Coming off a national championship and retaining three elite players who had the potential to sign with NHL teams that drafted them, as well as keeping one of the nation’s top coaches, drove expectations for Denver’s 2017-18 hockey season through the roof.

The result was a season that included spectacular highlights, puzzling lows, quite a few injuries, and ultimately an uneven performance that saw the campaign end in the elite eight for the first time since 2015.

That said, the Pioneers won 20 games (they finished 23-10-8) or more for the 17th season in a row and reached the NCAA Tournament for the 11th year in a row. As someone told me after the elite eight loss – there are 52 other Division I teams that would gladly trade places with anyone in the final eight.

Comeback plan

The news that sophomore Henrik Borgström and juniors Dylan Gambrell and Troy Terry would return was warmly welcomed. The three NHL draft picks brought elite skill and hockey sense to a Pioneers team that was absorbing the loss of nine players – and many key ones, starting with Hobey Baker Award-winning defenseman Will Butcher – to graduation.

Also crucial was the return of coach Jim Montgomery, who has guided the Pioneers on an upward trajectory since his arrival in 2013. Montgomery interviewed with the Florida Panthers (the franchise that drafted Borgstrom in the first round in 2016) after the season, and was contacted by a handful of other teams various people with knowledge of the situation told me on the condition they not be identified.

Factor in a freshman class loaded with skill and size, and the coach said frequently before the season that this might be the most talented Pioneers squad in his five seasons.

Then there is the fact that Denver tends to win national championships in twos and threes. So a repeat in 2018 was assured, right?

Not so fast.

Injuries strike

Denver knew it would be without captain Tariq Hammond for several games (it ended up being 10) as he worked his way back from an ankle injury sustained in the 2017 national championship game. Factor in graduations of Butcher and Matt VanVoorhis, and that left the Pioneers without half of their top six defenseman from a season ago.

Freshmen Ian Mitchell and Griffin Mendel stepped in and played well, and sophomore Erich Fear clearly took a step in his game. But Mendel and Fear each got dinged at times. Losing senior Adam Plant for nine games in the middle of the season due to a variety of upper-body injuries just as Hammond returned, also hurt the continuity in front of Tanner Jaillet.

The Pioneers actually brought in another defenseman, Ryan Orgel, from junior at Thanksgiving to give them some depth on the back end.

Up front, DU lost sophomore center Tyson McLellan, its best face-off man, to a shoulder injury 13 games into the season. He returned for the two NCAA games, but his presence in the circle, on the penalty kill and his lineup flexibility was missed.

The first turning point

Things started out well enough, with a win and tie at Notre Dame, but a tie at home against what would turn out to be a 10-win Lake Superior State team on the night the championship banner was raised also raised some eyebrows. Order was restored the next night and then DU swept Boston University and Boston College on the road.

But the first weekend of November at Western Michigan planted seeds of doubt that I think might have lingered much of the season. On back-to-back nights DU blew leads and lost 6-5 and 7-4. Saturday’s was particularly galling because the Pioneers led 5-2 midway through the third, then gave up five goals in eight minutes.

After sweeping then No. 1 St. Cloud State at home, DU coughed up another three-goal lead vs. one of North Dakota’s weaker teams in recent memory the next weekend. Yet, the Pioneers bounced back and won two close games at Duluth, so all was well again, right?

Signs of trouble

The stretch from early December to early January looked like it would allow DU to build on the sweep of UMD, but instead it was everything you didn’t want to see: two ties with a Colorado College team DU had beaten 14 times in a row, a split with Dartmouth (and another blown three-goal lead), a loss to 12-win Merrimack at home and a loss at 12-win Miami.

That was followed by one of the best stretches of the season – an eight-game unbeaten streak that included a sweep of Omaha, two ties at North Dakota, a sweep of Duluth (in the best series of the season at Magness Arena) and a win at CC.

Then came another downturn, a 1-3-2 stretch bookended by a losses to CC, the latter to start the NCHC quarterfinals.

The rollercoaster then went up for five wins in a row (the longest stretch of the season) – CC times two, Duluth and St. Cloud to win the NCHC playoff title and a first-round NCAA blowout of Penn State. The train was back on the tracks and a repeat was in sight.

Then Ohio State handed DU as thorough of a defeat as it had all season, 5-1, by winning the special teams battle and scoring off the transition game – two usual hallmarks of DU’s play.

In conclusion

This DU campaign has been one of the toughest college hockey seasons to assess of any that I’ve covered at any level in the past 20 years. I don’t think it was a question of having enough talent, because DU had that. I also don’t think it was a coaching issue, because I got a behind the scenes glance at that and came away impressed.

I’d like to offer a couple of ideas about what happened.

First, DU lost a lot of important role players off the 2016-17 team whose tasks weren’t sufficiently replaced. The Evan Janssens, Matt Marcinews, Emil Romigs, Evan Ritts and Matt VanVoorhis of the world didn’t generate a lot of headlines, but they filled a lot of important roles and were trusted veterans. It calls to mind something legendary college coach Dean Blais once told me: college hockey at its core is a senior game, veteran teams can win big. They’re physically and mentally more mature. A lot of players had to step into new roles for the Pioneers, and the level of success was mixed.

Second, I wonder if there was at times a mindset of “we can turn it on when we want to or when it really matters.” It appeared the team was less than fully engaged through some games against lesser opponents. At other times goaltenders turned in career performances against DU because many of the shots came from the outside.

Yet the Pioneers were money against ranked teams (16-2-2, losing only to Ohio State and North Dakota an tying UND twice). There was some sort of disconnect. A team that wins 80 percent of the time against ranked teams shouldn’t have had some of the struggles it did at other times.

All in all it was a very good season, but I can’t help but think something was left on the table because this was a team that had great written all over it.

 

Team MVP

Tanner Jaillet‘s numbers (22-9-7, .928, 1.88 GAA) put him right back in the conversation of the best goaltenders in Division I. His GAA and five shutouts are fifth, the wins total is tied for seventh and the save percentage is eighth.

It could be argued he played every bit as well as he did, and maybe better that last season, when he won the Mike Richter Award. His save percentage was nearly identical (.929) and his GAA was only 4/100ths lower. The differences? He had 28 wins last season (vs. 22) but he had five shutouts to none in 2016-17.

The last stat really stands out to me because DU won six fewer games despite Jaillet stopping every shot in five games. There were 15 other games he allowed one goal against. So 20 times DU needed to score just two goals to win when Jaillet was in net. Six other times he allowed two.

The flushable games were rare, too, as the senior allowed four or more goals just five times in 38 games and three in just seven more.

When it was all said and done he held DU’s program record for games played (135) and tied for wins (82).

Career highs

Eight returning Pioneers established career highs in points this season:

Henrik Borgström: The Hoby Baker Award finalist hiked his point total from 43 to a team-high 52 and potted 23 goals, up one from his freshman season.

Troy Terry: Year-over-year increases from 22 to 45 to 48 points. His goal total dropped from 22 to 14 this season, but both of his linemates buried 20 or more so you get a sense that wasn’t his primary focus.

Jarid Lukosevicius: When not scoring a career-high 21 goals and 34 points, he enjoyed talking about one-upping his roommate Terry, whom he glowingly calls “American Hero” at every opportunity.

Colin Staub: If there is a player that can’t be measured by stats alone, it’s Staub. Still a career-best 22 points isn’t bad. He has been a plus player every season at DU despite playing on shutdown lines.

Logan O’Connor: Life is good in the OC, and for OC, whose 21 points included two more shorthanded goals. Like Staub, he’s a plus player every season despite playing against other teams’ top lines.

Blake Hillman: His 12 points and three goals were high-water marks, but what really stands out to me is he took almost 50 percent more shots than a season ago (96 to 65). He was much  more aggressive this season.

Rudy Junda: 12 games, zero points in three seasons. 33 games and six points this season. An inspirational leader and willing combatant, his value increased exponentially as the season wore on.

Sean Mostrom: The junior some call Monster dented the scoreboard this season, when he wasn’t bruising opponents.

Hello, I must be going

The will they or won’t they question was answered within 24 hours of the Pioneers’ NCAA loss to Ohio State.

In short order Troy Terry (Anaheim Ducks), Henrik Borgström (Florida Panthers) and Dylan Gambrell (San Jose Sharks) all signed NHL contracts. Defenseman Blake Hillman (Chicago Blackhawks) joined them a day later. As of this writing, all four have made their NHL debuts, with Hillman becoming the first to score an NHL goal (a shortie no less!).

What’s interesting to me is that the three forwards got games in while their teams are fighting to get into the playoffs (Anaheim and Florida) or trying to ensure they retain their playoff position (San Jose). Nothing like stepping right into the men’s league.

In addition, senior defensemen Tariq Hammond and Adam Plant have jumped right into the American Hockey League for Binghamton (New Jersey) and Laval (Montreal), respectively. You can bet goalie Tanner Jaillet joins them next season.

Fresh takes

The freshmen class had to play a lot out of necessity because the Pioneers graduated so many players last June, and the overall review is a positive one. With graduations and early departures, this group’s importance next season can’t be overstated.

The forward group showed promise, particularly in the second half. Kohen Olischefski (11 points, seven goals) and Jaakko Heikkinen (11, 7) had the skill to get power-play time, and both played center much of the season. Heikkinen displayed a very well-rounded game from the beginning. Seven of Ryan Barrow‘s nine points came after the break, and his speed and grit were apparent. Jack Doremus got 10 games and found the scoresheet.

On defense, Ian Mitchell‘s 30 points and plus 17  jump out, and he and Blake Hillman were the top offensive pair. For some perspective, Will Butcher didn’t hit 30 points until his junior season and Matt Carle didn’t do it until his sophomore season (when he had 44).

Griffin Mendel played quite a bit with Tariq Hammond and Erich Fear in a shutdown role and had a plus-13. And Ryan Orgel jumped in after Thanksgiving and played five games. With the losses of Hillman, Hammond and Adam Plant, Mitchell, Mendel and juniors Michael Davies and Fear will be the backbone of the defense.

In goal, Devin Cooley finished up three starts for Tanner Jaillet and only allowed one goal. 2018 NHL Entry Draft prospect Dayton Rasmussen got three starts and was uneven, though he played better the further along he went in games.

Introducing …

Your next DU captain. I don’t get a vote, but if I did it would go to Colin Staub. The Colorado Springs native is widely respected for his superlative work ethic and attitude, and he is one of the most trusted players in the lineup.

If you want to go the lead-by-example route, you also could do a lot worse than Logan O’Connor, like Staub a rising senior. And rising junior Tyson McLellan is another player that several peers have told me carries a lot of respect in the room. Teammate after teammate has lauded his hockey sense and analytical way of approaching situations on and off the ice. It would not be a surprise to see all three wearing letters next season.

©First Line Editorial 2017-18