A year ago, the University of Denver fell one victory shy of advancing to the NCAA Frozen Four. The Pioneers’ starting goalie, Tanner Jaillet, was a 21-year freshman. What he lacked in experience was made up in maturity.
As a 22-year-old sophomore, Jaillet has the qualities to take DU all the way. He is among the country’s hottest goalies as the Pioneers — unquestionably the country’s hottest team — find themselves a week from playing in the NCAA Tournament.
“A year of experience is huge,” Jaillet said. “I know what to expect.”
Jaillet is 12-0-3 with a .938 save percentage during a 20-game stretch in which the Pioneers have lost only once (16-1-3). Denver takes an 11-game winning streak into Friday’s game against St. Cloud State — the last team to beat DU — in a National Collegiate Hockey Conference semifinal playoff contest at the Target Center in Minneapolis.
The winner will play North Dakota or Minnesota Duluth in Saturday’s NCHC championship game.
Jaillet is coming off a career-high 51 saves in Saturday’s 4-3 double-overtime victory over Nebraska Omaha that punched DU’s ticket to the NCHC finals. After Saturday’s championship game or consolation game, the Pioneers on Sunday will accept a bid from the NCAA Tournament for the ninth consecutive year.
With Jaillet, DU coach Jim Montgomery says his team has an outstanding chance to win the conference and national championships.
“There’s two elements that have made him an elite college goalie — and that’s what he is now,” Montgomery said. “The first thing is, he had a really good summer under (trainer) Matt Shaw’s direction. He really increased his crease movements — how powerful he is in the crease. It allows him eat up a lot more space.
“And the second thing is between the ears. He’s become a much more confident goaltender, and you notice it when he plays the puck and how vocal he is in the defensive zone. He commands the defensive zone and takes ownership of it. It’s because of the confidence between his ears and how much he understands his position.”
At Christmas, the Pioneers stood 7-7-2 after absorbing 5-2 and 6-2 losses at home to St. Cloud State. Jaillet allowed all five goals in the series opener and two more in the ugly finale that saw Montgomery use three goalies.
Since that rout, the Pioneers have allowed a conference-low 1.75 goals per game.
“We feel good,” Jaillet said. “The 11-game win streak says a lot — especially against the really good teams we’ve beaten. We have a lot of confidence going forward.”
St. Cloud State has gone 15-4-1 since sweeping Denver. The Huskies, who are on a four-game winning streak, are No. 3 in the PairWise Rankings behind North Dakota and Quinnipiac. Denver is sixth, behind No. 4 Providence and Boston College.
The top four will receive No. 1 regional seeds for next week’s NCAA Tournament.
Mike Chambers: mchambers@denverpost.com or @mikechambers
