This past week MagnessMayhem.com wrapped up its exclusive seven-part Denver hockey player survey. The survey included 25 questions, broken down into various categories. Players were given multiple choices of teammates for each question and promised anonymity for their answers.

Just as we did last year, let’s break down the responses in some detail to see if any trends emerge. Just for fun we’ll add in last year’s top result after each question.

THE FULL SURVEY

Part 1 (Questions 1-4) deals with skating

Part 2 (Questions 5-7) deals with strength, checking and toughness

Part 3 (Questions 8-10) unveils the Pioneers’ shooting stars

Part 4 (Questions 11-14) reveals the good hands Pioneers

Part 5 (Questions 15-17) looks at the eyes

Part 6 (Questions 18-22) gets defensive

Part 7 (Questions 23-25) is all about hard work, resilience and leadership

Before I get to the survey breakdown, I’d like to again thank the 2018-19 Denver Pioneers – players and staff – for their assistance with this and so many other stories throughout the season. MagnessMayhem.com would not be possible without their cooperation and insight.

Which category had the widest margin of voting?

• 17 – Goalie, lateral movement (Devin Cooley)
• 16 – Best breakout passes (Ian Mitchell)
• 8 – Defensive defenseman (Griffin Mendel)
• 8 – Quickest release (Jarid Lukosevicius)
• 8 – Best on face-offs (Jaakko Heikkinen, Tyson McLellan)

Behind the numbers: Statements made by Cooley and Mitchell with easily the two more dominant wins. Given the high percentage of players voting and the relatively few landslides, this speaks to the Pioneers’ balance of talents.

Last year: 14 – Best-top end speed (Logan O’Connor)

What were the highest vote totals in a category?

• 19 – Best breakout passes (Ian Mitchell)
• 19 – Goalie, lateral movement (Devin Cooley)
• 14 – Defensive defenseman (Griffin Mendel)
• 14 – Positionally sound goalie (Filip Larsson)
• 12 – Best passer in traffic (Brett Stapley)
• 12 – Goalie, best glove (Devin Cooley)
• 12 – Most agile skater (Liam Finlay)

Behind the numbers: These are the seven categories (only four dealing specifically with non-goalies) that had simple majorities among the 23 responses. What’s interesting about the goalies is what they’re good at, their teammates view them as being really good at.

Last year: 14 – Best-top end speed (Logan O’Connor)

Which categories had the closest margins of voting?

• Tie – Most resilient (Jarid Lukosevicius, Ryan Orgel)
• Tie – Best on face-offs (Jaakko Heikkinen, Tyson McLellan)
• 1 – Best body checker (Erich Fear)

Behind the numbers: There were only four more categories separated by two votes. This tells me that many of these categories aren’t very open for discussion in terms of who is considered strongest at them, especially since we’re talking about such a high voter turnout.

Last year: 1 – Quickest release (Jarid Lukosevicius), stickhandler (Troy Terry), maneuvering through traffic (Terry), hockey sense (Terry and Henrik Borgstrom), positionally sound (Adam Plant).

Which categories had the most players named?

• 14 – Hockey sense
• 13 – Most resilient
• 12 – Explosive stride, Forcing turnovers
• 10 – Positionally sound skater, top-end speed
• 9 – Best defensive forward, stick handling, vision

Behind the numbers: A majority of these categories deal with skating and brain, two of the main attributes DU recruits year-in, year-out.

Last year: 7 – Toughest player, most positionally sound, hardest worker, most resilient

Which category had the lowest vote total by a leader?

• 5 – Most resilient
• 6 – Body checking, Explosive stride, stick handling, top-end speed

Behind the numbers: Given the high response rate – 23 of 27 skaters on the roster at the time survey was dispatched voted – these totals speak to the overall team strength in those categories.

Last year: 4 – Hockey sense, positionally sound

Which player made the most overall appearances?

• Jarid Lukosevicius – 14
• Michael Davies, Brett Stapley – 12
• Liam Finlay, Emilio Pettersen – 11
• Ian Mitchell – 10
• Ryan Barrow, Jack Doremus, Jake Durflinger, Griffin Mendel, Colin Staub – 9
• Jared Resseguie – 8
• Slava Demin, Ryan Orgel – 7
• Devin Cooley, Cole Guttman, Jaakko Heikkinen, Les Lancaster, Kohen Olischefski – 6

Behind the numbers: There are 22 skater-specific categories and five players appeared in half (or more) of them. Nineteen players (including one goalie) appeared in more than a quarter of the categories. This tells me DU has a deep team with many, many well-rounded players.

Last year: 15 – Dylan Gambrell

Who was voted as the top player in a category the most times?

• Jarid Lukosevicius – 7
• Colin Staub – 4
• Ian Mitchell – 3
• Ryan Barrow, Brett Stapley – 2
• Devin Cooley, Erich Fear, Liam Finlay, Jaakko Heikkinen, Filip Larsson, Tyson McLellan, Griffin Mendel, Ryan Orgel – 1

Behind the numbers: The two returning seniors and the top returning defenseman lead the pack. Lukosevicius’ dominance speaks to his all-around development from a shooting machine to a well-rounded, high-level player. Barrow’s and Stapley’s appearances atop multiple categories offers future hope, too.

Last year: 4 – Troy Terry

©First Line Editorial 2017-19