LOVELAND — Say the trickster gods line up a single game to decide the fate of the free world, and you can pick any Front Range coach, in any sport, to lead your side. Is there any rational choice other than DU’s David Carle?
Sean Payton? On fourth-and-1, he might bootleg Steady Stiddy again rather than take the points.
Jared Bednar? Not if the other team comes out wearing Dallas sweaters.
David Adelman? Not if you want a fourth-quarter lead to be safe and sound.
Warren Schaeffer? Nice guy who’ll finish last. Deion Sanders? Hello, ESPN. Bye-bye, free world.
“I’ve worked with amazing coaches in hockey and many other sports,” Josh Berlo, DU’s vice chancellor for athletics and Ritchie Center operations, told me Sunday after the Pioneers pounded Western Michigan and clinched a third straight trip to the Frozen Four. “And David’s as good as they get. He really is.”
In any sport. Anywhere. The 36-year-old Pios coach is going to his sixth Frozen Four and shooting for his third national title. He’s 14-3 in the NCAA tournament, good for a winning percentage of 82.5% in the Big Dance.
“I would say that there’s one word to describe David Carle as a coach and a human being,” Berlo said. “And it’s, ‘Fantastic.'”
I’ll give you another: Best.
Best in the metro. Best in the Front Range. Best in the state, really, now that Name/Image/Likeness and the House ruling have helped suck the juice out of Air Force football under Troy Calhoun.
And this Pios team, the first at DU to ever clinch a third straight Frozen Four bid, might be Carle’s best coaching job yet.
“They’ve had a lot of great coaching seasons. I would definitely say this one ranks up there because they had to battle some adversity,” Berlo noted. “They had to battle some injuries. Go up against incredible competition and the expectations and some change, right? … And to see it all play out and to get to a Frozen Four without getting on an airplane in the postseason, that doesn’t happen.”
Sure doesn’t. On Jan. 11, the Pios were 12-9-2, with Quentin Miller starting in goal. In the 18 games since, they’re 15-2-1. On Jan. 24 against St. Cloud State, freshman Johnny Hicks replaced the injured Miller as the No. 1 net-minder, and the Pios took off, stringing together a record of 14-0-1 after that.
“There’s a phrase I use with the staff, ‘You know, winning just tastes better when you do it the right way,'” Berlo continued.
“And then, you have the challenge of doing it consistently. You’ve got to stay focused. You’ve got to fight complacency. You’ve got to stay innovative. Because folks want to take your spot in the world.”
Everybody wants Carle’s spot atop the mountain. Everybody’s gunning for the Pios. Yet DC at DU remains unmoved. Bruised, yes. But never broken, never bowed.
Thanks to Sunday’s 6-2 win, Carle’s slated to take his kids to Vegas for the program’s sixth Frozen Four over his eight seasons at the helm. Only the legendary Murray Armstrong, who helmed DU from 1956-77 and took the Pios to 10 national semis, has more.
Last May, DU announced that it had signed Carle to a “multi-year” extension. What do you say, Josh? Can we just rip it up and replace it with a “lifetime” appointment?
“I mean, as a private institution, we’re not going to talk about contracts,” Berlo laughed. “But we will absolutely say we are so proud of the partnership with Coach Carle and the staff and the fact that he’s a graduate of our institution. It’s a fantastic story and relationship, and we couldn’t be prouder of it. And the mutual commitment is so strong and so authentic. You just don’t see that anymore.”
You just don’t. In a world of revenue sharing and transfer portals, where rosters flip on a dime, one thing in college sports never changes: You can’t have a Frozen Four without Carle and DU.
The funny thing is that the next stop after Loveland’s regional final is The Strip, where Carle’s quiet, businesslike, buttoned-down reserve serves as an almost hilarious contrast to a town of neon, nightlife and naughty bits.
“I’ve never been to the Rio, but it’s a nice hotel. Us and the winner of the (Albany) regional will be there,” Carle deadpanned Sunday. “So yeah, I mean, there’s distractions. We have connections and we’ll find places to go for dinners and such. It’s usually pretty focused. There’s a lot of distractions anywhere you’re going, (and) we live in a pretty major metro market. You also want the great student-athlete experience.”
Hicks, DU’s lithe stopper out of British Columbia, is too young to legally drink, anyway. The young man makes up for his size (5-foot-10) between the pipes by pouncing the way a mountain lion pounces on wounded prey.
With 16:14 left, Hicks zipped to his right post and slapped a blocker pad hard to the ice to turn away a dangerous tap. A few seconds later, the public-address system at Blue Arena pumped out a thumping rendition of
And for the most part, on Sunday, Johnny was. The Pios kept the heat off him early on, but the Broncos’ second shot on goal found its way through. With DU up 2-0 and 13:29 left in the opening stanza, Hicks appeared to lose the carom off a Broncos’ wrister, and as the puck dangled in the blue behind him, Broncos defender Zach Bookman crashed the crease and poked it home to cut the Pios’ lead in half, 2-1.
DU cruised from there. The Pios led 4-1 after a period and put the clamps down, methodically squeezing the clock and the Broncos’ hopes of a repeat title, a shift at a time. Which felt even sweeter, given that WMU had eliminated DU at the Frozen Four last spring en route to winning the national title.
“(Culture) starts with (assistant/GM) Tavis (MacMillan) and the recruiting efforts of our messaging to coming players and recruits,” Carle said. “You know, you’re not coming here because we won. You’re coming here because we want to win and add to the tradition that is DU hockey. And so, yeah, a lot of success (is) finding the right people … there’s some things that need to go your way too. But we really try to recruit to people who want to add to what we’ve done — and not just come here because of what we’ve done.”
Hicks? Freshman. Kyle Chyzowski, whose backhand put the Pios up 2-0? Freshman. Brendan McMorrow, who slid in a rebound to make it 4-1? Freshman.
Carle’s been so good with the kids, it’s no wonder why so many Avalanche fans look at the King of Jewell Avenue a few miles south and wonder, out loud, if he could do with the burgundy and blue what he’s done for the crimson and gold.
Especially after watching Vegas lop Bruce Cassidy, who led the Golden Knights to a Stanley Cup title in 2023, and replace him with John Tortorella. Some is going to pull up to Carle’s house in a Brink’s truck soon and dare him to ride shotgun.
“Yeah, I think (the NHL interest), that’s a question for David,” Berlo said, chuckling again. “Honestly, we’re committed to him. And he knows it, and he loves it here. It’s actually that simple. It really is.”
