Now that DU has entered winter quarter, Denver hockey will be faced with a vital part of their season. Three series occurred over the six-week winter break, leaving the Pioneers with a record of 0-4-2 in the six games played and an overall record of 7-7-4. With the NCAA playoffs approaching, the remainder of the season is crucial for the Pioneers.
In the first series of winter break, the Pioneers traveled to Grand Forks, North Dakota to battle the conference-leading University of North Dakota on Dec. 4 and 5. On Dec. 4, senior captain Grant Arnold (Centennial, Colorado) scored the only goal for the Pioneers in the 5-1 loss. On Dec. 5, the Pioneers were scoreless and ended up losing 4-0.
The following weekend was not much better as the Pioneers returned home to Magness Arena to battle St. Cloud State University. The Pioneers fell in both games with a score of 5-2 on Dec. 11 and 6-2 on Dec. 12. On Dec. 11, the Pioneers started early with goals from freshmen Dylan Gambrell (Bonney Lake, Washington) and Troy Terry (Denver). A Denver defensive breakdown would lead to five unanswered St. Cloud goals. The two goals on Dec. 12 came from Arnold and senior Gabe Levin (Marina del Rey, California).
After returning from winter break, the Pioneers welcomed the New Year at Magness Arena by hosting the University of Notre Dame. The game on Jan. 1 would end in a 1-1 tie with the lone goal for the Pioneers coming off the stick of junior Trevor Moore (Thousand Oaks, California). No goals were scored in overtime, formally ending the game in a tie, despite Notre Dame winning the shootout. On Jan. 2, it seemed as if the night before was repeating itself. Gambrell would score two goals for the Pioneers, but it was not enough to avoid a second night of overtime. This time the Pioneers won the shootout, but due to NCAA rules, the game only counted as a tie.
After a four-game losing streak, tying the series with No. 15 Notre Dame was quite the success.
“We were happy with our process and the way we played. It gave us confidence that when we do prepare well we are an elite college hockey team. We were coming off a three-week break, so the results will come when we play more games,” said Head Coach Jim Montgomery.
The Pioneers have been struggling with capitalizing on power play opportunities as was especially evident at the Jan. 1 game versus the University of Notre Dame. Notre Dame suffered a two minute penalty followed by a five minute major and DU was unable to score during the 7 minute advantage. While Denver has an impressive penalty kill defense, increasing the efficiency of the power play offense is a necessity.
At this point, it is all about moving forward for Pioneer hockey. In the beginning of the season, goaltending was split between sophomore Tanner Jaillet (Red Deer, Alberta) and junior Evan Cowley (Evergreen, Colorado). Coach Montgomery has declared that he plans to stick with Jaillet exclusively.
Denver freshman Dylan Gambrell is currently leading the team with 19 points.
“Dylan has exceeded expectations,” said Coach Montgomery. “I’ve coached him in the past and we expected him to be an impactful freshman, but we didn’t expect him to be the leader. Now we just need our other guys to step up as Dylan has.”
The weekend of Jan. 9 and 10 saw the Pioneers sweep the No. 9 ranked University of Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks with final scores of 3-0 and 4-3 respectively. This huge series moved the Pioneers from No. 17 to No. 14 in the NCAA rankings.
The Pioneers look to be hitting their stride at the perfect time. The locker room is overflowing with optimism as the hugely important series against the University of Western Michigan (NCHC No. 6) and the University of Minnesota-Duluth (NCHC No. 3) approach.
The next home game in Magness Arena is scheduled for Jan. 15 at 7:36 p.m. against the University of Western Michigan.
