Minnesota-Duluth, despite splitting a two-game series at No. 5 University of Denver last weekend, remains in last place in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.
Uncharacteristically, however, the underachieving Bulldogs have the WCHA’s top scorer, and perhaps the league’s best player.
Sophomore Mason Raymond, who had two goals and two assists in Saturday’s 6-4 win over the Pioneers, sits atop the league with 38 points. The forward from Cochrane, Alberta, scored and assisted on short-handed goals, and set up and scored power-play tallies, to almost single-handedly steal two points from DU.
“We knew he was a very good player coming into the weekend, and he didn’t do anything to make us think otherwise,” DU coach George Gwozdecky said of Raymond, who also leads the WCHA with 25 assists. “He’s a very good player. Smart. Slippery.”
Raymond’s goals Saturday broke 1-1 and 3-3 ties, the latter coming short- handed and less than two minutes after the Pioneers scored short-handed.
“I’m fortunate to coach some great players, and he’s certainly among the best of them,” Bulldogs coach Scott Sandelin said. “He’s had a great run here and he just keeps getting better. I think he’s one of the best players in the country, a big difference-maker.”
Given his talents, Raymond, 20, might have played his last collegiate games in Denver. His NHL rights are owned by the Vancouver Canucks, who selected him in the second round (51st overall) of the 2005 draft.
Postseason planning
With the .003 bonus structure, DU remains fifth in the Pairwise Rankings (PWR) and Colorado College improved to eighth, tied with North Dakota. That means both Front Range teams would qualify for at-large bids in the 16-team NCAA Tournament field if the bracket were released this week.
The Pioneers have six remaining regular-season games, and the Tigers eight, before the WCHA first-round, best-of- three playoffs begin March 9 at the top five seeds.
DU and CC wrap up the regular season against each other with a home-and-home series March 2 (Denver) and March 3 (Colorado Springs).
Footnotes
DU travels to Michigan Tech this weekend and CC visits St. Cloud State. The Pioneers, who are 8-5 on the road, have played 10 of their past 12 games at home. “Sometimes it’s good to get back on the road, to get more together as a team,” DU captain Adrian Veideman said….A significant statistical gap has developed between Pioneers goalies Peter Mannino and Glenn Fisher. Fisher, who has allowed 13 goals in his past three starts, has a 2.29 goals-against average and .922 save percentage. Mannino, who has allowed just three goals in his past five games, is among the country’s leaders in GAA (1.83) and save percentage (.935)….Future DU defenseman John Lee of Moorhead (Minn.) High School is ranked No. 53 among draft-eligible North American forwards and defensemen in the NHL’s Central Scouting Service midterm rankings. … DU freshmen accounted for six of the team’s nine goals last weekend.
Mike Chambers can be reached at 303-954-1357 or mchambers@denverpost.com.
