BU-Denver Frozen Four Preview
ST. PAUL, Minn. — David Carle and Jay Pandolfo both feel like their teams will be able to score enough goals.
The coaches are not worried about that ahead of Thursday's national semifinal between the Pioneers and Terriers in St. Paul.
Earlier this week, the defense was occupying their minds.
"For as much offense as fans want to see, I'm sure the coaches are talking about how do we defend and shut the other team down," Denver coach David Carle said. "Whoever defends better will have the opportunity to move on."
Stopping each other's high-octane offenses won't be easy. Where do you start? Denver has to worry about Macklin Celebrini, Lane Hutson, and Ryan Greene, but Carle noted BU's depth.
"They have had a great year," he said. "They have excellent players starting at the top with [Macklin] Celebrini and [Lane] Hutson. Those guys just get a lot of attention. Luke Tuch, Ryan Greene, [Tom] Wallinder, and [Shane] Lachance, they have a lot of good depth. They support each other coming up the ice."
Meanwhile, the Terriers must worry about Jack Devine, Tristan Broz and Carter King. That's not to mention Massimo Rizzo — he's missed 14 games with an injury — or Denver's Buium brothers, who lead the scoring department on defense.
"We know a bit about Denver just from watching them over the course of the year," Pandolfo said. "They scored the most goals in college hockey, so they're very deep. They have great, great defensemen that join the rush. We have to be aware of some of those things."
Denver leads the nation with 4.7 goals per game. BU is third with 4.2 goals per game.
Both teams have relied heavily on their offense. Denver won its first game of the season scoring two goals or less last week against UMass. They chalked up win No. 2 in that category two days later against Cornell.
Meanwhile, BU has scored at least three goals in every one of its victories this season. BU hasn't scored less than four goals, and won, since a Jan. 13 3-0 shutout over New Hampshire.
The Pioneers may take a page from Cornell's book. The Big Red tried to slow down the Pioneers in last week's regional final in Springfield, and they were mostly successful. Denver won the game 2-1 but was limited to just 18 shots on goal, which was their second-fewest all season.
"A lot of it will revolve around us taking what we learned last weekend and defending properly and doing that to BU," Carle said. "Make them earn their chances. I'm sure they are saying the exact same thing about us.
"[BU's] ability to transition the puck; they can make you pay with a quick-strike offense, especially when [Celebrini and Hutson] are on the ice at the same time. They have some other great players as well. You have to be connected defensively to play against them."
Pandolfo is preaching the same thing to his team: defensive connectivity and strong layers will be essential for the Terriers.
"We don't play man-on-man," Pandolfo said. "We play layers. When you make mistakes, there should be a guy there to help by backing someone up. Early in the season, we were giving up way too many chances to our slot. We're doing a much better job there, and we're not letting as many pucks into our slot. We're protecting the front of the net.
"[Against Minnesota], in the third period, when we did make a mistake we had guys selling out to block shots. That's what you need at this time of year. You have to defend with desperation."