University of Denver junior Matt Carle is vying to become the Pioneers’ first Western Collegiate Hockey Association scoring champion since Dave Shields in 1990, and just the third defenseman to win it in the league’s 54-year history.
With two games remaining, Carle leads the league with 42 points, two more than teammate Paul Stastny and four more than Minnesota’s Ryan Potulny.
Nothing personal, but Colorado College coach Scott Owens would like to see Carle go pointless in his final two regular-season games. The Tigers begin a home-and-home series with the Pioneers tonight at the Colorado Springs World Arena, with the series and regular-season finale Friday at Magness Arena.
“He’s their heart and soul in a lot of areas, not just scoring,” Owens said of Carle, the NCAA’s top scoring defenseman. “The scoring race doesn’t mean a lot to us. But we have to know when he’s on the ice and take away his time and space.”
Carle is bidding to join former Minnesota defensemen Lou Nanne and Mike Crowley as WCHA scoring champions. Nanne won it in 1963 and Crowley shared it with former CC forward Brian Swanson in 1997.
“Considering how tough our league is, it’d be a pretty big honor to win it, especially because not a lot of defensemen have done it,” Carle said. “It says a lot about our team.”
Sioux fan ejected
A North Dakota fan at Friday’s Pioneers-Fighting Sioux game at Magness Arena physically confronted Greg Paukovich, the father of hard-hitting DU sophomore center Geoff Paukovich. Arena security and two Denver police officers who were assigned to oversee the Paukovich family quickly escorted the fan off the premises.
“The (Bina) incident happened a year ago, and we’ve all moved on,” said Geoff Paukovich, whose family has received threats from North Dakota fans since his illegal check on Robbie Bina last year broke the Sioux defenseman’s neck. “I’ve paid my price and we all feel terrible about it, but it’s unfortunate that it goes beyond the ice.”
Bina, a redshirt this season, was cleared last week to participate in full practices.
Footnotes
DU coach George Gwozdecky said he likely would play goalie Glenn Fisher tonight and Peter Mannino on Friday. Owens said he would begin the series with Matt Zaba between the pipes. … The replacement for the missing Gold Pan, the DU-CC traveling trophy the Pioneers lost after winning it in 2004, is no longer a project of Crown Trophy of Denver. Gwozdecky said a Colorado Springs mining company is creating a new trophy that won’t be available until after the season.
Mike Chambers can be reached at 303-820-5453 or mchambers@denverpost.com.
