DU Pioneer hockey ended their 2002-03 season in the first round of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) playoffs against the North Dakota Fighting Sioux at Englestad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D. March 16.
The Sioux defeated the Pioneers 2-1 in a tightly matched best-of-three game series to cap off Denver’s season record at 21-14-6, 11-11-6 WCHA.
After the Pioneers staked the first victory of the series by the score of 4-1, the Fighting Sioux rallied back with two identical 3-2 overtime wins.
Freshman Brett Skinner, sophomore Luke Fulghum and juniors Lukas Dora and Connor James each slipped the puck past North Dakota’s goalies in game one.
North Dakota’s Brandon Bochenski capitalized on a power-play opportunity in game two to steal Denver’s 2-1 lead with 4:18 remaining in regulation. Bochenski scored again 46 seconds into overtime to even the series and force a game three.
In what became Denver’s final play-off game, Denver was outplayed in the first period and North Dakota took a 1-0 lead which was soon taken away when Dora and James each scored in the second. Mike Prpich, of North Dakota, tied the game at 2-2 with a late second period goal.
Following a scoreless third period and strong defensive efforts by both teams, North Dakota’s Nick Fuher earned the dramatic game-winning goal 18:56 into overtime.
“I think that we played very well against North Dakota,” said Head Coach George Gwozdecky. “We were consistent in the execution of our plays and it was maybe the best series that we played, at least in the second half of the season,”
“It all came down to the little things like the puck bouncing in their favor.”
Senior defenseman Aaron MacKenzie was named WCHA Co-Defensive Player of the Year after becoming the second-highest point producing blueliner in the league (10-15-25 in 28 games).
Senior goaltender Wade Dubielewicz earned All-WCHA Second Team honors and senior forward Kevin Doell was named to the All-WCHA Third Team. Despite Denver’s strong efforts during the playoffs, the team finished 18th in the Pairwise Rankings, a modern statistical tool used to approximate which 16 teams to invite to the Division I NCAA tournament.
“The team and staff had very high expectations for success this year and we were one of the favorites to win the national title, yet there were a number of factors that hurt our chances,” said Gwozdecky.
Any one of the players and staff can say that the Pioneers’ up-and-down season was plagued by injuries.
“We lost our regular line up. If you take a look at Colorado College who won the (WCHA regular season) title outright, they remained healthy throughout the entire year,” said Gwozdecky.
Spring training started for the team last week and the focus is for the majority of the team to build strength. In terms of technique, the two areas of concentration will be to improve on shooting the puck and shooting it up front.
Next season’s team will miss the talents of forward Greg Barber, forward Kevin Doell, All-American goaltender Wade Dubielewicz, defenseman Jason Grahame, forward J.J. Hartmann, defenseman Aaron MacKenzie and forward Matt Weber who are graduating this spring.
“There is a long list of key players that are returning next year and I am confident that the team will work hard and be extremely motivated to improve on the season we had and fill the roles of this year’s graduating class,” said Gwozdecky.
Cornell, New Hampshire, Michigan and defending national champion Minnesota have each won their respective regional games and are set to face off for the national championship at the 2003 Frozen Four in Buffalo, N.Y., April 10 and 12. The semifinals and championship games can be seen on ESPN2 and ESPN.
