The DU hockey team will not be better than it was last year for a couple of reasons.

First, the 2006-07 team was not bad by any means, not even average. Last season, the Pioneers had a very strong roster that could only have been compared to the nation’s best. The Pioneers were rotating between two of the best goaltenders in their league, while having exceptional experience and talent up-front. Players such as Ryan Dingle, J.D. Corbin, Geoff Paukovich and Adrian Veideman brought leadership and national championship experience to the team. Combine that with the talent and speed of their underclassmen, and the Pioneers should have been a national championship contender.

In case anyone forgot, if DU would have won its opening WCHA playoff series last season, DU would have been a top-10 seed in the NCAA tournament. Last season’s national champion Michigan State had 13 losses on the season, and the Pioneers had 15, including their two in post season. There is no reason to believe that the Pioneers could not have gone on a similar run as MSU did last season, as the Pioneers had equal, if not more, talent than the Spartans.

Secondly, when looking at this year’s team that has three times as many freshmen on their roster than seniors, it is pretty hard to come to the conclusion that they will be better and more talented than the team from last year.

The facts are that the Pioneers lost not only their leading scorer but also a lot of players that gave emotion and toughness to their lineup. Though DU is loaded with talented sophomores and freshmen, it is rare for freshmen to play consistent enough to carry a team for an entire season.

Now, none of this is to say that the Pioneers are not capable of making the NCAA playoffs or even winning the national title, as I believe they definitely are more than capable. As past tournaments have shown, a team can easily ride a hot scorer or goaltender on their way to a national title, and the Pioneers have both in senior goalie Peter Mannino and sophomore forwards Brock Trotter and Tyler Ruegsegger.

However, this doesn’t mean that fans should not have high hopes for this year’s squad. As their first exhibition showed, the Pioneers have plenty of speed and offensive talent, but the Pioneers will have to overcome much more than they would have needed to last season to win another national championship this year.