Photo by: Jacob Ela, The Daily Cardinal
MADISON, Wisc.- In what started as a very successful post-season run for the DU hockey team, came to an abrupt end Saturday in the first round of the NCAA tournament at the Midwest regional.
The Pioneers fell behind early and could never catch up on their way to a 6-2 defeat at the hands of the University of Wisconsin, which for all purposes was basically playing a home game.
Denver and Wisconsin exchanged scoring chances to start the game and then the Badgers cashed in nine minutes into the first period when Michael Davies put in a rebound off a Jamie McBain shot.
“They scored early and forced us into a position where we had to try and play catch-up and it’s funny how this game works at times, fraction of an inch, we had our chances,” said Head Coach George Gwozdecky.
The Badgers extended their lead eight minutes into the second period when Jamie McBain put in a power play goal past senior goaltender Peter Mannino.
The Pioneers finally got on the board with just over three minutes left in the stanza when freshman Dustin Jackson went top shelf on the power play to cut the lead to one.
Trailing by just one goal heading into the final period, DU looked primed for a come back, but instead got the exact opposite. The Badgers put home a couple empty-netters and breakaways and senior Tom May added his final career goal, as Denver was sent packing without a trip to the Frozen Four that they are hosting.
“It is not as disappointing that we are not going to the Frozen Four in Denver as it is we are not going to a Frozen Four,” said Gwozdecky.
“It’s a tough loss because it marks the end of the road for a brotherhood we have had all season. It has been one of the closest teams that I have ever been on, a lot of hard working guys,” said sophomore Rhett Rakhshani.
This is the second straight year where Denver will miss out on the NCAA tournament that they are hosting. Last season the Pepsi Center played host to the West Regional and in two weeks will play host to the Frozen Four.
“I think it is going to be a great Frozen Four and the University and Pepsi Center will do an outstanding job. It will be the best Frozen Four there has ever been,” said Gwozdecky.
The NCAA assigns the four regional and Frozen Four sites over a year in advance, as Madison was selected. The NCAA also always looks for that local team to put at the site to help fill up the stadium, in this case it was Wisconsin, which had an under .500 record and was a questionable selection into the tourney. Denver definitely got the short straw in the selection process having to play the lower seeded Badgers at their home turf.
“For us it’s just another weekend in the WCHA. I think there are so many Olympic-size ice surfaces throughout our league that it’s not too much different for us. It’s up to the NCAA,” said senior Andrew Thomas on having to play at Wisconsin.
“I knew they had a good chance. I knew it was going to be similar to us a year ago where they would have to sit and watch and hope and pray,” said Gwozdecky on whether Wisconsin should have been in the tourney.
Last season, Gwozdecky said that the NCAA committee told him that if DU had won one more game at any point in the season, the Pioneers would have made the tournament and been a No. 2 seed at the Denver regional.
The Pioneers were making their first NCAA tournament appearance since the 2004-05 season when they won their second straight national championship. The loss to the Badgers snaps Denver’s eight-game winning streak. Denver will also have to say goodbye to four seniors who started their career with a championship team and helped lead the program back to the tournament.
“The character, integrity, passion, honesty and work ethic they have put in as Pioneers will be long be remembered and I am extremely proud of them and thank them,” said Gwozdecky.
Thomas, Tom May, Mannino and Zach Blom are the four seniors that remain from the class of ’08 that also included now departed Paul Stastny, Ryan Dingle and Geoff Paukovich.
To say the least this season contained a few bumps for DU which saw offensive leader Brock Trotter leave halfway through the season, the injury bug affect assistant captain Tyler Ruegsegger and sophomore Brian Gifford and a second-half slide where DU went 5-9-1 in the final 15 regular season games.
“I think every team especially in this league goes through challenges and adversity. Many times it is how you respond to those issues that make or break your season. I am so proud of our team on how we went through the issues, some that we could control and others that we could not,” said Gwozdecky.
It may not be the Frozen Four finish that the Pioneers, their fans and the city of Denver had hoped for, but one that featured youthful talent that should lead Denver to a successful future.
“There were so many unknowns from the beginning of the season I had no clue, this was a team that I had no idea in how the season was going to unfold,” said Gwozdecky.
