The University of Denver hockey team found itself ranked No. 2 after a surprising pair of ties against Colorado College, a team it had defeated 14 consecutive times, entering its Dec. 15 matchup against Dartmouth College.

The Big Green entered the series playing more like Light Green, having won just two games all season and none on the road when it landed in Denver.

What follows is an inside look at 24 hours behind the scenes with the Pioneers, starting with pregame preparation until Friday until the players reconvened on Saturday night.

Magness Mayhem would like to thank Denver coach Jim Montgomery, assistants David Carle, Tavis MacMillan and Joe Howe, as well as their excellent support staff, including Matt Shaw, Paul Valukas and Nick Meldrum, for their insight and assistance.

Punching in at 5

By 5 p.m. Friday the Pioneers’ locker room is full. The lunchtime buffet has digested and the naps have been taken. It’s time to go to work.

The game-day preparation for an NCAA hockey game actually far exceeds the actual game time when the morning skate, stretching, meetings and a meal are factored in on top of the night’s pregame preparation.

The team’s energy level is a concern, so much so that Montgomery gave the team Wednesday of that week off. The Pioneers were coming off an uneven weekend vs. CC, tying the Tigers at Magness Arena, 4-4, before tying them again in Colorado Springs in a 1-1 outcome that would have been different had not Tigers sophomore goalie Alex Leclerc stood on his head for lengthy portions of the game.

At 5:15, Carle convenes the penalty killers for a brief meeting. Dartmouth’s power-play patterns are discussed and communication between forwards and defensemen is emphasized. In total, the meeting lasts 6 minutes.

At 5:30, Montgomery meets with the team to cover several key points in advance of the game. The emphasis begins on defense, moves through communication, face-offs and finishes with the power play. Two common themes are quickness – quick skating, quick thinking – and being willing to win battles. All of this is delivered in chewable nuggets and in total takes 8 minutes.

From there the players head to the Pat Bowlen Training Center underneath the arena for a high-paced dynamic stretching session under the guidance of Shaw and Valukas. It’s a spirited time with a couple of upperclassman serving as motivational speakers at the conclusion.

That college hockey coaches have to multitask is no surprise, and this night offers a case in point because the Pioneers are playing host to a recruit. He meets with Carle first because at 6 p.m. as Montgomery is recording a pregame radio segment with longtime play-by-play man Jay Stickney. The game also will be televised on Altitude2, and Charlie Host, the TV color analyst as well as a rinkside reporter also sit in.

Montgomery is asked about the CC series, the power play and Liam Finlay’s dynamic, spinorama overtime goal to gain the extra point in the Saturday game.

Post-stretch, the players’ time is their own. For some, the focus is on preparing sticks, for others it’s listening to music. Really, it’s a time for everyone to exhale.

It’s a perfect opportunity to ask Montgomery about something I’ve heard rumors about for years but never reliably had confirmed – did he in fact coin the nickname “Legion of Doom” for the Flyers’ trio of Eric Lindros, John LeClair and Mikael Renberg?

He did, with a nod to the legendary pro wresting outfit of the same moniker. Interestingly, he notes Renberg was the guy in that group he thought had the rarest of skills sets. There is no question that Lindros’ combination of size, skill and vinegar is unlike anything the league has seen since. “A freight train on skates.”

All’s quiet before the players take the ice for warm-ups. No sense wasting energy at this point. Upon their return to the locker room there is the requisite continuing hydration but it remains remarkably quiet.

The final countdown

At 6:54, Montgomery gives a brief talk that is better measured in seconds than minutes. It’s nothing more than a few quick reminders and naming the starters.

Then the procession begins. Starting goalie Tanner Jaillet, captain Tariq Hammond, Colin Staub. One by one those in the lineup file through the hallway where the stick racks reside, below the list of the Pioneers’ 45 All-Americans, across from the photos of DU’s eight national championship teams … reminders of the tradition they represent.

In the corridor leading to the Zamboni entrance the greetings begin. Not every player gives one to every teammate. Sometimes support staff are involved. Some greetings are basic, some are whacky, some are baffling. Most players do something, and some have these special greetings for multiple teammates. There is no pattern, no rhyme or reason. But it’s an important part of the preparation, one player tells me later.

The build-up reaches its crescendo. It’s game time.

The game

The first period ends 0-0. The Pioneers have some chances, but Montgomery’s reservations about the team’s energy level prove well-founded.

While the players rehydrate and try to stay loose, the coaches retreat to watch video clips Howe has prepared from his press box perch. It’s clear every coach’s observations and opinions are valued, and the expertise in the room is measurable. For example, MacMillan’ scouting acumen, honed during years in the sport’s highest level, is obvious. Montgomery wants to speak to the top power play group, a unit he feels could have played better. Carle calls in various penalty killers to discuss positioning.

By now it’s apparent that college hockey is a special teams game. The amount of time spent dissecting, discussing and teaching on that one phase dwarfs everything else.

Eight minutes before the intermission ends, Montgomery briefly talks to the players, leaving as quickly as he entered. Every interaction with the players is economical.

Then, it’s time for more “greetings.” This is a ritual before every period, this time with shouts of “Let’s be better” included.

The Pioneers are much sharper in the second period. Their superior speed and skill are beginning to show, and the emphasis on special teams pays off.

Jaakko Heikkinen finishes a play with fellow freshman Kohen Olischefski and Staub. Those three and Finlay and either defenseman Michael Davies or Blake Hillman are forming an increasingly effective second power-play unit.

The second intermission lasts five minutes longer because of a sled hockey exhibition. The video reviews continue in earnest, and the emphasis again is on special teams, which is crucial in a game in which eight penalties already have been called.

Face-offs are another topic of discussion among the coaches. With two periods of data, it’s easier to discern who is having success against whom and at what spots on the ice. This facet of the game has taken on additional importance because the Pioneers are without their top face-off man, sophomore Tyson McLellan, who is nursing a shoulder injury sustained two weeks earlier in Duluth.

Carle again talks to select members of the penalty kill, never for more than a minute.

At 8:39, Montgomery momentarily addresses the team again. He heralds DU’s relentlessness asks for more.

The third period brings a few more near misses for DU, which is clearly controlling the game despite the razor-thin 1-0 margin. The Pioneers hang on through a game-ending 6-on-5.

At 9:26 the game is over, roughly 2 hours and 20 minutes after its start. At 9:30 Montgomery addresses the team, praising them for not giving the guests much. He’s particularly pleased with the way the defense broke pucks out, calling it the best job they’ve done in that phase in a long time.

As he’s wont to do, Jaillet spreads the praise for the shutout around, saying, “The second and third period were awesome. We were committed and bought into what the coaches had laid out for us. To sum it all up, in the last 15 seconds they shoot it across to the weakside D and Colin Staub blocks it. Things like that. Our D men were breaking pucks out really well.

“That was definitely a team shutout for sure.”

Once the interviews are over, it’s time for a warm-down stretch, some ice bags, a shower and a meal in the arena, a perk one player effusively praises, “It is so nice to not have to leave the rink to eat.” Hydration is ongoing.

Howe stays around to break down film clips the rest of the coaching staff can utilize for the next morning’s meeting.

Saturday

Welcomed by all, rest comes easier for some players than others. One tells me he has no problem going to sleep after games. Others say it takes them a few hours to unwind. It isn’t uncommon for that process to last until 2 a.m., some say.

The rest is important because the Friday-Saturday turnaround is brief. Before the team convenes for a 10:15 a.m. there is a breakfast buffet at an area restaurant.

The morning meeting showcases Montgomery at his analytical and educational best. His ability to ingest and process information, make adjustments and then teach those in a digestable form to college-aged men is something to behold.

He emphasizes what his players did well, particularly in the second and third periods. DU has double Dartmouth’s scoring chances primarily due to hard work.

The video clips reinforce this, showing D zone coverage, winning battles, sealing off areas and players. It’s drilled down to which direction sticks are pointed relative to locations on the ice. Yes, there are improvements that can be made, particularly on the power play.

Carle takes over for a penalty-killing tutorial.

There will be one change at forward otherwise the rest of the lineup remains the same.

All of this takes 15 minutes, and it reinforces the point that nothing is belabored in this operation. Make your point and move on. You’re either prepared and can execute or you can’t.

An optional skate, led by volunteer assistant Chase Hollander, is upcoming in 15 minutes, and these are sparsely attended events these days. Backup goalie Devin Cooley, who is overcoming a lower-body injury goes on the ice. Assistant captain Adam Plant, who is overcoming an upper-body injury, also is out there. As is defenseman Ryan Orgel, who is sitting out a second night in a row, and fellow freshman Jack Doremus, who didn’t play Friday but has been inserted in Saturday’s lineup.

Senior forward Rudy Junda skates out in sweats and pairs off with Jaillet. This is a roommate ritual, with Junda explaining Jaillet’s preference is to have him fire shots at him for about 10 minutes or so on game days. It doesn’t always happen on the road, when the team is even more cognizant of wear and tear brought on by travel, but it’s common at home.

Routine is particularly important in mid-December, when the players have much of the campus to themselves because the fall quarter ended three weeks prior. That means morning practices, more rest and more time for team bonding.

Junda and Hammond says it’s an adjustment from going to school every morning and having afternoon practices, but it’s a welcome one. Road trips are so condensed, programmed almost to the minute, that the players don’t have much free time to spend getting to know one another. This break allows for that.

As the optional skate is underway, nearly all of the rest of the team is in the Bowlen Center going through a lengthy stretching session under the guidance of Shaw and Valukas. This lasts 40 minutes or longer for some players and hits every muscle group and joint imaginable and a few most of us didn’t know existed.

Soft tissue work with foam rollers, balls or massage is utilized. Some players ride the bike to loosen up the legs. Beyond the group stretches, which last 30 minutes, there is no pattern to this crucial recovery aspect. Much like the “special greetings” this is as individualized as the players going through it.

It’s telling that upperclassmen are spending the most time in the rejuvenation sessions.

From there, the players head to an off-site team meal. This is the big one, providing fuel for Round 2. Then, it’s nap time, though not every player is a heavy napper. Several say the point is getting away from hockey and relaxing for a few hours because 5 p.m. will be here soon enough, when the pregame preparations – everything from stick taping to stretching – begin again, with the 7:05 p.m. face-off in hot pursuit.

The Epilogue

The Pioneers entered Saturday night’s game confident and looking for a sweep. Logic would dictate that the visitors would feel the effects of altitude and recovery from a hard-fought Friday game would be a challenge.

DU left little doubt that would be the case in the first period when freshman Kohen Olischefski scored two goals and junior Troy Terry, who would be selected the U.S. Olympic team two weeks later on New Year’s Day, scored to give the Pioneers a 3-0 lead.

No one could have foreseen what was about to happen. The Big Green morphed into Gigantic Green, and the Pioneers had a front-row seat for a five-goal stampede that turned what after 20 minutes seemed like a sure victory into a disheartening, 5-4, non-conference defeat. Simply put, Dartmouth outworked Denver when its backs were to the wall.

The Pioneers’ mood after Game 2 stood in contrast to Friday’s optimism.

Junior Blake Hillman summed it up, ““We just went back to our old habits, like we have the first half of the year. We started playing soft hockey where we weren’t making hard plays. It’s happened multiple times this year and we haven’t learned from it, and it’s something over this break we’re going to have to really think about in order to be successful in the second half of the season.”

Player after player, as well as their coach, expressed the same sentiment: a first-half pattern of losing leads had become troubling.

That trend is reversible, but will it be? That could be the question of the second half.

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