Feature stories
After 43 games, it’s hard to call a freshman a freshman, especially when he’s the game-winning goalie for a national champion, and the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. In two games, Denver goaltender Peter Mannino made 85 saves on 88 shots in a performance that earned him 2005 Frozen Four MOP honors and made him the … Read more
It hadn’t been done for 30 years. Now it’s been done twice in a row. Back-to-back national championships. Boston University achieved the feat in 1971 and 1972. Six times after that teams returned to the title game, but couldn’t pull off the repeat. Another four times they got as far as the Frozen Four, but … Read more
The stage was set and the story was all but written. North Dakota had risen from the ashes. Rebounding from a 15-13-3 record late in the season, UND rallied to make the NCAA tournament and pulled off three straight blowouts to make it to the national championship game against defending champ Denver. Add in the … Read more
On the night of April 11, 1975, J.P. Parise scored the first of many memorable OT goals in New York Islanders’ history. Almost 30 years later to the day, his son Jordan Parise wrote another chapter in the illustrious goaltending heroics of North Dakota hockey. In both cases their brilliance allowed their teams to avoid … Read more
Dean Blais still refers to North Dakota as “we.” And why not? He only won two national championships, went to another title game, and built the team that plays in this Saturday’s final before handing the reins to long-time assistant Dave Hakstol. And this is all he has right now, ever since the NHL season … Read more
Goaltender Peter Mannino has a handful of big saves and Paul Stastny’s second-period power-play goal has Denver one period away from a second consecutive national championship. Mannino has 21 saves through two periods and the Pioneers lead 2-1 after 40 minutes Saturday at Value City Arena. The freshman, who is making his first back-to-back starts … Read more
If you score a highlight-reel goal in the national semifinals, you expect to turn the TV set on later to relive your moment of glory. Your buddies will congratulate you on a truly “sick” move while the sportscaster extols your virtues for millions of viewers. So imagine Luke Fulghum’s surprise when ESPNews didn’t show him … Read more
If this were a story about the 2005 Hobey Baker winner, Marty Sertich of the Colorado College Tigers, you’d have all the ingredients of great cinema, all the potential of a legend in the making. Sure, Sertich’s numbers are impressive — 64 points with 27 goals and 37 assists in 43 games — but hardly … Read more
Boston College’s Sarah Carlson says that she’s made volunteering a lifestyle. It’s that lifestyle and her commitment to helping others that has earned her this year’s Hockey Humanitarian Award presented annually to “college hockey’s finest citizen.” Carlson was presented the award at a ceremony held Friday as part of Frozen Four weekend in Columbus — … Read more
It takes six and a half hours to fly from Anchorage, Alaska, to Grand Forks, N.D. If you add in connections, plus the time it takes to get to the airport and home again, you’re looking at a 12-hour trip. On February 20, those 12 hours must have felt like an eternity for the North … Read more
Denver has crafted a 3-0 record against North Dakota this season, with a key reason being that the Pioneers have been able to stay a step or two ahead of the Sioux. Translating that to Saturday’s national championship game, the start will be critical to both. The Pioneers have scored first in all three games … Read more
In each of the eight previous World Women’s Championships, Canada has beaten the U.S. in the final. Saturday afternoon in Linkoping, Sweden, Canada will look to make it nine a row. In the semifinal round, Canada beat Finland 3-0 and the U.S. beat Sweden 4-1 to set up the gold medal game rematch. Minnesota junior … Read more
In the first half of the season, Minnesota was flying, piling up goals, getting great goaltending, and ripping through the schedule. North Dakota, a big, strong team, was seeing its senior leaders play undisciplined, and its goaltending situation up in the air. A team built for the NCAAs was unlikely to get there. But by … Read more
Erik Fabian’s second two-goal effort of the playoffs may not have been expected, but it has put North Dakota just one period away from a date with Denver in the national championship game. Fabian, a fourth-line winger, has both goals as North Dakota leads Minnesota 2-0 after two periods of a Frozen Four semifinal at … Read more
As a hockey coach, you hope to rely on what is expected: that your top scorers will create offense, and that your goaltender can play steady, if not pace your club’s defense. Thursday night, North Dakota got those things in beating Minnesota, 4-2, to advance to the national championship game. The Sioux got solid goaltending … Read more
If the decision backfired, the negative headline was already written: It Wasn’t Broke. All season long, Denver coach George Gwozdecky had employed as pure of a goaltending rotation as possible. Sophomore Glenn Fisher would take the opening game of a weekend and freshman Peter Mannino would follow the next night. Heading into the Frozen Four, … Read more
During the regionals, ESPN analyst Barry Melrose likened Denver’s power play to taking a pretty girl on a date. It looks good, he said, but in the end, you still didn’t score. After Thursday’s NCAA semifinal, you can call Denver’s power play Don Juan. The six power-play goals it scored was an all-time single-game NCAA … Read more
Sometimes, someone just has your number. For the 2004-2005 Colorado College Tigers, the team that held all the right numbers at the right times was the Denver Pioneers. Thursday’s 6-2 Pioneers win was the third straight decision in Denver’s favor against CC, and that streak represented three of the biggest games of the season for … Read more
Special teams are ruling the day in the first Frozen Four semifinal, and Denver is taking a three-goal lead into the third period. Luke Fulghum scored a pair of power-play goals in the first period and Matt Carle added one on the man advantage in the second to give Denver a 3-0 lead over Colorado … Read more
It was surprising to most that Denver and Colorado College combined for eight goals in Thursday’s first semifinal, as Denver came out on top, 6-2. More surprising, stunning even, was the fact that all eight goals came on the power play. Denver finished the game 6-for-12 with the man advantage, while CC was 2-for-8. For … Read more