Your University of Denver Pioneers will be very well-represented when the Olympic Winter Games begin in Pyongchang, South Korea later this February 9th-25th, with five Crimson and Gold athletes set to compete, representing four different countries and two different sports.
Junior Ice Hockey forward Troy Terry (Ice Hockey/Highlands Ranch, Colo.) will be DU’s lone American Olympian, as he competes on the USA Ice Hockey Team as its youngest player (age 20), one of four current NCAA players on the USA roster of mostly AHL and European-based professionals. Terry became an American hero last year at the World Junior Championships, with shootout goals that sealed medal round victories over rivals Canada and Russia to win Gold for Team USA. He also helped lead last year’s DU hockey Pioneers to the 2017 NCAA title in Chicago. Terry is having a great season for DU this year as well, with 11 goals and 19 assists for 30 points in 26 games to date. He will likely sign an NHL contract with the Anaheim Ducks when DU’s 2017-2018 hockey season is complete.
Joining Terry at the Olympics will be four Pioneer alpine skiers — two of them are current DU students, and the other two are Pioneer graduates:
Sophomore Alpine Skier Andrea Komsic (Zagreb, Croatia) will be representing her home country of Croatia in her second Olympics, as she competed in Sochi, Russia, for the 2014 Games, where finished in 33rd-place finish in the women’s slalom with a time of 1:58.60. Komsic also finished 35th in the giant slalom, with a run of 2:46.61. Komsic was an all-American last season for the Pioneers and finished second in the NCAA Slalom last year as a freshman at DU. Komsic also finished 28th at the 2017 World Championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland in Slalom. Komsic is having a good season this year too, as on Jan. 15, 2018, she was named RMISA Skier of the Week for her performance to help pace the Pioneers to a first-place finish at the Utah Invitational.
The other current DU student is Erik Read (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) who has been named to the 2018 Canadian Olympic Ski Team. Read, 26, who has already finished his DU skiing eligibility last year and is scheduled to graduate from DU this April, has qualified for his first Olympic Games. Read was a multiple all-American at DU, where he won the NCAA slalom title in 2016. He has also had four top 10 World Cup finishes since 2016, balancing his DU seasons, World Cup appearances in Europe and North America, while maintaining a stellar GPA in finance at DU. He is the son of former two-time Canadian Olympic Skier (1976 and 1980) Ken Read, who won five World Cup races and had 14 World Cup podium finishes in his 10-year career as one of Canada’s most decorated skiers.
Joining Read on Team Canada in South Korea is his former three-time DU all-American teammate and fellow Calgarian Trevor Philp (’15) who will compete in his second Olympics. Philp finished 25th in the Giant Slalom at the Sochi Olympics in Russia in 2014, and has been on the World Cup circuit since his days as a DU all-American. He is the 2017 and 2016 Canadian National Champion in the Giant Slalom, and his best finish in World Cup action was his 11th place at Vail in March of 2017.
Finally, there is former Pioneer legend Leif Kristian Haugen (Lommadalen, Norway) who will compete in his third Olympic Games for Norway. Haugen finished 12th in the Slalom and 16th in the Giant Slalom in Sochi, Russia in the 2014 Olympics, and finished 28th in the Giant Slalom in the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. Haugen is coming off a podium finish in the 2017 World Championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland where he snagged the Bronze Medal in the Giant Slalom. Haugen, a multiple Pioneer all-American, graduated from DU in 2012.
Who says DU is not inclusive!?
Thanks for this article. It will make watching the games more interesting following DU athletes. Very impressive!
Many people may not remember that Suzy ‘Chapstick’ Chafee went to DU – her brother was an NCAA ski champion for DU. Women were not allowed to ski in NCAA races back then so she was only allowed to dry land train with the team. Chaffee was named captain of the US Women’s team and was one of the favorites in the downhill at the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France. She retired from ski racing after the 1968 Olympics. She gained her fame as a three-time world freestyle skiing champion (1971–73) and Chapstick spokesperson. She was inducted into the National Ski Hall of Fame in 1988.
As I know you are aware 5B, she was my college girlfriend. Puck knows this also. DG scratches his head on this one.
Not surprised Dunks. You have the ‘it’ factor. Suzy’s loss!
I did not know about Suzy Chapstick. Cool. I appreciate the updates on the skiers–impressive to have 4 competing in the Olympics. I think that Leif Kristian Haugen has the best shot to make some noise in the Olympics, especially in the giant slalom. It will also be interesting to see how the current DU student skiers do…though I can’t believe Read is still in school. Love me some winter Olympics, can’t wait.
Who says DU is not inclusive!?
Thanks for this article. It will make watching the games more interesting following DU athletes. Very impressive!
Many people may not remember that Suzy ‘Chapstick’ Chafee went to DU – her brother was an NCAA ski champion for DU. Women were not allowed to ski in NCAA races back then so she was only allowed to dry land train with the team. Chaffee was named captain of the US Women’s team and was one of the favorites in the downhill at the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France. She retired from ski racing after the 1968 Olympics. She gained her fame as a three-time world freestyle skiing champion (1971–73) and Chapstick spokesperson. She was inducted into the National Ski Hall of Fame in 1988.
As I know you are aware 5B, she was my college girlfriend. Puck knows this also. DG scratches his head on this one.
Not surprised Dunks. You have the ‘it’ factor. Suzy’s loss!
I did not know about Suzy Chapstick. Cool. I appreciate the updates on the skiers–impressive to have 4 competing in the Olympics. I think that Leif Kristian Haugen has the best shot to make some noise in the Olympics, especially in the giant slalom. It will also be interesting to see how the current DU student skiers do…though I can’t believe Read is still in school. Love me some winter Olympics, can’t wait.
I was really bummed when I heard the NHL was not sending players to the Olympics, but now, with the opportunity to see Terry on the ice, I’m stoked for Olympic hockey.
I was really bummed when I heard the NHL was not sending players to the Olympics, but now, with the opportunity to see Terry on the ice, I’m stoked for Olympic hockey.