Sioux following Pioneers' '04 pattern
COLUMBUS, Ohio – George Gwozdecky is dealing with a sense of déjà vu.
As the University of Denver coach prepares his hockey team for Saturday night's national championship game against North Dakota (ESPN, 7 p.m. ET), he sees a lot of similarities between last year's national champion Pioneers and this year's Fighting Sioux.
"They remind me of what we went through last year," Gwozdecky said. "The middle third of the season they seemed to be really struggling to keep their head above water ... the last third of their season's been really, really good.
"They're strong, they're physical, they're playing to their strength, they're not taking stupid penalties, they're getting timely scoring and they're playing at their best in the best time of year to play."
In other words, North Dakota (25-14-5) is poised to win its eighth national title and first since 2000.
To do so, the Fighting Sioux will have to get by Denver (31-9-2), a team they haven't beaten yet this season. The Pioneers swept a series in Grand Forks in early February and also posted a 2-1 overtime win against UND in the WCHA Final Five semifinals last month.
Both teams downplayed the significance of the first on-ice meeting since Bina's injury.
"It was just one of those things that happened and I don't think there's any bad blood," UND goaltender Jordan Parise said. "It was just two guys playing hard, and what happened was very unfortunate."
"It's a championship game and you can't let stuff like that get in the way," DU defenseman Brett Skinner said. "We're just going to focus on winning the game right now."
Denver, which beat Maine 1-0 in last year's national title game, earned the right to defend its championship with an impressive 6-2 victory over Colorado College on Thursday afternoon. The Pioneers, who are on an eight-game winning streak and haven't lost since March 3, exploded for six power-play goals despite coming into the game on a 3-for-48 drought with the man-advantage.
Luke Fulghum (23 goals, 19 assists, 42 points) and Gabe Gauthier (25-33-58) each scored a pair of goals to lead the DU attack. As expected, Gwozdecky will go with Peter Mannino (17-4-1, 2.24 GAA, .924 save percentage) in goal in the title game. The freshman made some spectacular saves in the semifinal win, and he beat the Sioux the only time he faced them (4-2 on Feb. 5).
| Bill Clement's keys |
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Here are the keys to victory for the Fighting Sioux and Pioneers in Saturday's national championship: North Dakota Fighting Sioux  The given with the Fighting Sioux is that they're going to be good in goal. Jordan Parise has given us no reason to think that he is not fully in a zone right now – that few athletes get to go to or stay in for very long. He's absolutely there, but it's also the layers of protection that he gets in front of him. So North Dakota will have to continue to play the way it did at the East Regional, which is big, strong and extremely aggressive in front of their own net and in their corners. The Sioux must continue to be the defensive juggernaut that they are. That's their great strength. In every win, they got contributions from a fifth or sixth defenseman, from a third or fourth line – they got some ugly goals. That's where a guy like Erik Fabian comes in. That's the mark of a team that's really on a roll – it isn't getting mileage from one guy or one line, but it's good defensively first and then gets different contributions on different nights from different guys. Denver Pioneers  Peter Mannino will be under the greatest spotlight he's ever been under. That said, he looked like a veteran, polished and poised goaltender against Colorado College in the semifinals. His challenge will be emotional preparation and emotional control for the game.For guys like Brett Skinner and Matt Carle on the blue line, they're going to have to be really good. What's underrated about North Dakota is some of the size up front. Travis Zajac, Drew Stafford and Colby Genoway play big. So Denver has to be ready to play a big man's game against them and get the puck out of its own end efficiently. On the offensive end, Gabe Gauthier is the best at being able to play a power game for a little guy. He plays like a power forward and will have to against North Dakota. And the Pioneers' power play has to work like it did against Colorado College. It will be interesting to see if that was an aberration or if they can continue their success. North Dakota is a monster team with a lead. They are tailor-made to play with a lead. If Denver can get ahead of the Sioux, the Pioneers will be playing away from North Dakota's strength. – ESPN analyst Bill Clement |
In addition to trying to defend its 2004 title, DU will be trying to secure a seventh national title, which would tie the Pioneers with UND for second behind Michigan's nine championships.
A win by the Fighting Sioux would tie them with the 1981 Wisconsin Badgers for the most losses by a team that won the national championship (14).
UND isn't concerned with that piece of history but rather with making the same improbable midseason turnaround that Denver did on its way to last year's national title.
"I think the two teams are very similar," UND coach Dave Hakstol said. "They had their ups and downs through the regular season, but I think at this point last year they were a very solid team, they had good goaltending and they were getting contributions offensively from a lot of people."
That's the exact recipe the Fighting Sioux have been using since finding their way in late February.
"I think this game sets up very well," Hakstol said. "You have two teams that are playing extremely well right now – maybe the two teams that are playing the best hockey of anyone in the country at this time.
"We're getting offensive contributions from everybody throughout the lineup, and that's been a real key to the success we've had. Everybody's playing pretty well, but on any given night it seems like it's somebody different stepping forward, and that's been extremely important."
That was the case in UND's 4-2 semifinal win over Minnesota on Thursday. Fourth-line left wing Erik Fabian scored his fourth and fifth goals to nearly equal his entire season output. And freshman center Travis Zajac added the rest of the UND offense, scoring his 18th and 19th goals of the season.
As good as the Sioux offense has been of late – averaging 4½ goals in the postseason – the driving force of UND's success has been its big, physical defense.
Lead by captain Matt Greene (6-foot-3, 224 pounds), Matt Jones (6-0, 218) and Matt Smaby (6-5, 220), the Sioux's defensive corps makes it very difficult for opponents to get to the net and punishes them should they find their way to a good scoring chance.
And then there's Parise.
The sophomore goaltender (17-6-3, 2.10, .919) extended his unbeaten streak to 12 games (10-0-2) with the semifinal win over the Gophers. He's been a primary reason for UND's late-season surge.
"He's an extremely fiery competitor," Hakstol said. "He loves to win but I think he hates to lose more than he likes winning, and I think that's initially what makes him a good goaltender.
"But along with that he's worked extremely hard on the technical side of his game, and that's the part of his game that's maybe given him a little bit of an edge coming down the stretch."
Now all that remains to be seen is whether Gwozdecky's déjà vu on Saturday night translates to North Dakota finishing its Pioneer-like run or Denver winning its second straight national title.
David Albright is a senior editor at ESPN.com and can be reached at david.albright@espn3.com.
