GOALIES SPLIT TIME
Young duo gives Pios an edge
Denver freshman Filip Larsson is among four finalists for the National College Hockey Conference’s goaltender of the year, an award that will be announced Thursday in St. Paul, Minn., site of this weekend’s NCHC Frozen Faceoff.
But that doesn’t mean Larsson is the clear-cut starter in Friday’s tournament semifinal against Minnesota Duluth.
That’s because DU’s other goalie — sophomore Devin Cooley — has been just as special in what was supposed to be a rebuilding season. The Pioneers, 2017 NCAA champions, lost 11 players from 2017-18, including four-year starting goalie Tanner Jaillet and his backup Dayton Rasmussen. Jaillet was a two-time All-American; Rasmussen retired from hockey after his freshman year.
“It’s been really impressive,” DU coach David Carle said of his 1-2 goaltending punch. “It’s not easy to replace an All-American, Mike Richter Award winner and for Devin to do what he did early when Filip was hurt, is really just remarkable. I thought those guys — particularly Devin early on — won us some hockey games. And it’s given us an opportunity to grow as a team and get better defensively. If we’re shutting teams out or keeping teams to one or two goals it’s more of a team effort, whereas early it was goaltending.”
Cooley, a walk-on, has appeared in 19 games and ranks fourth nationally in both goalsagainst average (1.89) and save percentage (.933). Larsson, a full-scholarship 2016 draft pick of the Detroit Red Wings, has played in 18 games and is 12th nationally in GAA (2.14) and tied for ninth in SP (.927).
Cooley, from Los Gatos, Calif., started the first 11 games of the season while Larsson recovered from hip/groin surgery. The Swedish-born Larsson started nine consecutive games after Cooley went down with a knee injury Jan. 4.
Denver (21-10-5) has allowed just five goals in its last four games. Cooley and Larsson each had a start in the March 8-9 series against Colorado College. Larsson started both games last weekend in a best-of-three NCHC playoff sweep over North Dakota.
NCHC fourth-seeded DU and No. 2 UMD — the last two NCAA champions, respectively — play at 7:30 p.m. Friday, following the first semifinal between No. 1 St. Cloud State and No. 6 Colorado College, which upset No. 3 Western Michigan in a three-game series that concluded Monday in Kalamazoo, Mich. The NCHC championship game is Saturday night.
“I texted Havy (Tigers coach Mike Haviland) after the game Monday night and said, ‘Hope to see you Saturday night,'” Carle said. “I think it would be great for college hockey. I have memories of my brother’s teams playing CC in the WCHA Final Five championship. It does so much for Colorado college hockey. So we’ll be rooting for them against St. Cloud and hopefully we can take care of business with Duluth.” Footnotes. St. Cloud, Minnesota Duluth and Denver are first, fourth and sixth in the all-important PairWise Ranking (PWR), and each is guaranteed to advance to the NCAA Tournament when the 16-team field is announced Sunday. Denver will be making its NCAA-leading 12th consecutive appearance. Colorado College (17-18-4) is 23rd and needs to win the NCHC tournament to make the national field for the first time since 2011.