Inside College Hockey | 2005 Frozen Four Semifinal Preview

April 4, 2005
NCAA Frozen Four

COLORADO COLLEGE
vs.
DENVER

Thurs., April 7 • 2 p.m. ET
ESPN2
Team Capsules | Semifinal 2 Preview | A Coach's Take

	Overall	Conference	Home	Away	Neutral
CC	31-8-3	19-7-2	17-3-1	10-4-2	4-1-0
Denver	30-9-2	19-7-2	16-3-1	10-6-1	4-0-0

	Goals/Gm.	GA/Gm.	PP Pct.	PK Pct.	PIM/Gm.
CC	3.76 (4th)	2.26 (9th)	.235 (3rd)	.858 (13th)	17.2 (31st)
Denver	4.00 (2nd)	2.61 (19th)	.189 (18th)	.853 (15th)	17.5 (28th)

Colorado College: Midwest Region first seed
Colorado College 6, Colgate 5
Colorado College 4, Michigan 3

Denver: Northeast Region first seed
Denver 4, Bemidji State 3 ot
Denver 4, New Hampshire 2

Colorado College’s tandem of juniors Marty Sertich and Brett Sterling have spent most of the season in the spotlight, and that won’t change now that the Tigers have reached the Frozen Four and both are finalists for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award. CC hasn’t cornered the market on dynamic forwards, however, as Denver junior Gabe Gauthier and freshman Paul Stastny are just as capable of making things happen on their own. Beyond the top two, Denver would appear to hold a slight advantage in this area. Coach George Gwozdecky’s lines are deep with versatile, experienced players who may not excel in one particular area, but are proficient across the board – specifically, the senior quartet of Jeff Drummond, Jon Foster, Luke Fulghum and Kevin Ulanski, each of whom have scored more than 29 points this season. As a result, younger players like freshmen Geoff Paukovich and Ryan Dingle and sophomore J.D. Corbin are regular contributors to the Pioneers’ success, but aren’t expected to carry the mail. The Tigers’ depth up front isn’t quite that of Denver’s, but players such as juniors Joey Crabb (11 power play goals), Aaron Slattengren (25 points) and Trevor Frischmon (a key penalty killer) merit attention. Another similarity between the two teams’ forward units is attention to defensive detail – neither squad shirks its responsibilities in its own end.

Whereas the Tigers boast arguably the two top forwards in college hockey, the Pioneers have the luxury of putting two of the nation’s top defenseman in the lineup night in and night out. Sophomore Matt Carle and junior Brett Skinner are gifted, well-rounded players, and both will likely log in the neighborhood of 30 minutes of ice time Thursday. With the ultra-talented duo at its disposal, Denver can fill in the remaining blanks with steady veterans like seniors Jussi Halme and captain Matt Laatsch, who played extremely well in last year’s Frozen Four. Colorado College doesn’t have the offensive punch that Carle and Skinner provide from the blue line, but it’s a quality group led by the rugged Mark Stuart, who’s been called the NCAA’s version of Scott Stevens. Brian Salcido and Lee Sweatt are the primary set-up men on the power play – they’ve scored 29 and 27 points, respectively, this season. As a group, the Tigers’ defensive corps is more mobile than the Pioneers’, but Denver’s group is probably better suited for physical play.

The Pioneers have bucked the playoff trend and given two goaltenders alternate starts throughout the second half of the season and the playoffs. Early reports out of Denver indicate that Gwozdecky plans to stick with the pattern in Columbus, which means that Glenn Fisher would get the nod versus CC. Surely, that decision will get the most consideration from the DU coaching staff, as freshman Peter Mannino has been excellent against the Tigers this year with three wins, including two consecutive shutouts. Curtis McElhinney will be the starter for Colorado College. He’s got more experience than both of Denver’s goalies combined, but he was shaky in both of his appearances at the Midwest Regional in Grand Rapids. McElhinney has a tendency to let in soft goals, and he’s vulnerable on screen shots.

Neither team has a decided advantage in this area. Colorado College brings the nation’s third-best power play to Columbus. The Tigers have scored 55 PPGs on the season and are converting at a 23.5 percent clip. In fact, more than 35 percent of CC’s goals have come with the man advantage. It’s important for Denver to minimize penalties -- the more they take, the more they’ll have to worry about defending against Sertich and Sterling in the offensive end. Denver’s power play is the worst of the four teams in Columbus percentage-wise, but they’ve scored 49 PPGs this year. Having the extra man gives Carle and Skinner greater latitude to create offensively. The rub is that the Pioneers allow a lot of shorthanded chances – its opponents have scored nine SHGs this season. Coincidentally, DU is fairly good at generating scoring opportunities when it kills penalties. They’ve scored seven times while shorthanded.

Gwozdecky has done his best job behind the Pioneer bench this season, tweaking his systems to take advantage of talented players like Carle, Gauthier, Skinner and Stastny. His biggest advantage, however, might be the way his team reflects his no-nonsense, straightforward style. Still, Gwozdecky (along with assistants Steve Miller and Seth Appert) are adept in keeping the team loose and providing moments of levity. The end result is a group of players that is mentally prepared to roll with the punches. Ironically, Scott Owens has remade the Tigers into what DU used to be. CC has more offensive prowess than the Pioneer teams of years past, but they’re not the explosive team that once featured Peter Sejna, Noah Clarke and the like. Like the Denver club of a year ago, the Tigers are at their best when everyone accepts and plays their role.

WHY COLORADO COLLEGE WINS: Because, as the old saying goes, that which does not kill you makes you stronger. The Tigers are in Columbus after surviving harrowing Midwest Regional wins against Colgate and Michigan. After those two scares, they should be ready to deal with just about anything. If, as expected, Gwozdecky tabs Fisher as Thursday’s starter, jumping out to an early lead would not only give CC momentum but would also plant seeds of doubt in the Pioneers’ minds and likely force the Denver defensemen to take chances offensively, which would open things up for the Tigers’ forwards. CC’s cause would also be enhanced by winning the special teams battle.

WHY DENVER WINS: Obviously, the Pioneers have the experience of last year, which is certainly an advantage. DU is probably a little deeper than the Tigers overall and they’re probably the better team on the NHL-sized ice surface. With less room to skate, it’ll be easier for the Pioneers to play a physical game and wear CC down. It would also be easier for DU to reach that goal by playing as much even-strength hockey as they can. Offensively, they’ll do everything they can to get traffic in front of McElhinney with the hopes of scoring on a rebound or a shot the goaltender can’t pick up. The variable in this equation is the Pioneer goaltender – will Gwozdecky stick with Fisher or go with Mannino?