Denver Pioneers winger Ty Loney never has raised the Stanley Cup.
You might say, though, that he was raised in it.
Ty was 3 months old when his father, Troy, was on the Pittsburgh Penguins team that won its second consecutive Stanley Cup championship in 1992, and during the players’ turns with the famous trophy over the summer, young Ty got to sit in it.
“Yeah, there’s a picture of me sitting there, and I was probably just crying like I always was,” Loney said after a Pioneers practice this week. “But it was pretty cool to be a part of a family whose dad has done something as cool as that.”
Years later, the 6-foot-4, 208-pound Loney is a senior on the DU team that will face Miami (Ohio) in the semifinals of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference Frozen Faceoff on Friday night at the Target Center in Minneapolis. The winner of that will meet the survivor of the North Dakota-St. Cloud State semifinal in the championship game Saturday.
Regardless of what happens in Minneapolis, the 22-12-2 Pioneers — third in the PairWise national rankings, which mirror the NCAA selection criteria — seem locked into one of the 16 national tournament berths and destined to play in a four-team regional the next weekend.
WATCH:
Loney scored three goals in Friday’s victory over Minnesota Duluth in Game 1 of DU’s two-game sweep in the NCHC’s first round, and has 10 goals this season.
“We can always move up in the rankings, and it’s a great time of the year to get hot,” Loney said. “So if we can win these games, it will be a boost.”
DU coach Jim Montgomery called Loney “Mr. March” and added: “He’s our Reggie Jackson, who was Mr. October. He has the ability to be the same person and the same player at big times. Pressure doesn’t get to him. He thrives on being Ty Loney, the person who brings a lot of humor to our team and makes everyone feel good about themselves because he’s so loosey-goosey.”
Troy Loney, an Alberta native, spent most of his 12-year NHL career with the Penguins and anchored his family in the Pittsburgh area, including after his 1995 retirement. That’s where Ty got french fries in his sandwich at Primanti Brothers, was a fan of Pittsburgh sports teams and got his start in youth hockey.
“I loved it there,” Loney said. “I think it’s the best city in the world. Great place, really is, and unbelievable sports town.”
Pittsburgh is one of the hotbeds of U.S. youth hockey programs, but Ty, after all, is the son of a Canadian who got to the NHL in part because of the emphasis on the game north of the border.
“I definitely don’t think it slowed it,” he said of his hockey progress. “There’s a lot of talent there. Maybe it’s not as deep as New England or some places in the Midwest, but there’s definitely some good hockey there. It’s grown significantly, and it’s definitely a good place to play.”
Loney came to DU after a year of junior with Youngstown of the United States Hockey League, where — unlike in the three major junior leagues under the Canadian Hockey League umbrella — the players remain eligible for NCAA scholarships. (Troy Loney is a part-owner of the franchise.)
Ty turned 23 on March 1 and actually is more than eight months older than Avalanche captain Gabe Landeskog, but that’s not all that unusual in the NCAA game in which a year or two of USHL prep work is common before heading to the campuses.
He wasn’t claimed in the NHL draft, and if he signs a pro contract, it will be as a free agent. He will graduate from DU with a degree in psychology this spring.
“I hope I can be on display,” he said of the NHL. “It doesn’t bug me that I wasn’t drafted. It’s just kind of something that happens or it doesn’t. I think I bloomed a little later on, and I’m still hoping I can move on.”
Terry Frei: tfrei@denverpost.com or
Father and Son
Troy Loney
Age: 51.
Alberta native.
52nd choice in the 1982 NHL draft.
Played 624 games in the NHL with Pittsburgh, Anaheim, New York Rangers, New York Islanders and had 87 goals and 110 points.
Ty Loney
Age: 23.
Raised in Pittsburgh area.
Had 23 goals and 19 assists with Youngstown of the United States Hockey League in 2010-11.
Came to DU later in 2011. Has 39 goals and 48 assists in four seasons with the Pioneers.
Of late, has been on a line with sophomore winger Evan Janssen and center Quentin Shore.
