The University of Denver hockey team obtained for the second straight year a No. 1 regional seed in the NCAA Tournament.
The Pioneers (27-9-4) are headed to New York, where they might have to beat two New York teams to advance to the Frozen Four. The Western Collegiate Hockey Association regular-season champions were given the top seed at the East Regional in Albany N.Y., where they will open Friday against fourth-seeded Rochester Institute of Technology (26-11-1), the automatic qualifier as the Atlantic Hockey Association playoff champion.
“We felt we would be heading east based upon how things were matching and how the committee has done it in the past, so it doesn’t surprise me,” DU coach George Gwozdecky said on ESPN2’s selection show today. “We played Air Force out of the Atlantic Hockey conference and we know how challenging that conference is. Air Force is a terrific team and RIT, being the (regular-season) champion and winning the conference tournament — it’s going to be a real challenge for us.”
If DU gets past the Tigers, who are on a 10-game winning streak, it will play Cornell (21-8-4) of Ithaca, N.Y., or New Hampshire (17-13-7) for the regional title on Saturday. The winner advances to the Frozen Four, April 8-10 at Detroit’s Ford Field.
DU will be making its 21st appearance at the NCAA Tournament and looking for its eighth national title. The Pioneers are 0-2 in the NCAAs since winning their second straight national title in 2005. They were upset in the first round in each of the past two years, by Wisconsin in 2008 and Miami (Ohio) a year ago.
RIT is 26-6-1 since beginning 0-5. The Tigers are 0-6 outside of the AHA, including 0-2 against the WCHA. In January, they lost twice at Minnesota State by 6-1 and 3-0 scores.
DU is 2-0 against AHA teams, beating Mercyhurst 4-1 and Air Force 2-1 (OT) on consecutive nights last month. But the Pioneers have lost their past two games, the first time they have dropped two in a row this season.
“The last couple years we sat back a little too much in this tournament, similar to how we played last weekend,” DU captain Rhett Rakhshani said, referring to losses to North Dakota and Wisconsin at the WCHA Final Five in St. Paul, Minn. “Hopefully we can learn from those experience and dictate the pace of the game. It’s a one-and-done format and we have to dictate the pace. We can’t sit back.”
Rakhshani made those comments Sunday while traveling in the team bus from the Denver airport to DU. He said the mood of the team has dramatically improved since Saturday, after losing to the Badgers 6-3 in the league playoff consolation game.
“We’re not happy with how we played last weekend and the guys are definitely disappointed about losing our first two games in a row, especially at this point of the season,” Rakhshani said. “But that’s behind us now. It’s a new season and we’re excited about the fresh start and to go back east.”
Mike Chambers: 303-954-1357 or mchambers@denverpost.com
