Inside College Hockey | INCH Measures Up Ryan Caldwell

April 2, 2004
NCAA Frozen Four
INCH Measures Up Denver's Ryan Caldwell

By Mike Eidelbes

Spend a few minutes on the phone with Denver senior defenseman Ryan Caldwell, and you can easily figure out why his teammates voted him captain for the 2003-04 campaign. He's insightful, honest, quick to praise teammates and has the ability to lighten up a conversation.

Basically, Caldwell as versatile off the ice as he is on it. The DeLoraine, Manitoba, native ranks second among Pioneer skaters with 14 goals. Four of those have come on the power play and two are of the shorthanded variety, proof of his skill on the special teams. Inside College Hockey caught up with Caldwell after the Pioneers wrapped up practice earlier this week.

Senior Ryan Caldwell is a member of INCH's 2004 All-America second team.

Inside College Hockey: The Denver sports scene is always crowded with the Avalanche, Broncos, Nuggets, Rockies and all the area colleges, but I imagine you’ve managed to carve out a niche for yourself after last weekend?

Ryan Caldwell: We’re getting great support from the campus – the students and the faculty – and we’re finally getting a little bit of media coverage. We thought they forgot about us about halfway through the year. They’re starting to come around, and we’re giving those four pro sports teams a run for their money right now.

INCH: The Avs are battling the Canucks for the Northwest Division title, yet you’re the hockey team everyone’s talking about.

RC: We can’t really believe it. It’s been kind of hectic around the rink with all the media, but it’s good. All the guys deserve the credit right now and deserve all the attention, because halfway through the year it didn’t look like we’d still be playing right now and because everyone came together so well, we are.

INCH: You’ve mentioned being disappointed with your team’s showing at the season’s halfway mark. Was there a turning point that sent you guys in the right direction?

RC: The big turning point for us as a team was a 1-1 tie we had at North Dakota [Jan. 31]. It wasn’t a win, but we got beat 6-3 or 6-2 (note: the score was actually 6-1) the night before. We came out and played an unbelievable game up there and we felt we should’ve won the game but ended up with the tie. After that, I think we went unbeaten in our next eight games.

INCH Measures Up:
Frozen Four Edition

March 31: BC's Peter Harrold
April 1: Maine's Todd Jackson
April 3: UMD's Jesse Unklesbay

INCH: How did that 1-1 tie in Grand Forks help your team in the West Regional final?

RC: They’re an outstanding team and they really handed it to us the first three times we played them this year. I’ve always loved playing against North Dakota – they’re a great team and they’re well coached. I think that maybe that 1-1 tie gave the younger guys some confidence that we could beat the No. 1 team in the nation, and they were undoubtedly that for the majority of the season. That…and the play of Adam Berkhoel last weekend. He was a bigger reason why we beat North Dakota.

INCH: The guys in front of him played pretty well, too. As a whole, your defensive unit doesn’t seem to have any glaring weaknesses.

RC: We’ve got a good mix of size, speed and skill. I think a big part of our development as a defensive corps this year was [junior] Nick Larson solidifying that sixth spot. He’s come in and battled through a lot of injuries and he’s made us a great group of six. We can put any two guys out there at any time and we’re going to do pretty well. It’s a mix of a different bunch of styles, but I think Nick Larson really brought it all together for us.

INCH: There’s a Pioneer tradition that takes place at the end of the practice prior to game day called the orange-lemon contest. It’s basically a shootout drill that ultimately plays down to one ultimate winner and one ultimate loser. The winner gets the orange, and the loser has to take a big bite out of a lemon and wear an ugly yellow helmet until the next go-round. Will we see that at the Fleet Center Wednesday?

RC: For sure. Every week it’s something we look forward to. Coach Gwozdecky told us two years ago when we were supposed to go to the Frozen Four that if we got there, he’d do it. So rumor has it that he might be in the orange-lemon contest this week. It should be pretty fun to watch.

INCH: Naturally, you guys would love to have Coach Gwozdecky be the big loser.

RC: I think I’d pay money to see him wear that helmet.