DENVER PIONEERS BEAT BOSTON COLLEGE 5-2 IN EAST REGIONAL SEMIFINAL. .
DU coach Jim Montgomery makes everyone laugh in his opening comments during postgame presser:
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Last week in Calgary, former Boston College star Johnny Gaudreau and former University of Denver standout Joe Colborne made a bet between Flames teammates. Gaudreau, the 2014 Hobey Baker Award winner who had three goals and six points in BC’s 6-2 win over DU in last year’s NCAA Tournament, took his Eagles.
Colborne, of course, had the Pioneers, who won 5-2 in Saturday’s rematch with the Eagles. Gaudreau will be making a public appearance in a DU jersey.
DU coach Jim Montgomery, who coached Gaudreau in juniors, is excited to see Johnny Hockey in a crimson and gold sweater with “DENVER” across the chest.
“Because of a real good Pios alum, ‘Jumbo’ Joe Colborne, I can’t wait to watch a former player that I coached, John Gaudreau — Johnny Hockey — wear a Pioneer jersey, as he lost his bet,” Montgomery said while opening his postgame press conference.
Ice breaker. DU was making its eighth consecutive NCAA Tournament, but was 0-4 since 2011 and 1-7 since 2005. The Pioneers did not advance to the national tournament in 2006 and 2007, after winning it all in 2004 and 2005 by going 8-0. Denver has been snakebit on the big stage since winning back-to-back titles and the pressure was on Saturday.
Montgomery, who is in the second year, helped ease the anxiety before the game against BC.
“He came in and said he could cut then tension with knife and cracked a joke, and kind of got the boys motivated,” LaLeggia said. “The fact that he did that just put a sense of calmness throughout our team. It added to the confidence coming into this game. We knew what we had to do and we knew if we came out and executed we would be successful.”
Legendary. DU captain Grant Arnold is on the path of becoming a legendary Pio. I can work with this story, about the big leader who scored his first two goals of the season in DU’s biggest victory since 2005. DU’s 3-2 overtime win over Western Michigan in 2011 got the Pioneers to a regional title game, but they were no match for North Dakota in a 6-1 loss. Arnold is the leader of a pack that could win it all, joining Ryan Caldwell (2004) and Matt Laatsch (2005) as legendary DU captains.
Arnold, 23, is the guy who will become a millionaire by running his own business or being a CEO of a major corporation. If he was in the military, he would become a general. Arnold is amazingly mature, confident and motivated for his age, and his leadership is never questioned.
Colleague Benjamin Hochman wrote a .
DU captain Grant Arnold (right), defenseman Joey LaLeggia (middle) and defenseman Will Butcher (left):
Some of Arnold’s postgame video were inadvertently erased. Here’s some of it: “Big game for the University of Denver and a huge win for our program. We’re really happy to be the team that kind of got over that hump we’ve been struggling with. At the same time, like coach said, we’ve been on a mission all year. That’s a credit to Coach Monty and he got us in that mindset from the first practice. We’ve had a very strong mindset and goals.”
About saving his first two goals until the NCAA Tournament, Arnold said: “Couple bad breaks of getting pucks in the net.”
