Photo by: David Lorish
Two years ago, the Pioneer club hockey team made it to club hockey nationals and upset the No. 1 seed, Siena to win an ACHA National Championship.
Last year, they fell one game short of another chance to make the trip after losing to bitter rival Colorado-Boulder. This year they will settle for nothing less than making it back to nationals.
“After last year’s disappointment, this year we want a shot at redemption,” said player Scott Nordlund.
“Our goal from the beginning has been make it to nationals and we won’t be happy with anything else,” said Nordlund.
The team currently holds a record of 13-10-1 following a weekend road trip to Utah, where they played Weber State and Utah State.
The team plays mostly in the Western part of the United States. Their main rivals however fall mainly within the state of Colorado. The team considers its two largest rivals to be the Northern Colorado Bears and the University of Colorado Buffaloes.
The players generally come from good hockey backgrounds and consider DU an elite hockey school.
Most players either come from Juniors, Midget AAA, or Prep School teams. These different amateur teams are some of the highest non-collegiate levels of hockey that can be played. This makes the club hockey team very difficult to make.
The team gets to practice in both Magness Arena and Joy Burns Arena.
The players run the club themselves. They hold leadership positions such as president, vice president, treasurer and secretary.
This makes the dynamic of running the team more interesting. It also requires the players to take on more responsibility because in addition to playing, they have to keep everything together as administrators.
Like the schools Division I team, the goaltending has been the heart and soul of the club team’s success.
According to Nordlund, goalie Dean Klemenz, since return from study abroad has been a rock in the net all year, and been an irreplaceable piece of the team.
In addition, captain Adam Corbitt and forward David Leberich have been extremely important in the team’s progress this season.
Though the season has been successful, if the team does not make it back to where it was two years ago it will not have reached its pre-season goals according to Nordlund.
