59 Teams in 59 Days Denver

The 59 Teams in 59 Days tour continues with a trip to Denver, Colorado where the Denver Pioneers are featured.

After capturing the National Championship the previous two seasons, Head Coach George Gwozdecky had a lot of talent coming back in 2005-2006. However Denver started off the season 5-7-2 and even though they rebounded for a second place finish in the WCHA, the Pioneers hopes of making a third consecutive National Championship got wrapped up when they lost to the ninth place team in the WCHA in Minnesota-Duluth.

This years squad might have some question marks. With Hobey Baker winner Matt Carle, and all WCHA peformer and former WCHA rookie of the year Paul Stastny left college early to go pro. So who will pick up the pieces for Denver?

To start off on who will pick up the pieces for Denver, the Pioneers will return leading goal scorer Ryan Dingle. After a six goal performance in 2004-2005, Dingle scored more than four times the goals he scored in 2004-2005 as he scored 27 goals in 2005-2006. So who else will step up this year? There is a lot of potential on this team including Sophomore Chris Butler, who will most likely be the #1 defensmen on the team this year. Patrick Mullen also has a lot of potential and look for him to have a breakout year this year.

The goaltending situation was not solved last year. After Peter Mannino helped lead his team to the National Championship his Freshman year in 2004-2005, Mannino's numbers went down in 2005-2006. Glenn Fisher also saw a lot of playing time but could not deliver in crunch time last year. There is a huge question mark on who will start this year in net. If none of them have the potential of being the number one netminder, then the team is in trouble. However I think the goaltedning situation will be solved and their will be a clear number one netminder for the 2006-2007 season.

Overall the Pioneers have a lot of potential. With only four Freshmen coming in for the 2006-2007 season, the Pioneers will have nine Seniors on this years team. And that veteran leadership could help this years team as this team has the potential of coming back off a dissapointing season last year. After all those nine Seniors have won two National Championships. So if you think Denver is done after Stastny, Carle, and Gabe Gauthier are no longer, then watch out as there could be some surprises this year.

The predicted ceiling for Denver is second in the WCHA, while their gutter is sixth.

Tommorrow the Ferris State Bulldogs will be featured as the 59 Teams in 59 Days tour continues in Big Rapids, Michigan.