The white-hot University of Denver hockey team will take three impressive streaks into its two-game series showdown at No. 1 Minnesota this weekend.
The Pioneers have won eight consecutive games on the road, one shy of the program record. They have won seven consecutive games overall, and six in a row on Olympic-size ice sheets similar to Mariucci Arena in Minneapolis.
“We’re going good right now,” DU winger Ryan Dingle said of a team ranked seventh by the media and 14th in the computer PairWise Ranking. “We’ve been talking about crashing the net, getting pucks to the net, and taking care of our defensive zone. That’s what we’re doing good right now.”
A win Friday would ensure DU remains atop the Western Collegiate Hockey Association heading into its final four games, two each against North Dakota and Colorado College. The Pioneers, who last season shared the MacNaughton Cup as WCHA regular-season champion with CC, lead Minnesota by a point and Wisconsin by two. All three teams have six games remaining.
“It should be an awful lot of fun, and there’s been on awful lot of attention, from what we’ve heard, about this series in Minnesota,” DU coach George Gwozdecky said. “It’s a real great race for the top spot.”
Stastny, Carle honored
DU center Paul Stastny and defenseman Matt Carle were named WCHA offensive and defensive players of the week. Both had a combined six points in last weekend’s 7-4 and 5-1 victories over Minnesota State. Stastny, who has five goals and nine points in his past five games, had three goals against the Mavericks. Carle had six assists in the series, including a career-high five in the opener.
Carle and Stastny are first and second, respectively, in WCHA scoring (league games only). Carle is aiming to become the third defenseman in 54 years of the WCHA to win the league’s scoring race, which only counts points in league games. Carle, who has 46 points in 30 games overall, leads the WCHA with 38 points in 22 league games. Stastny has 35 points in league games and 40 overall.
Minnesota’s Lou Nanne (1962-63) and Mike Crowley (1996-97) are the only defensemen to win the WCHA scoring crown. Crowley shared the crown with CC forward Brian Swanson.
Footnotes
CC senior forward Aaron Slattengren has been dismissed from school due to a violation of institutional academic policy, the school announced Monday in a news release. Slattengren had 88 points in his career. … With a sweep this weekend, DU would become the first team to clinch home ice for the WCHA’s first-round, best-of- three series. The Pioneers, who are 13-4 in their past 17 games, also would clinch if they split and North Dakota does the same against visiting Minnesota-Duluth.
Mike Chambers can be reached at 303-820-5453 or mchambers@denverpost.com.
