Hockey, Men's Sports

Pioneers Swept by Wolverines to Begin Home Portion of Title Defense

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If you don’t score on a five-on-three, you don’t deserve to win. Maybe never in the history of college hockey has that adage proved truer than it did this weekend at Magness Arena. In game one, #1 Denver (2-2-0, 0-0-0 NCHC) had a minute-plus two-man advantage against #2 Michigan (6-0-0, 0-0-0 Big 10) with the opportunity to pull back to within a goal, and in game two, the Pioneers had two separate five-on-three opportunities that each lasted nearly a full two minutes. Denver scored on none of them, and they lost both games, 4-1 on Friday and 4-3 on Saturday. Coincidence? Perhaps. Unacceptable? Absolutely.

A night ago, basking in the glow of the banner-raising celebration, it was easy to brush aside what ailed the Pioneers en route to a 4-1, home-opening loss. But, in game two, with an opportunity to salvage a huge home split against a fellow national contender with important early NPI implications? It’s becoming clear what ails these Pioneers so far – the power play.

It’s hard to blame a team’s power play for a loss when it scores twice, but even when the power play giveth, the power play taketh away…and after Sam Harris scored the Pios’ second power play goal of the night (Kristian Epperson scored the other on the game’s first goal) that pulled the Pioneers back to within a goal, Denver’s extra-man unit went cold, despite four more opportunities, all of which made up the two five-on-threes.

A smarter hockey mind than this one can spend the time to diagnose what, specifically, ailed Denver’s power play this weekend or what Michigan’s penalty killing unit did well, but in the end, it certainly boiled down to the same thing that seems to stifle the power play unit just up the interstate at Ball Arena – a seeming reluctance to put pucks on net. Instead of taking advantage of shooting lanes when they opened up, the Pioneers opted to pass the puck around the zone, looking for the perfect shot instead of a good or even great one. The Pioneers’ power play units, just like the Avs’ over the past couple of years, allowed perfect to be the enemy of good, and it’s largely the reason why they’re staring at a 2 in their loss column four games into the season.

It’s no coincidence that the two power play goals that the Pioneers did score in game two were the product of just getting the puck to the net. Epperson’s came off a slick pass in transition from Clarke Caswell, where the former didn’t hesitate to get the puck on Michigan goalie Jack Ivankovic, while Harris’ was a gritty one where he tapped the puck home in the low slot off a great feed from Epperson (that was tipped by Chyzowski).

Even with the power play’s struggles, Denver still had a chance to earn the split, and it took the flukiest of all bounces to put the Pioneers away in game two. After captain Kieran Cebrian tied the game five and a half minutes in on another gritty, net-front battle, it took a strange carom off the glass, then off Ryan Lin’s skate, for Michigan to earn the regulation sweep.

Denver battled for the tying goal over the final five minutes, but the tough bounce off of Lin’s skate and two overturned DU goals (one of which was highly questionable) were too much for the Pioneers to overcome, and the Wolverines finished off the October road sweep.

But as frustrating as the home sweep is for the Pioneers, nothing has changed. A young, inexperienced, though quite talented DU squad skated with a veteran, elite Michigan team through two games and, quite frankly, carried the play for most of the weekend.

Would the results have been different if goalie Johnny Hicks was healthy? Perhaps. But these two games will go a long way towards this team finding its identity and learning what it’s going to take to win a 12th national title. October home sweeps and early-season adversity are never fun to endure, but that’s all they are.

There is a lot to like about these Pioneers, and even in two losing efforts, it was on full display. The power play is lagging behind the other areas of the Pioneers’ game, but when – not if – this team figures that part out, Denver will be as formidable a team as any in the country.

Highlights

Top photo by Tyler Schank/Clarkson Creative Photography via Denver Athletics

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