If anyone is destined to get goose bumps during Saturday night’s 2005 NCAA hockey championship celebration at Magness Arena, it will be a member of Denver’s junior class.
Eight of the 11 players in the Pioneers’ biggest class also helped the Pioneers win the 2004 national title as freshmen.
“Two-for-two is definitely something special,” junior forward Adrian Veideman said while preparing for this weekend’s homecoming and banner-raising two-game Western Collegiate Hockey Association series against Michigan Tech.
“Winning is addicting. If I lose now, I don’t know what I’ll do.”
Former Pioneers defensemen Matt Laatsch and Nick Larson will unveil the program’s seventh championship banner before Saturday’s series finale, which begins at 7 p.m.
“We’re pretty proud doing it our first two years,” junior wing J.D. Corbin of Littleton said. “But (Saturday) will be the last time that we think about it or talk about it this year. It’ll be nice to be recognized for it again and then it’s back to work for the rest of the year.”
DU is one of four schools to win two consecutive national titles but the only school to do so three times. Only Michigan has won three consecutive titles (1951-53).
Veideman and Corbin said the Pioneers have discussed a three-peat, but haven’t looked ahead at the possibility of being the first class to win four in a row. Their original classmates include All-America defenseman Matt Carle, forwards Mike Handza, Ryan Helgason and Jon James, and goalies Glenn Fisher and Danny King.
“Not many people on the planet have done two in a row, so we’re among a special group of people, and seeing (the banner) going up is going to remind us,” Veideman said.
It couldn’t come at a better time for Denver (3-3, 1-1 WCHA), ranked ninth in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll.
The Pioneers played five of their first six games on the road. They’re coming off their best performance of the young season, a 7-2 victory at No. 5 North Dakota on Saturday.
“We’re definitely talking about a sweep,” Veideman said of this weekend’s WCHA home-opening series. “Anything less is not acceptable. If we play like we did Saturday night at North Dakota, there’s not many teams in the country that could beat us.”
DU coach George Gwozdecky expects an emotional lift this weekend from homecoming and the banner ceremony.
“The one game we had here against Notre Dame, we had so much energy from our crowd, I think the team is really looking forward to that again,” Gwozdecky said.
Mike Chambers can be reached at 303-820-5453 or mchambers@denverpost.com.
