invites
Brown #16-29 Needs to win for invite
Dartmouth #18-25 No invites
Robert Morris #14-27 .7% invite
Colorado College #18-32 Needs to win for invite
Ohio State #17-32 Needs to win for invite
Michigan #21-NonTUC Needs to win for invite
Connecticut #21-NonTUC Needs to win for invite
Canisius NonTUC Needs to win for invite
Mercyhurst #32-NonTUC Needs to win for invite

du78 said...

Go to this link, it will answer a lot of questions about how DU has a 98% chance of being in the tourney.

http://board.uscho.com/showthread.php?102643-Pairwise-and-Bracketology-2013-Edition

Anonymous said...

I cant beleive we lost to CC. This is awful we are becoming a basketball school whether we like it or not. Our Seniors last regular season game was moved to 11am on a Sunday. So basketball could play on at night. Pathetic. We have not signed Gwoz, I wold bet he will take a long look at the BU opening. Still how did we lose to CC they SUCK...

anonevermore said...

Gotta love the CC fan's transparent attempt to sound like a DU fan. DG--how about that anon posting ban again?

OK, I see how they get the 98% figure. But someone commented on USCHO about how certain teams would have to win their conference tournaments for DU to get shut out. 4 of those teams are ranked in the top 20, and one got votes.

Assuming that what the number crunchers on USCHO are saying has some validity, my level of comfort that DU will make the tourney is more like 75%, rather than 98%. If we can fall 8 spots in the PWR in a week, then some strange things could happen to keep us out, despite what the USCHO scientists are saying. It looks good, but don't count your chickens yet.

Anonymous said...

DU will make the tourney. In fact you'll probably be a 14, 15, or 16 seed in Quinnipiac's region with a cake walk path to the Frozen Four. OR.....the NCAA will screw you because your in the WCHA and place you in MN's region with North Dakota.

Twister said...

Until DU is announced as an at-large invitee, I wouldn't bet on anything. Is it outrageous to imagine Michigan, Wisconsin and BU (3 teams who are currently lower in the PW than DU) all winning their conference tournaments? In a one-and-done format, anything can happen.

achsdu17 said...

What can I say... CC easily wanted that series much more then we did. However, it also came at DU shooting themselves in the foot time and time again. Once again showing why we have given up so many short handed goals this season and why we are the most penalized team.

I was surprised with Olkinuora last night, I never seen him give up so many softies.

Well what can ya do as of now we are on the bubble. I think we'll make it in... hopefully missing the Final Five is another blessing in disguise.

dggoddard said...

Don't be surprised if Gwozdecky does take a long look the Boston University job.

I've heard that DU is being forced to make massive cuts in the Athletics budget next year and with the uncertainty of the NCHC and what the revenue figures will look like, who knows what will happen with the hockey budget? I for one will not be surprised if he takes it or another job.

Why would DU be making massive cuts in the Athletics budget when many of the the teams are making historic progress?

Ask our "inclusive excellence" Chancellor.

anonevermore said...

aschsdu17: I only went to one of the games this weekend (the one yesterday). But based on my observations and from what I read, I can't fault DU's work ethic or desire for losing to CC. DU played with a good amount of energy, generated a decent amount of chances, etc. Howe outplayed Jussi on Sunday, and Howe basically won the game for CC on Saturday. The main problem on Saturday night was the second and third CC goals. On both of those goals, DU pinched in too far to keep the puck in the zone, and CC got past the DU player and had an odd man rush. DU's lack of caution on those 2 plays was what led to the loss, and it was frustrating to see it happen twice in a short period of time.

Anonymous said...

And with DU's loss last night, that brings their record to 20-13-5 in all away games this year. It's an embarrassment that yet again visiting fans were clearly louder than Denver fans the ENTIRE game. Against our in-state rival, no less. We can't even sell 5,000 tickets for these PLAYOFF games?? An absolute embarrassment.

Jordan said...

It might seem fickle to be ok with Gwozdecky leaving, but "what have you done for me lately" has turned into 8 years with only 2 playoff wins. With some pretty talented teams at his disposal most years.

Miller is 3-0 as a coach. And the strategy when he's in charge is back-to-basics. I wouldn't necessarily mind that. I'm tired of losing so many games each season because we get outworked- I'd say more than 75% of our losses come back to work ethic. I think Gwozdecky either overcoaches or doesn't coach at all. Of course, Miller's best value is in his recruiting, which he wouldn't do so much as a head coach.

Anonymous said...

I doubt Miller becomes coach if Gwoz leaves. More likely Appert, Lalonde or other candidate.

The DU job is one of the top 4-5 in college hockey due to a blend of good school, good facilities, nice area, good resources, flagship sport and not too much pressure to win.

DU would get high level applicants.

Jordan said...

You're probably right about Miller. But I still like the idea of not feeling like we need to be so fancy all the time.

Anonymous said...

There are only two units of DU that are truly top 10 in their fields.

Athletics is #1 in the country for non-football D-I schools in four of the last 5 years,

The Korbel School is in the top 10 for graduate international studies.

Why would you ever cut the budget of your top performing unit?

Anonymous said...

You know who's going tho be a head coach, somewhere....is Lassonde. I don't think at DU. I see him going back to New England, be it NCAA or major junior....someday. Maybe it's a little early for BU for him....maybe not ? No way in heck that he stays an assistant, with all that he's done back east. And Gwoz certainly grooms coaches.

Anonymous said...

We couldn't even sell 3,000 to Sunday's game with 300 to CC fans, let alone 5,000.

Reasons Why:

1) Game Not included in majority of DU season ticket packages (Most DU season ticket holder are Fridays or Saturdays only).

2) Spring Break - Students, faculty and staff all gone.

3) St. Patrick's Day - there go all the drinkers

4) School Night for Kids: That eliminates most kids and parents.

Result? 1,500 DU die harda and 300 CC fans showing up.

Guys - Our fan base is tiny - maybe 15,000 peoople in Denver care at all about DU hockey.

Jordan said...

I thought one of the reasons Lassonde came to DU was that he was getting impatient waiting for Umile to retire, and he felt like though he was eventually destined for the UNH job, it would add to his resume to come here for a while.

5BWest said...

The difficult thing anon 12:30 if we become a force in basketball, our coach is going to cost $1.0M +++ per year and Gwoz's cost is much less. It will be very difficult to keep Joe Scott if we really became a 'force' because he will be difficult to retain. We are losing money in our athletic department already and the cost to keep an established program like hockey going, even by paying Gwoz top dollar, is a relative bargain vs. basketball.

You bring up a great point about Gwoz. He is very marketable, runs a clean program, recruits good kids and is always in the hunt. BU has to be a real consideration for him because his daughter went there (and came back to DU). Not sure why Peg and the administration has dragged this out.

Let's hope cool heads prevail and something is worked out for Gwoz.

dggoddard said...

It would be a HUGE mistake to lose Gwozdecky. Lets face it, he & Enrico put the NCHC together and without him things would begin to look real shaky.

It was the Gwozdecky-Blasi alliance that dictated the terms under which the new conference was going to be formed.

Miami-Ohio has and will be courted by Hockey East, so DU better weigh all its options before trying to play lowball poker with Gwozdecky.

Jordan said...

Pretty sure Faison and UND were pretty instrumental in the NCHC as well... if not the leading force.

Jordan said...

Speaking of the NCHC, I don't think there is any way we'll see Todd Anderson in Magness Arena again, considering the clout DU and UND have in the new league and the issues that both teams have with him. Plus the Shepherd's are bound to stay, as well. Good riddance.

Anonymous said...

Anderson is a dick, but he did not do a bad job this last weekend.

DU's problem is it does not seem to have the depth to pull out Saturday (or Sunday games).

Gotta do better.

Anonymous said...

DU used to be a one-trick sports pony (hockey).

Now it's growing into a three-headed monster (hockey, hoops and lacrosse).

We're going to see a few growing pains...

Anonymous said...

Lets face it, he and Enrico put the NCHC together?????

DG, everything that you've said and done in the past now makes complete sense.....

You're retarded!

Nincompoop said...

Is anybody else relieved that we don't have to see Schwartz again? Man, he's a really good ice hockey player - and no, Scott Owens didn't make him that good. I look forward to seeing him at the next level. Also - my unofficial list of Denver underclassmen, (not including the Mermis') who may vaery well have played their last game in Magness Arena: Scott Mayfield and Nicky Shore. If DU were to win a national championship, there could be others added to that list.........

Jordan said...

Indeed, last weekend was actually pretty good for an Anderson series. Sunday wasn't too great (either way). He's just so unprofessional. Most of the time, he'll still be yelling at a player (usually not a captain) as the player gives up and skates away. Not a good sign when a 19 year old kid has more maturity than you.

dggoddard said...

DU was 6-1-0 this season on weekends coming off bye weeks or breaks. Including some of their best performances of the season.

Wins over Lowell, Air Force, BU, Duluth [2], and a split with North Dakota.

The problems occurred when DU was worn down or injuries mounted.

DU is most likely going to face Quinnipiac, BC or Miami in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Gwozdecky has two weeks to prepare for those teams and we all know his track record when DU appears to be hopelessly overmatched.

Compound the the fact that Quinnipiac, BC and Miami are all distracted with conference championships this weekend and their potential opponents in the NCAA Tournament could be over a dozen or more different teams.

DU just has to circle the calender and show up and play their best hockey of the season in two weeks. This is why lower seeded teams can have a huge advantage in one & done tournaments.