The University of Denver won its eighth hockey national championship in April and then saw nine seniors graduate in June, including Hobey Baker Award-winning defenseman Will Butcher and two goaltenders.

In addition, freshman forward Kevin Conley decided to return to the United States Hockey League (USHL) for an overage season, meaning the Pioneers are down 10 members of last season’s magical team.

That makes it essential that several of the nine members of this season’s freshman class contribute. This time we’ll take a look at the two defensemen and two goaltenders the Pioneers added.

Goaltenders

The situation: The Pioneers feature the reigning Mike Richter Award winner as NCAA hockey’s top goaltender in senior Tanner Jaillet. Since taking over DU’s starting job at the start of 2016, Jaillet has been a rock of consistency. What’s different this year is the depth behind him. Rather than tested seniors Evan Cowley and Greg Ogard, the Pioneers will have freshmen Dayton Rasmussen and Devin Cooley. Not only the experience but the dynamics of the goaltending group will be different.

“It will be good for Tanner to be in a leadership role,” DU coach Jim Montgomery said. “Ever since he’s been here he’s been our youngest goalie. This is an opportunity for him to show them the ropes, how we practice and what it means to be a Pioneer.”

The newcomers: Rasmussen (a 1998 birth year) committed to the Pioneers on April 29, 2015 after a standout season with the Colorado Thunderbirds’ Midget 16U AAA that reached the USA Hockey Nationals semfinals. From there the 6-2, 201-pound netminder moved around the USHL, where he was a member of the past two titlists (Tri-City in 2016 and Chicago in 2017). A late birth year, he was considered an NHL draft prospect going into June’s Entry Draft but went unselected. His frame, athleticism, poise and technique regularly are lauded by scouts.

After rarely playing during his first season of junior, when he was traded to Tri-City from Waterloo (but still managed a 2.52 goals-against-average and .913 save percentage), he played in 38 games for Tri-City and Chicago. His gaa was under 2.50 and his save percentage was north of .911 in both locations.

“He is an extremely athletic goalie who has had tremendous team success, first with the Colorado Thunderbirds and the last two years winning the Clark Cup even though he hasn’t been in the nets in the playoffs,” Montgomery said. “Last season he was predominantly the go-to guy for Tri-City (before the trade). We like his potential.”

Rasmussen appears to have only scratched the surface of that, and he finds himself in an ideal situation, being able to play for an elite program behind an established winner in Jaillet.

The Pioneers also added Cooley (1997) this summer. Cooley spent the past two seasons playing junior hockey in three different leagues, finishing with Wenatchee of the BCHL after being traded from Springfield of the North American Hockey Leauge (NAHL).

“He’s someone who comes to us with a great recommendation on his work ethic and how great a teammate he is,” Montgomery said. “He had some success in Muskegon (USHL) and Wenatchee. Now the goal is to push the other two goalies and gain consistency in his game.”

The 6-5, 180-pound Cooley had a 2.45 gaa and a .887 save percentage for the Wild on the heels of a 3.05 gaa and .909 save percentage in the NAHL. He, fellow freshman Jake Durflinger and rising sophomore Tyson McLellan all played for the San Jose Jr. Sharks at one time during their youth hockey years.

Defensemen

The situation: The play of DU’s defensemen was excellent all last season, and their stability, awareness and skill contributed to Jaillet’s stellar season. Night after night the Pioneers could – and often did – rely on the pairs of Butcher and Adam Plant, Tariq Hammond and Michael Davies and Blake Hillman and Matt VanVoorhis. However, Butcher and VanVoorhis have graduated, and Hammond, Butcher’s successor as captain, is working his way back from a gruesome ankle injury sustained in the national championship game. Hammond is on track to play in the season opening-series at Notre Dame, Montgomery said. But this will be a different-looking group.

“Last season we only had one defense spot we had to replace, this year it’s two,” the coach added. Junior Sean Mostrom and sophomore Erich Fear are two contenders, and a pair of freshmen (Griffin Mendel and Ian Mitchell) who signed their NLIs in the fall are two more. All are 6 feet or taller, much taller in the cases of Mendel (6-4) and Fear (6-5).

The newcomers: There is no question the right-shooting Mitchell (1999) figures prominently in the Pioneers’ plans. He was well thought of enough that the Chicago Blackhawks selected him in the second round (57^th overall) in the 2017 Entry Draft. He will be the second-highest draft pick on this season’s DU team (after Henrik Borgstrom and just before Dylan Gambrell – 60th by San Jose in 2016), and he’s the highest-drafted defenseman of the Montgomery era at DU.

The 6-foot, 175-pound Mitchell committed to DU on March 29, 2016 while playing his first full season for the Spruce Grove Saints of the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL). He fits a familiar blue line template, where skill outweighs stature, and Mitchell has plenty of the latter, putting up 37 points in 53 games and four more points in 10 playoff games this season, up from 27 points in 2015-16. He was a member of Canada’s Under-18 team and likely will have a shot at the country’s World Junior Championship team at some point.

“The Blackhawks value what we do – mobility, the ability to break pucks out and transition in all three zones,” Montgomery said. “We’re expecting him to log key minutes and be a big part of what we do on special teams. He’s a great skater and he competes hard.”

The 6-4, 209-pound Mendel (1999) also was considered a draftable prospect. A left shot, he committed to the Pioneers on Feb. 1, 2016 while in the midst of his first full season with the Penticton Vees of the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL).

Statistically, his high-water mark came during that 2015-16 campaign, when he had 14 points. He had 10 this past season, but put up six more in 21 playoff games for the league champs.

“We were surprised he didn’t get drafted,” Montgomery said. “He’s very similar to Blake Hillman and Davies, he’s going to get in here and surprise people with how good he is. Once he gets how we play, we think his game is going to flourish.

“He’s a good skater for a big man and someone who sees the ice well and defends really well.”

Time will tell, but the Pioneers’ reinforcements on the back end come with plenty of promise.

Coming up, a closer look at DU’s five incoming forwards.

Get to know DU’s captains