Inside College Hockey | 2004 Frozen Four Semifinal Preview

April 5, 2004
NCAA Frozen Four

DENVER
vs.
MINNESOTA DULUTH

Thurs., April 8 • Noon ET
ESPN2
Semifinal 2 Preview | A Coach's Take

	Overall	Conference	Home	Away	Neutral
Denver	25-12-5	13-10-5	13-9-1	8-3-4	4-0-0
UMD	28-12-4	19-7-2	15-5-0	10-6-3	3-1-1

	Goals/Gm.	GA/Gm.	PP Pct.	PK Pct.	PIM/Gm.
Denver	3.8 (8th)	2.8 (25th)	.190 (16th)	.857 (12th)	17.0 (24th)
UMD	4.1 (2nd)	2.7 (22nd)	.257 (2nd)	.847 (20th)	18.1 (15th)

Denver: West Region second seed
Denver 3, Miami 2
Denver 1, North Dakota 0

Minnesota Duluth: Midwest Region second seed
Minnesota Duluth 5, Michigan State 0
Minnesota Duluth 3, Minnesota 1

Minnesota Duluth has a huge edge in this area. With Evan Schwabe centering Justin Williams and Junior Lessard and T.J. Caig between Tyler Brosz and Luke Stauffacher, the Bulldogs have arguably the best top six in the nation. And we didn’t mention Tim Stapleton, who’s third on the team in scoring with 40 points, and Marco Peluso, a 28-point scorer on the left wing. Throw in solid role players like senior Jesse Unklesbay and juniors Brett Hammond and Nick Anderson, and UMD is awfully tough up front. Health shouldn’t be an issue – the Bulldogs were banged up in Grand Rapids, but 11 days should be enough time for everyone to get close to full strength. Denver won’t pump in a lot of goals, but they have a balanced attack. The key is the possible return of senior wing Connor James, who stirs the Pioneers’ drink offensively with his speed and creativity. Outside of leading scorer Gabe Gauthier, Denver relies on lunch-pail guys like Luke Fulghum and Max Bull to make things happen through heady two-way play or – in the cases of senior forwards Lukas Dora and Greg Keith – by serving as agitators in the Darcy Tucker mold.

You could give either team the advantage on the blue line and no one would argue, but we’ll give a slight lean to Denver. Defensemen are kind of like offensive linemen in football – you might not pay attention to them when they make a great play, but you definitely know when they’ve screwed up. The Pioneers’ sextet is steady, if mostly unspectacular. They have some guys – most notably senior Ryan Caldwell, sophomore Brett Skinner and freshman Matt Carle – with scoring touch, but what makes them good is their attention to detail. Things like good outlet passes, proper positioning and manning the points on the power play are second nature. Minnesota Duluth boasts a pair of terrific rearguards in senior Beau Geisler and junior Tim Hambly who get noteriety for their scoring acumen, but their four meat-and-potatoes guys – senior Jay Hardwick, juniors Neil Petruic and Todd Smith and sophomore Steve Czech – ably fulfill their duties.

Flip a coin. With Denver’s Adam Berkhoel and Minnesota Duluth’s Isaac Reichmuth starting Thursday, it’s doubtful that either goalie will lose the game for his team but both have the ability to win it. Berkhoel was Vezina Trophy-outstanding in wins against Miami and North Dakota at the West Regional two weeks ago. Berkhoel’s vision, lateral movement and quickness were in top form, and the senior never appeared to be rattled even when the Fighting Sioux bombarded him with shots at times during the West Regional final. Reichmuth was just as impressive in backstopping the Bulldogs to two wins at the Midwest Regional in Grand Rapids. The similarities between the two don’t end there. Berkhoel and Reichmuth are both 5-11 and enter the Frozen Four with roughly the same numbers – Berkhoel is 22-11-4 with a 2.51 GAA and a .917 sv%, while Reichmuth is 23-8-4 with a 2.60 GAA and a .910 sv%. It’s probably more important for the Pioneers to get a spot-on performance from Berkhoel. If he’s sharp, it allows Denver’s defensemen to take more chances in the offensive zone.

Not many differences here, either. Minnesota Duluth ranks second nationally in power play success, while Denver is 16th. The Pioneers have the better penalty kill, ranking 12th in the nation, whereas the Bulldogs are 20th in that category. That said, because their scoring punch isn’t quite on par with UMD’s, it’s crucial for Denver to win the special teams battle, which was a key reason for their success in Colorado Springs. The Pioneers picked up a power play goal and a shorthanded goal in the win against Miami and, although DU didn’t score a PPG against North Dakota, they kept the Fighting Sioux from doing so. One sidebar: both UMD and Denver are among the country’s most penalized teams – the Bulldogs rank 14th, and the Pioneers are 24th in that category.

George Gwozdecky and Scott Sandelin are making their first trips to the Frozen Four as head coaches, but they've been here in other roles. In fact, both have two NCAA championship rings to their credit – Gwozdecky played on Wisconsin's 1977 title-winning team and was an assistant coach under Ron Mason when Michigan State won it all in 1986, while Sandelin was an assistant coach on North Dakota's national championship teams in 1997 and 2000. With both coaches, what you see is what you get. They're a lot like their teams – steady, fundamentally sound and unflappable – and even though this is the biggest stage in college hockey, the Bulldogs and Pioneers will approach Thursday's game as if it were a Saturday night in Houghton.

WHY DENVER WINS: The Pioneers are similar to the St. Louis Cardinals of Whitey Herzog. The Redbirds won with pitching, defense and manufacturing runs, and Denver wins with goaltending, defense and special teams superiority. Sounds like a recipe for postseason success, doesn't it? If this game turns into a shootout, the Pioneers are in trouble. If it's a tight, low-scoring, close-checking affair, it's Denver's game to lose, especially if the power play opportunities are in their favor.

WHY MINNESOTA DULUTH WINS: UMD's depth at forward presents the biggest challenge to Denver. If the Bulldogs can jump out to an early lead, it takes the pressure of Reichmuth and forces the Pioneers to take chances offensively which could compromise their steadfastness in the defensive zone. As in DU's case, the Bulldogs' chances to win improve if they have more power play opportunities. UMD's bumps and bruises have had time to heal, so they'll be as healthy as they've been in more than a month.