The awards and accolades continue to pile up for University of Denver center Paul Stastny.
The son of Hall of Famer Peter Stastny is the Western Collegiate Hockey Association scoring champion. The sophomore, who last season was named WCHA rookie of the year and to the all-Frozen Four team before becoming a second-round draft pick of the Avalanche, finished with 44 points (15 goals) in 28 regular-season league games.
Stastny scored three goals and four points in the regular season-ending WCHA series against Colorado College to overtake teammate Matt Carle. Carle, who was vying to become the second defenseman in 54 years of the league to win the scoring title outright, went without a point in the 5-4 overtime win and 3-3 tie against the Tigers. Carle finished with 42 points to tie for second with Minnesota forward Ryan Potulny.
Stastny, who is the first DU player to win the scoring title since Dave Shields in 1990, said the three points the Pioneers picked up against CC to clinch the No. 2 WCHA playoff seed and next weekend’s first-round, best-of-three series matchup with No. 9 Minnesota-Duluth were the most gratifying.
“Getting second place is huge, and like last year, team success and individual success run hand in hand,” he said. “If the team keeps doing well, individual awards will come. That’s how I’ve always looked at it.”
Stastny scored the first and final goals in DU’s sixth consecutive win over CC on Thursday in Colorado Springs. He produced his third goal of the series early in the third period Friday, tying it at 2 in a game that CC led 2-0 heading into the third.
Stastny’s line, which includes J.D. Corbin of Littleton and Ryan Dingle of Steamboat Springs, combined for all three DU goals. Corbin scored 27 seconds into the period, and Dingle with 1:51 left in regulation to give the Pioneers a 3-2 lead.
CC freshman Chad Rau tied it at 3 in the final minute with Tigers goalie Matt Zaba pulled for a sixth attacker.
“It probably is fitting that (the game) winds up in a tie,” DU coach George Gwozdecky said. “Both teams at times thought they had it won. It was wild at times, especially in the third period. It was two teams going at it hard.”
DU turns its attention to Minnesota-Duluth, which has lost 13 of 14 games. The Pioneers are 2-0 against the Bulldogs this season, having won 4-2 and 3-1 in a December series at Duluth.
“Those guys have a lot of talent and every time we play them it seems to be a close game,” Corbin said of the Bulldogs. “If we don’t come prepared they’re going to steal a game from us. It’s going to be a battle.”
Footnotes
CC finished in a fourth-place tie with North Dakota, but on the second tie-breaker with the Fighting Sioux. The fifth-seeded Tigers will host No. 6 St. Cloud State in a three-game series beginning Friday….
DU will not have to play top-ranked Minnesota in the WCHA playoffs unless both advance to the March 18 WCHA Final Five championship in St. Paul, Minn.
Mike Chambers can be reached at 303-820-5453 or mchambers@denverpost.com.
