Another Front Range twist is winding itself around the University of Denver-Colorado College hockey rivalry.
CC freshman goalie Richard Bachman grew up in Highlands Ranch and is best friends with DU sophomore center Tyler Ruegsegger.
In 1999, the duo spearheaded the Littleton Hawks’ AA peewee team to a 12-under national championship – Colorado’s first youth title.
Now, both have emerged as stars on different sides of one of the greatest NCAA hockey rivalries.
All Bachman did last weekend in his debut was backstop CC to 3-1 and 2-1 victories over No. 3 Minnesota. The Golden Gophers have 15 NHL draft picks on their roster, and came into Colorado Springs 2-0 and the reigning two-time defending WCHA champions.
They left sore losers after being frustrated for 123 minutes by a kid from a suburb that doesn’t have an ice rink. (But Bachman did grow up two doors down from WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod.)
So why didn’t Bachman join Ruegsegger at DU? They grew up as Pioneers fans, which means they hated the Tigers.
“Great opportunity here and I’m back home in Colorado with my family,” Bachman said. “I’m really happy coming here. Great academics, like DU, and it’s just a great fit for me.”
Two years ago, the Pioneers identified freshman Marc Cheverie of Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, as their successor to senior goalie Peter Mannino. So Bachman said DU didn’t have a lot of interest in him, although they did speak.
CC coach Scott Owens has been eyeing Bachman since he was 15 and felt confident he could sign him after learning of DU’s interest in Cheverie.
“He’s a kid that did play a year on the north end of the Springs,” Owens said of Bachman. “We tracked him. We followed him. He hasn’t been in Denver for a couple years, so that helped.”
Like all 15-year-old Front Range hockey players with big dreams, Bachman headed east. He graduated from Cushing Academy High School in Massachusetts and then played a year in the junior-A United States Hockey League.
Ruegsegger graduated from Shattuck St. Mary’s in Faribault, Minn., and became DU’s first Colorado native to join the program on full scholarship straight out of high school.
“We’ve always been best friends and stuff, so it’s going to be a little weird playing against him in this rivalry,” Bachman said of Ruegsegger. “But we did play against each other when he was with Shattuck and I was with the Greater Boston Junior Bruins; we played against each other two or three times at nationals.
“So I’m a little used to it, but this is really going to take the cake, having it be the CC-Denver series.”
FORGET IT’S ROCKTOBER?
Scheduling conflict. All but one local professional team managed to steer clear of the Rockies’ World Series opener Wednesday at Boston.
The Colorado Eagles have their Central Hockey League home opener that night against Tulsa. The Eagles might want to offer free tickets to people who don’t give a hoot about baseball to fill the Budweiser Events Center, or at least tell Rocktober fans that Game 1 will be shown on the center-ice big screen.
The Eagles host Arizona on Friday, the same night the CHL’s Rocky Mountain Rage has its home opener against Tulsa at the Broomfield Event Center.
The Eagles and Rage face each other for the first time this season Oct. 30 in Broomfield.
TV GAME OF THE WEEK
Um, that’s easy. It’s Rocktober, World Series-style. We give you three must-watch spectacles this week. Game 1 (Wednesday), Game 2 (Thursday) and Game 3 (Saturday).
Unless a power outage develops, KDVR-31 figures to break its weekly record ratings in the region.
PREP OUT
High schools in full force. The Class 5A, 4A and 3A boys state soccer tournaments begin this week. The 5A and 4A divisions feature 32-team brackets. There are 16 teams in the 3A draw.
The girls field hockey semifinals are Wednesday, with No. 1-seeded Mountain Vista against No. 4 Cherry Creek, and No. 6 Smoky Hill against No. 2 Colorado Academy.
On Saturday the 3.1-mile state cross country championship takes place in Colorado Springs.
ELWAY TO ASU
Just don’t transfer to Nebraska. Good for Jack Elway, the Cherry Creek senior quarterback who committed to Arizona State. We can live with that, although we would have preferred the Son of John going to Colorado State.
Huskers QB Sam Keller was once a Sun Devil, but that didn’t work out.
ACTION PACKED
Parking-lot racing, anyone? ESPN announcer Jerry Punch introduced viewers to Sunday’s NASCAR race at tiny Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, above, with an analogy that sounded ridiculous but actually had merit.
“Folks, this racetrack is about the size of your average shopping mall parking lot,” he said of the .526-mile oval, smallest on the circuit. “Now imagine putting 43 cars in a mall parking lot and telling these guys you can go just over 100 mph but at the end of the day there’s only going to be one parking spot available that you really want.
“How quickly would that get ugly? Our shopping mall lot that we call Martinsville Speedway is about to be opened for business.”
WELCOME HOME
Pioneers welcome alumni. It’s homecoming week at the University of Denver. What does that mean? Not much, unless the hockey team (3-1) takes care of business against visiting Minnesota-Duluth (3-0-1) on Friday and Saturday at Magness Arena.
