There were many stars who emerged during Denver’s compelling run to the Frozen Four for the third third time in four seasons, you know that. But who stood out the most? The most often?

Each game I selected three Pioneers stars. I attended every home game but one, as well as road games at Colorado College and Air Force. I watched or recorded and watched every other game, sometimes more than once. Often they were different than the announced ones, which included both teams.

My criteria generally were which three Pioneers had the biggest impact on the outcome. Sometimes that meant goals and saves, sometimes it meant consistently forcing turnovers, breaking up opponents’ pressure. Clutch plays factored in, as did bone-headed penalties.

Points were assigned in inverse order of star selections. So a first star is worth three points, a second two and a third one.

Overall points

• Filip Larsson – 34 points
• Devin Cooley – 27 points
• Ian Mitchell – 23 points
• Jarid Lukosevicius – 22 points
• Liam Finlay – 21 points
• Emilio Pettersen and Colin Staub – 16 points
• Cole Guttman – 14 points
• Brett Stapley – 13 points
• Ryan Barrow, Jaakko Heikkinen and Michael Davies – 10 points
• Tyson McLellan – 6 points
• Slava Demin, Les Lancaster and Kohen Olischefski – 5 points
• Jack Doremus – 4 points
• Griffin Mendel – 3 points
• Tyler Ward – 2 points
• Jake Durflinger and Kyle Mayhew – 1 point

Breaking it down: That Larsson finished first by a relatively wide margin after not playing until the end of November tells you just how good he was in the second half, and especially down the stretch. Cooley, meanwhile, was a force in the first half and played very well when given the chance once he returned from injury. None of the next seven skaters should be surprises as they were among DU’s best players all season and represent seven of the top eight scorers (Davies was the other).

Devin Cooley. Photo courtesy of Shannon Valerio and Denver Athletics

Most first stars

• Filip Larsson – 9
• Devin Cooley – 6
• Cole Guttman and Jarid Lukosevicius – 4
• Brett Stapley – 3
• Ryan Barrow, Liam Finlay, Jaakko Heikkinen, Ian Mitchell and Emilio Pettersen – 2

Breaking it down: It follows that Larsson and Cooley would have the most first stars because many nights they impacted the game the most. After all, they were the team’s co-MVPs – an honor you’d get no argument about in this corner. When Guttman and Stapley were on their games, they tended to be really on. Lukosevicius started the season like a house on fire and tapered off, though he still was pretty strong.

Most appearances

• Filip Larsson – 13
• Liam Finlay and Ian Mitchell – 12
• Devin Cooley, Jarid Lukosevicius and Colin Staub – 11
• Emilio Pettersen – 8
• Michael Davies – 7
• Cole Guttman – 6
• Ryan Barrow and Brett Stapley – 5

Breaking it down: This is the consistently good. The top six players here were one of the best DU players on the ice in 20 percent of the games or more. That Larsson played in 22 games and was one of the stars 13 times (59 percent) is incredible. Cooley was a star in 11 of his 20 appearances (55 percent), another remarkable number. So of the 41 games, a goaltender was a star in 24 of them (59 percent).

In conclusion: Yes, this probably is weighted a bit toward goaltenders since only one of them plays at a time, but given that two of DU’s most dominant players were its top two goalies tells you all you need to know about the importance of that position in the Pioneers’ success this season. And to think, one of the biggest questions that was being asked heading into last season was – who will replace Tanner Jaillet?

©First Line Editorial 2019