Pioneers’ legacy in Denver is an ice one
The longest-running story of sports excellence in Colorado is DU hockey. The Pioneers are as close to a sports dynasty as we have in this dusty old cowtown. Do the math: Through the years, University of Denver hockey has won more championship rings (8) than the Broncos, Avalanche, Nuggets and Rockies combined (5).
Skating for the Pioneers is glamorous. But it ain’t easy. Winning the NCAA tournament is dirty work. It’s an NHL dream deferred. It’s trying to go backto-back, in hopes of staging an encore of the victory party DU enjoyed at the Frozen Four a year ago, with a bull’s-eye target on your back.
“I’ve always loved being a Pioneer. And it’s definitely on my mind that if this happens to be my last year, … we want to go out the right way, ” said Troy Terry, whose sweet puck-handling will drop jaws at the pro level from the instant he pulls on the sweater of Anaheim, owner of his NHL rights.
A year ago, when the Pioneers defeated Minnesota-Duluth to claim their first national title since 2005, Denver was led by senior defenseman Will Butcher, winner of the Hobey Baker Award as the best player in college hockey.
Denver, loaded with the offensive firepower of Henrik Borgstrom, Dylan Gambrell and Terry, was anointed as prohibitive favorites in the preseason polls to repeat in 2018. Then reality bit the Pioneers right in their big, fat press clippings.
“Going into the year, we had so many expectations, I think it was kind of hard not to buy into all that,” Terry said. “It seemed like everyone thought we were going to have the perfect season.”
Nobody’s perfect. At season’s outset, there was a thin, inexperienced blue line in front of goalie Tanner Jaillet. DU tried to dazzle foes with glitz and speed.
In early November, however, the Pios traveled to Western Michigan and got two heaping servings of humble pie, losing 6-5 and 7-4. When I watched the Pios get beat on home ice by Merrimack, a team that came to town in late December dragging a 4-9-1 record behind it, my thought was: Back-to-back championships? Fuhgeddaboudit.
Where did it go wrong? “It’s really simple, to be honest. I don’t think there’s any magic to it,” Borgstrom said.
Winning a championship is pain drenched in sweat. “You’ve got to suck it up,” Borgstrom said. “When I had those bad periods during the season, I noticed in myself that I wasn’t working hard enough.”
But what makes watching DU coach Jim Montgomery so fascinating is how he molds and reshapes a team throughout the course of a long season. While many coaches fall into the trap of chasing the next score, Montgomery is constantly building toward the NCAA tourney, with a commitment to excellence sports organizations always talk about, but often lack the fortitude to walk the walk, especially when the road to a championship starts to get bumpy.
Montgomery nurtured a defense that slowly began to put down strong roots at the blue line. DU can now win a game that’s not a shootout. The difference in the ornery these Pioneers can bring to a fight now, as compared to season’s outset?
“Leaps and bounds,” Montgomery said. “Way better.”
The Pioneers open the NCAA tourney on the road against Penn State, in the home state of the Nittany Lions. The lone mission: Survive and advance. To win a national championship, even the most talented hockey team has to be comfortable winning ugly, when a nasty crowd is shouting in your ear and some fickle ref is sending a teammate to the penalty box for being unable to grow a proper playoff beard.
“The way we like to play is what we call ‘Pioneer hockey,’ and that’s defense first,” said Terry, who appreciates a team that could have rested on its national championship laurels and instead put the sweat equity into establishing its own identity. Repeat after me: Few teams can win back-to-back championships without major reinvention.
Building a hockey dynasty? Sounds glamorous. But it’s dirty work.