Colorado College coach Scott Owens dubbed it “Black Friday” for the 10-team, Denver-based Western Collegiate Hockey Association.
The country’s so-called dominant league, just six months after winning its fourth consecutive NCAA title and becoming the first league to send four teams to the Frozen Four, went 1-5 in nonleague play last Friday. For the season, it is 10-15-1.
A year ago, the WCHA went 53-17-4 in nonconference play.
“I guess a lot of teams are after us,” Owens said. “They get themselves jacked up to play us. The word ‘WCHA’ gets thrown in pregame speeches. Or maybe we’re not quite as good as we think we are.”
Last Friday’s biggest upsets were absorbed by top-ranked Minnesota and No. 2 Denver.
The Gophers lost their season opener to visiting Alaska-Fairbanks, 4-3 in overtime. And the Pioneers, two-time defending NCAA champions, fell 5-1 at No. 12 Maine.
CC (3-1) and North Dakota (3-1) are the WCHA’s only teams with winning records.
DU down, not out
DU coach George Gwozdecky does not want to compare this year’s team to that of a year ago, though both started 0-2. But he sees similar potential.
“We know we can improve drastically,” Gwozdecky said.
The Pioneers, ranked No. 1 in the preseason, fell to ninth in the USA Hockey/USA Hockey Magazine and U.S. College Hockey Online polls Monday.
“I don’t think any of us associated with our program are happy about last weekend, but at the same time we understand that this is a marathon, not a sprint,” Gwozdecky said. “We’re all looking forward to going back to work.”
Footnotes
DU plays Friday at Air Force (1-3) in the Falcons’ home opener. The Pioneers’ home opener is Saturday against Notre Dame (0-0). CC hosts Notre Dame on Friday and Air Force on Saturday. … CC junior goaltender Matt Zaba, who had 34 saves in Saturday’s 1-0 victory over Ohio State, was named the WCHA defensive player of the week.
Mike Chambers can be reached at 303-820-5453 or mchambers@denverpost.com.
