Things to watch from all three position groups during this weekend’s DU-Air Force series:
In Goal: Coach Jim Montgomery could continue the time share between junior Evan Cowley and sophomore Tanner Jaillet. Cowley went 9-6-2 with three shutouts, a .924 save percentage and a 2.16 goals-against average last season. Jalliet went 15-8-0 with .917 and 2.35 in seven more appearances. He had one shutout. Montgomery has two excellent options here.
On the Blue Line: The Pioneers played seven defenseman during their 4-0 exhibition victory over the University of Calgary. Senior Nolan Zajac and junior Will Butcher played together in every situation, and Zajac and junior Matt VanVoorhis were particularly active in joining the offensive play. Zajac scored the first goal vs. Calgary. He and Butcher combined for 44 points last season.
(Friday’s D pairs – Butcher-Zajac; VanVoorhis-Neville; Hammond-Hawkinson)
Up Front: The biggest question is will Montgomery keep wings Danton Heinen and Trevor Moore together or split them up in an effort to find more scoring balance? The second-biggest question is, if they stay together, who centers them? Heinen and Moore played all three periods together against Calgary and spent a period each with centers Quentin Shore, Troy Terry and Dylan Gambrell. Shore was with them on the power play throughout. But the Heinen-Moore-Terry trio was electric, accounting for three goals in the second period. If they play together, the third question is who steps up to add more offense? The overall speed of the forwards clearly wore Calgary down.
(Questions 1 and 2 answered already for Friday courtesy of DU — Terry is centering Moore and Heinen. Other lines are: Romig-Shore-Lukosevicius; Gambrell-Levin-O’Connor; and Janssen-Ritt-Marcinew)
Final Thought: This is a good series for the Pioneers to learn more about exactly what they have in their freshman class. Terry, Gambrell and fellow forwards Jarid Lukosevicius and Logan O’Connor played a lot in the exhibition. Blake Hillman saw quite a bit of time on defense, frequently paired with sophomore Adam Plant. With Michigan State around the corner next weekend and a trip to Boston two weeks after that, it’s imperative for the freshmen get up to speed as quickly as possible before NCHC play starts in a month.
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Excited to see another outlet covering Pioneer hockey. Look forward to seeing your work here and wish you best of success on this new venture.
One suggestion – it’s not ‘Denver University’ — it’s the ‘University of Denver. ‘ It may be a little thing, but to those of us who went there, it’s a big deal.
Thanks! And noted!
Swami is correct it is the University of Denver or DU and definitely not UofD.
BTW Adam Plant did not play in either AFA game.
Thanks … Correct, Plant has a lower-body injury.