Matt Carle emerged from the closed University of Denver locker room Sunday night after consoling the Pioneers’ two seniors, Gabe Gauthier and Ted O’Leary, after the loss to Minnesota-Duluth.
Question is, was anyone consoling Carle?
Carle, perhaps DU’s finest defenseman since the late Keith Magnuson in the 1960s, also might have played his final game with the Pioneers.
After the two-time defending NCAA champions were knocked out of NCAA Tournament contention by being eliminated from the WCHA playoffs by Minnesota-Duluth, Carle said he would complete final exams and then meet with his parents to decide on his future. His choice comes down to returning for his senior season or joining the San Jose Sharks.
“All I’m thinking about now is finals and finishing the quarter strong here from an education (standpoint), and we’ll go from there,” Carle said.
Carle, who shared captain duties with Gauthier, tied sophomore center Paul Stastny for a team-leading 53 points in 39 games. If Carle returns to DU, he is assured of being a captain next season for a team that should be strong in all areas. Gauthier, who finished fourth on the team with 39 points, is the only significant loss. O’Leary did not produce a point in 38 games. DU (20-15-3) will regain the services of highly touted freshman forward Brock Trotter, who severed his Achilles tendon five games into the season, and welcomes an elite recruiting class built from the fruits of back-to-back championship seasons.
With or without Carle, Pioneers coach George Gwozdecky said the strength of next season’s team will be experience and the knowledge that losing home games to teams such as Princeton cannot be tolerated. Next season’s team will “hopefully see the importance of what every game means at this level,” Gwozdecky said. “At least a handful of games we look at and say, ‘If only we would have won.’ We’re sitting here looking at all the teams that will get into the national tournament and saying, ‘What if?”‘
Tigers still alive
Colorado College also failed to advance to the WCHA Final Five in St. Paul, Minn., but the Tigers could receive one of 10 at-large bids for the 16-team national field. CC went from 14th to 10th in the PairWise Ranking. The Tigers hope teams behind them in the PairWise don’t win their conference tournaments to gain automatic NCAA bids. They can’t afford to have Minnesota-Duluth or St. Cloud State win the WCHA Tournament, Maine or New Hampshire win Hockey East, Dartmouth or Colgate win the ECACAL, or Northern Michigan win the CCHA.
Footnote
Gwozdecky will accompany Carle and Stastny to Thursday’s WCHA awards banquet in St. Paul. Stastny will be honored as the WCHA’s scoring champion and Carle is expected to be named WCHA player of the year and one of 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker Award as NCAA player of the year.
Mike Chambers can be reached at 303-820-5453 or mchambers@denverpost.com.
