Denver wins 2nd Straight Championship

Didn't that happen to McKee sometime last season? I want to say it was a Clarkson player, but I could be sorely mistaken. Regardless of who it was, I don't remember there being a penalty... just a bunch of us thinking "wait, did that REALLY just happen?"

Oh darn, I'm gonna miss the 50 or so NoDak newbie posters who joining USCHO in the last couple weeks and started 20 of the same threads.

[Q]French Rage Wrote:

Oh darn, I'm gonna miss the 50 or so NoDak newbie posters who joining USCHO in the last couple weeks and started 20 of the same threads.[/q]

Don't worry, they'll be back, sometime around next March most likely.

[Q]dss28 Wrote:

Didn't that happen to McKee sometime last season? I want to say it was a Clarkson player, but I could be sorely mistaken. Regardless of who it was, I don't remember there being a penalty... just a bunch of us thinking "wait, did that REALLY just happen?"[/q]
It was Tanner Glass from Dartmouth, and no, there was no penalty. But I do remember McKee hocking the bottle back at the bench at the next stoppage.

I posted this on USCHO and I feel like a lunatic for putting it here as well, but I think among friends (cue easy joke) I am more likely to get someone to actually check this for me.

I think Denver's 3d goal was credited to Statsny when it shouldn't have been. (I'm not talking about Statsny's first goal, where he got credit for a deflection.) Statsny's goal looked like it crossed the goal line at a 90 degree angle, but Statsny shot it from the circle. I watched it in slo-mo, and I swear that it was deflected by one of his teammates (I'd give you the guys name, but I deleted the game before starting to obsess about this.)

As Statsny shoots, a Denver skater and an ND player are cutting in front of the crease. Denver guy is leaning forward, with his stick parallel to the ice. I swear that the shot hits the shaft of his stick, ricochets off and squeezes in between Parise and the pipe.

I looked at this last night after reading your USCHO post. It looks to me like the puck was shot on the ice and towards the far post. It crossed the goal line in the air on the near post. It looks like it deflected off of either the DU skater or the ND skater, but I could not tell which.

From the Chicago Tribune [q]COMMENTARY

Denver hockey at peak once again

BY RICHARD ROTHSCHILD. Richard Rothschild is a Tribune sports copy editor
Published April 13, 2005

Long before John Elway, long before Coors Field and way before the Colorado Avalanche won two Stanley Cups, the top sports attraction in the Mile High City was University of Denver hockey.

In a city without major-league baseball, the NFL, NBA, NHL or college football, the Pioneers were the UCLA of NCAA hockey. Denver won national championships in 1958, 1960, 1961, 1968 and in 1969, when I was a freshman there.

Future Blackhawks defenseman Keith Magnuson was an All-American and captain of the '69 Pioneers, a huge figure on campus along with fellow All-American sophomore George Morrison, who scored 40 goals in 32 games.

Craig Patrick, Herb Brooks' assistant for the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" U.S. hockey team, was a reserve.

In 1969, major-league baseball and the NHL were years off in Denver's future, the Rockets were a so-so ABA franchise and the lowly Broncos, despite colorful coach Lou ("They're killing me, Whitey" Saban, were one of the worst teams in the old AFL.

Yes, the university had a basketball team, but after going 2-24 under future NBA coach Stan Albeck in '69, no one wanted to talk about that.

Hockey was different. The Pioneers would sell out the old arena with more than 5,000 fans per game. When they qualified for the NCAA semifinals in Colorado Springs--it wasn't called the Frozen Four back then--many of us made the one-hour ride down Interstate Highway 25 for the action.

After Denver clobbered Harvard 9-2 in the semifinals, a showdown with Cornell and All-American goaltender Ken Dryden awaited in the championship game at the Broadmoor Arena, where Peggy Fleming once graced the ice.

It was the best hockey game I ever attended: 1-1 after one period and 2-2 after two. Goals from Bob Trembecky and Tom Miller gave Denver a 4-2 lead, but Cornell cut it to one. The Big Red pulled its big goalie in the final minute and barely missed tying the game.

Denver won 4-3, and 36 years later the thrill remains.

As the city became more of a professional sports town, Pioneers hockey faded.

The '90s were huge for Denver, and the Broncos' success was only the tip of one of those snow-capped mountains that dominate the city's western view. The 1990 Final Four was played at McNichols Arena, the Avalanche won the '96 Stanley Cup, and major-league baseball arrived with the Colorado Rockies, first at massive Mile High Stadium and then at handsome Coors Field.

The Avalanche won the Stanley Cup again in 2002.

Meanwhile, University of Denver hockey faded into memory. Schools such as Boston University, Wisconsin, Minnesota and even little Lake Superior State began picking off multiple NCAA titles.

Pioneers hockey resembled an athletic relic.

But the Pioneer spirit is back.

Saturday night in Columbus, Ohio, Denver won its second straight NCAA hockey title and seventh overall, dominating North Dakota 4-1. Instead of Morrison firing away at the net, it was freshman Paul Stastny, son of NHL great Peter Stastny, scoring two goals.

Rather than goalie Gerry Powers making big saves, it was Peter Mannino. Like Powers in 1968, Mannino was the tourney's outstanding player.

Although I'm sure most Denver residents take pride in the Pioneers' achievement, it can't be like the old days when Pioneers' hockey dominated.

Within a week, talk will turn to the Nuggets' playoff chances, the Rockies' and the Broncos' draft plans. That's the way it is in a multi-sport market.

But in a spring where there will be no Stanley Cup competition, Denver and its distinguished coach George Gwozdecky have added to their own stellar hockey tradition.

Maybe it's not like 1969, but it's still a good story.

----------

rrothschild@tribune.com
[/q]

I read today that Steve Rushin's latest column in SI is about the Frozen Four. It's titled: "The Best Event In Sports You've Never Seen," in the latest issue. You can only access it if you have either 1) an SI Extra membership or 2) a physical copy of Sports Illustrated, of which I have neither at the moment. But I can certainly support the sentiment put forth in the title.

Columbus was my 5th FF attended in person, and it just keeps getting better for me personally. Despite the usual "what is there to do in this town/why did they have to hold it here?" feelings amongst some fans, there really is a feeling of a "college hockey convention" to the whole weekend. Everywhere you go, you see the colors of just about every school you can imagine. Restaurants, bars, attractions, and clubs are full of all sorts of different people who actually give a flip about college hockey. Locals ask questions about what's going on. Strangers come up and complement you ("Cornell should've been here...McKee should've won...you Cornell fans are insane!" or do some good-natured trash-talking. You bond with your league-mates. You might bump into some college hockey "celebrities" (media members, players, coaches, refs...depending on your definition of "celebrity" or USCHO posters you may have had exchanges with. If you look for it, it can certainly turn into a 3-day party, and you can meet new friends. And the best part...most years, tickets can be found...easily. Some years for an extreme discount (just ask me...)

This year, I got to complement Feola on his job reffing the ECAC Finals. I got to see a Cornell player up on stage as one of the top three players in the game. I got the "awful smell" version of the Alma Mater sung to me very off-key by Jayson Moy and several INCH staffers. I got to meet and congratulate the guy who ended our season...OK, they all aren't good experiences. And the tailgating. Oh good god...the tailgating.

So even if Cornell falls achingly short of making it, I highly recommend giving the experience a shot. And in the years to come that Cornell makes it to the Frozen Four (and beyond...ohpleaseohpleaseohplease), we can make it a serious CU hockey blowout party.

[Q]RichH Wrote:
So even if Cornell falls achingly short of making it, I highly recommend giving the experience a shot. And in the years to come that Cornell makes it to the Frozen Four (and beyond...ohpleaseohpleaseohplease), we can make it a serious CU hockey blowout party.[/q]

Amen. I share Rich's sentiments completely. Because of some difficult circumstances this year, I couldn't make it after all (though I might've tried to move heaven and earth if Cornell had been there), but I have enjoyed it thoroughly every single time I've gone, back to and including Anaheim in 1999 (which was also Rich's first, IIRC).

Plus beyond the atmosphere, it's a great excuse to visit friends in places you normally wouldn't go. I already have tentative plans to get together with friends in Milwaukee, St. Louis, and Denver over the next three years.

Beeeej

[Q]Beeeej Wrote:I already have tentative plans to get together with friends in Milwaukee, St. Louis, and Denver over the next three years.[/q]

Are those billable hours?