{"id":150024,"date":"2024-12-05T14:00:51","date_gmt":"2024-12-05T20:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/?p=150024"},"modified":"2024-12-05T11:59:11","modified_gmt":"2024-12-05T17:59:11","slug":"this-week-in-nchc-hockey-not-dwelling-on-sweep-at-hands-of-arizona-state-denver-moving-ahead-with-western-michigan-series-a-great-challenge-for-pioneers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2024\/12\/05\/this-week-in-nchc-hockey-not-dwelling-on-sweep-at-hands-of-arizona-state-denver-moving-ahead-with-western-michigan-series-a-great-challenge-for-pioneers\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week in NCHC Hockey: Not dwelling on sweep at hands of Arizona State, Denver moving ahead with Western Michigan series, ‘a great challenge’ for Pioneers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Aidan Thompson has been an offensive juggernaut this season for DU (photo: Tyler Schank\/Clarkson Creative Photography).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Not that Denver coach David Carle isn\u2019t a sentimental person, but he\u2019s generally more interested in looking ahead than back.<\/p>\n

His Pioneers have had a week and a half to stew on their first two defeats of the season, at home to new NCHC member Arizona State. A last-minute ASU goal Nov. 22 snapped Denver\u2019s recent 21-game winning streak, one victory shy of tying a program record from 1968. The Sun Devils then got hot over the final 40 minutes of the series, winning 5-2 in the rematch.<\/p>\n

Coming out of that series, ASU coach Greg Powers told reporters he wished his team was playing again the following weekend, so as to help keep the Sun Devils\u2019 momentum going. Second-ranked Denver was off last weekend, too, and by the time the Pioneers play again this Friday at No. 7 Western Michigan, Carle\u2019s group will have handled its business as usual.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou play the schedule that you\u2019re given and you find a way to make it work, but certainly having to chew on (the losses to ASU) for a longer time, you can say that that\u2019s good because it gave us more time to work on things, but also bad because you didn\u2019t get an opportunity to make it right,\u201d Carle said. \u201cI\u2019m indifferent to it. I don\u2019t think it really matters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe guys have been good and engaged (in practice since then), and no different. We knew there would be bumps in the road during the year, and we\u2019re just trying to use it in a way to propel our growth, and we have another good team we\u2019re playing this weekend, and we\u2019ll try and play better. Even if we play better and do everything right, we\u2019re still playing a great hockey team in Western Michigan, so results aren\u2019t guaranteed in this league, and you have to earn it every night and every weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

In suffering its first home series sweep since January 2020, Denver couldn\u2019t overcome the pace and intensity of an Arizona State team that had begun picking up steam following an early-season spell with injuries to several key players.<\/p>\n

Many things went right for the Pios in that series, though. They\u2019ve now scored power-play goals in 11 consecutive games, junior forward Aidan Thompson increased his career-best point streak to 14 games (10 goals, 12 assists) and sophomore Sam Harris\u2019s 11th goal of the season placed him in a tie for first nationally with Boston College\u2019s Ryan Leonard.<\/p>\n

Denver might need that duo and many others to click this weekend if the Pioneers are to get back to winning ways against a WMU team that has won three of its last four games. The Broncos are fresh off a home-and-home split with No. 6 Michigan.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re really good and they have no holes in their game, so it\u2019s just living in the battle, shift-to-shift and period-to-period, and sticking to the script,\u201d Carle said. \u201cI think we got off-script a little bit against Arizona State in different moments, and they made us uncomfortable and forced us into those situations, and for us, it\u2019s about staying connected with and without the puck.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be hard, and that\u2019s our league. It\u2019s a shift-to-shift challenge and being engaged physically and mentally throughout your whole game is going to be critical, so for us, playing in a tough environment, it\u2019s going to be a great challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

And for as much as Denver would be glad to start building a new lengthy winning streak this weekend, don\u2019t expect Carle to keep count.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe care about hanging national championship banners,\u201d Carle said of his program, which has won a NCAA-record 10 national titles and two under him, including last season\u2019s. \u201cI don\u2019t care about winning streaks.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not that Denver coach David Carle isn\u2019t a sentimental person, but he\u2019s generally more interested in looking ahead than back. His Pioneers have had a week and a half to stew on their first two defeats of the season, at home to new NCHC member Arizona State. A last-minute ASU goal Nov. 22 snapped Denver\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":150025,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[812],"coauthors":[810],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThis Week in NCHC Hockey: Not dwelling on sweep at hands of Arizona State, Denver moving ahead with Western Michigan series, 'a great challenge' for Pioneers - College Hockey | USCHO.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Not that Denver coach David Carle isn\u2019t a sentimental person, but he\u2019s generally more interested in looking ahead than back. 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