While the rest of the collegiate hockey world looks forward, Denver and Colorado College are tempted to look back to find what lies ahead.
DU and CC reached the Frozen Four last season, the first time that has happened in the same season. Another banner season with sellout crowds appears likely as the teams jockey for not only Front Range supremacy, but national honors, with the Pioneers going for their third consecutive national championship.
“We both set a level for ourselves, and if we’re going to get in each other’s way, great. It’s just going to build the rivalry even more,” DU co-captain Matt Carle said.
“This rivalry is one of the best college sports rivalries in the country,” Pioneers coach George Gwozdecky said. “When you have two teams as talented as they were last year, and two teams returning an abundance of that talent, the rivalry likely will get better, which is hard to believe.”
Seven players from the teams received All-America honors last season, when they tied for the Western Collegiate Hockey Association regular-season championship, played for the WCHA playoff title and advanced to an unprecedented all-WCHA Frozen Four as the top two seeds in the NCAA Tournament.
Carle, the national defenseman of the year a season ago, and CC senior center and reigning Hobey Baker Award winner Marty Sertich are among four returning All-Americans on the two teams. Tigers senior wing Brett Sterling led the country with 34 goals last season and Pioneers senior center Gabe Gauthier was the NCAA’s top playoff scorer.
Overall, 33 lettermen return to the two programs, with CC having its top eight scorers back and DU its top three. The Pioneers, who open their season at Maine this weekend, return their top two goalies, including Frozen Four MVP Peter Mannino.
Last season, Sertich, Sterling and Gauthier finished first, second and in a tie for third in national scoring, respectively, with 64, 63 and 57 points while Carle was the country’s second highest-scoring defenseman with 44 points and was named DU’s top blue-liner by teammates.
“Matt Carle, I think, is the best defenseman in the country,” Gwozdecky said.
Carle might play more than any other defenseman, because he and hard-hitting sophomore Andrew Thomas are the only regulars back from the blue-line corps. The Pioneers could have four freshmen playing regularly at even strength, but Carle will headline the power play and penalty-killing units.
“I think we’re going to be pretty good up front. Lot of talent up there,” Gwozdecky said. “And I think we’re going to be strong in goal again, probably even better. The blue line is the big area we need to get a handle on, but as time goes on, I think we’ll be OK.”
CC coach Scott Owens also lost half his six-man defensive corps from last season, but the replacements likely will be three players with at least a year of experience.
“Have we dropped off there? Maybe a little bit,” Owens said. “There still is enough experience back there to piece together a pretty good D-corps.”
CC should have no trouble scoring goals. In addition to having its top eight scorers back from a team that finished fourth nationally in scoring (3.72 goals), sophomore Scott McCulloch is healthy.
He had four goals and seven points in his first 11 games last season before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury.
Staff writer Mike Chambers can be reached at 303-820-5453 or mchambers@denverpost.com.
