Freshman goaltender Filip Larsson made the NCHC’s All-Rookie and Honorable Mention teams.

Sophomore Devin Cooley is third in NCAA Division I hockey with a .933 save percentage, sixth in goals-against average at 1.89 and tied for eighth with four shutouts.

No. 8 Denver’s masked-man tag team has been very good, but they’re not doing it by themselves, especially since Santa Claus visited.

After allowing as many as four goals in five of their first 13 games, the Pioneers have given up more than three goals just three times in the past 21 – four vs. Colorado College on Jan. 19, five at then No. 13 Western Michigan on Jan. 26 and five again at then five again at then-No. 4 Minnesota Duluth on Feb. 15. More impressive, they’ve allowed one or fewer in 10 of those 21.

“At the beginning of the year we weren’t playing that great defensively and that’s when Cooley won some games for us,” junior blue liner Michael Davies said. “As we’ve gotten into the year we’ve tightened things up, and that’s gone hand in hand with both goalies playing well.”

Noticeable improvement

The defensemen’s growth has become obvious to their teammates as well as opponents.

“One reason we’ve improved is the whole team is focusing on blockouts,” leading scorer Liam Finlay said. “As a forward you can see they’re getting better. It’s a lot harder to score in practice.

“It extends to offense, too. They have been really locked in on their breakouts lately. That allows us to attack more.”

This is a D corps that lost five of its top six members the past two springs – first seniors Will Butcher (the 2017 Hobey Baker winner) and Matt VanVoorhis, then last season seniors Tariq Hammond and Adam Plant and early departure Blake Hillman last season. Given all five are playing pro hockey, Butcher is in the NHL and three others are in the American Hockey League, it was a subtraction of quantity and quality.

Davies pointed to several factors for the young group’s improvement.

“Guys from last year who might not have gotten as many minutes, (Erich) Fear and Griff (Mendel) have taken huge strides for us,” Davies said. “They’ve worked hard since they got here, and that’s showing through the course of this year. They can take over and help us out.

“Bringing in (graduate transfer) Les (Lancaster) helped a lot. – He’s brought a lot of experience. He’d played over 100 college games. It’s huge to have that experience with such a young group. And he’s brought a lot of skill back there – he’s a fast, good-skating defenseman who can join the rush.”

Getting to know you

Dallas Ferguson wasn’t sure what he had on defense when he accepted a job as an assistant coach at DU last summer, but he knew what he had to do.

“I wanted to get to know them personally and see what their experience at Denver has been like so far, and what they’re expectations are,” the longtime college coach said. “The one thing that’s consistent with the D corps is they’re all really good people. Their intent is to come in and go to work and get better. They’re definitely team guys.”

Armed with that knowledge, it was time to get to work, something no one in the group has any problems with.

“They’re not a real hard group to coach,” Ferguson added. “A lot of them have been here for more than a year so they understand the lay of the land. They’re coachable, their capacity for workload is very high. They’re not short-cut people, they’re not guys who expect things to just happen for them.”

One of the top pairs has evolved as the season has gone on with Ian Mitchell teaming with fellow sophomore Mendel. Mitchell, a second-team All-NCHC selection, has been one of the Pioneers’ most dominant players this season.

“Mitchy was a big player for us even last year,” Davies said. “There’s guys who come in and are ready right away, and he was one of them. He got the A and he deserved it. He’s been able to take his game to another level. He’s a special player – he can skate, shoot the puck and make plays.”

Mendel had little choice but to shoulder a bigger load.

“He’s probably doubled his minutes this year, and he’s handled it well,” Ferguson said. “The story with Griff has been his ability to develop as an athlete. That’s been a really big part of his development. He spent the summer here. You’re starting to see the capacity at which he’s able to do things because his body’s allowing him to.”

After an up-and-down sophomore season, Davies has re-emerged into a force this season and often is paired with Lancaster.

“Michael Davis has been as good a defenseman as there is in the league,” Ferguson asserted. “He’s not going to get a lot of recognition because of a high number of points or the flashiness in his game. But he defends as well as anybody. His mobility to break pucks out is very good. He’s taken on a big responsibility.”

The difference, Davies said, is confidence.

“You go through ups and downs. Toward the end of last season I found my game again,” he said. “I trusted my preparation throughout the summer, and I found my stride this year.”

Fear often finds himself paired with freshman Slava Demin, and that combination has offered a little bit of everything.

“Eric had some injuries last year, and he wanted to get himself squared away,” Ferguson said. “He’s taken a workmanlike approach to his development and what his contribution is. He’s very aware of what kind of player he is. … He understands he’s not going to be on the power play, but he also understands he needs to be really good five on five. If he gets some PK minutes he needs to make sure he’s ready for that.

“Slava continues to get better. You have to be careful with Slava because he does make the game look easy at times because he’s a really good skater and his ability to play under pressure at such a calm pace is really impressive. His game has grown and grown and grown, and as that has happened, his minutes have increased and his responsibility – power-play time, 4-on-4 time – has increased.”

Add it up, and what could have been a question mark for DU – like goaltending – has turned into a strength, and one that bodes well going forward.

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