Oh no you don’t. You only think you’re going to get around these guys and score.

We get defensive in Part 6 of MagnessMayhem.com’s exclusive Denver hockey player survey. And we spared no position in this series of questions.

Pioneers players were polled anonymously in early December. The survey included 25 questions that covered a range of skills.

MORE OF THE SURVEY

Part 1 examined skating

Part 2 dealt with strength and toughness

Part 3 revealed the shooting stars

Part 4 tracked the good hands Pioneers

Part 5 focused on the eyes

Now on to part 6 of the survey:

Question 18: Which player excels the most at forcing turnovers?

• Ryan Barrow – 40 percent
• Griffin Mendel, Kohen Olischefski – 16 percent
• Hank Crone, Jake Durflinger, Jaakko Heikkinen, Emilo Pettersen – 8 percent

Analysis: Barrow’s speed and willingness to lay the body play a big part in this, but his anticipation also is very good. Mendel’s sheer mass and reach make him a handful, but he also moves well for a 6-foot-5 man. This is an underrated part of Olischefski’s game, which has gotten more well-rounded each season.

Question 19: Who is the best defensive forward?

• Jaakko Heikkinen – 62 percent
• Ryan Barrow – 30 percent
• Hank Crone, Kohen Olischefski – 8 percent

Analysis: Heikkinen and Barrow, along with Tyson McLellan and Jake Durflinger are first-call penalty killers, and Crone and Olischefski are in that mix, too. All four of the players on this list have shown plenty of offensive upside. All but Barrow have hit double figures in points, and Barrow was on that pace before getting injured nine games ago.

Question 20: Who is the best defensive defenseman?

• Griffin Mendel – 60 percent
• Michael Davies – 24 percent
• Slava Demin – 16 percent

Analysis: These three get it done in different ways, but all are very good to excellent skaters and utilize their sticks and smarts to outfox opponents.

Question 21: Which skater is the most positionally sound?

• Michael Davies, Jaakko Heikkinen – 30 percent
• Ryan Barrow, Hank Crone, Slava Demin, Kyle Mayhew, Kohen Olischefski – 8 percent

Analysis: As was revealed earlier in this survey, Davies’ skating ability and anticipation allow him to be effective as a 160-pound defenseman. Heikkinen can no longer be considered only a defensive center. He’s demonstrating effectiveness in all three zones this season, and his positioning a basis for that.

Question 22: Which goaltender is the most positionally sound?

• Devin Cooley – 52 percent
• Magnus Chrona – 40 percent
• Michael Corson – 8 percent

Analysis: Cooley makes it a clean sweep in the goalie categories, but by a slim margin. The 6-foot-6 Chrona’s size and positioning were the first two attributes that stood out during his 7-0 start to his NCAA career. This also was a strong suit of Corson’s during his shutout against Niagara. All three are very calm.

Next: Hard work, resilience and leadership

What changed from previous years? Satisfy your curiosity by checking out the 2018-19 survey and the 2017-18 survey.

Want the rundown on DU’s first half? Magness Mayhem’s midseason report looks at in detail.

©First Line Editorial 2019