Renck: DU hockey, forged on championships and fueled by “team over everything,” on track to chase another national title

There are 64 Division I hockey schools. There is a place for just about anyone. But DU is not for everyone.

The Pioneers are the defending national champions. Their alumni speckle NHL rosters. But this place is different. Players refer to the guiding compass as “team over everything.”

This is not a feeder system. It is a program.

“I love getting everyone’s best game, love being not liked because we win a lot,” said coach David Carle. “There is a pressure, a burden of responsibility. We walk through these halls and it reminds us all that it deserves our best.”

For those who figured they had a few more weeks before the appearance of Carle’s glare, Jack Devine’s fist-pumping goals and Matt Davis standing on his mask, consider this a warning: The Pios are finding their traction a little early.

It is only mid-February, but this group is starting to get it, beginning to coalesce like so many teams before them who had a delicious habit of playing their best when it matters most. The players are stressing words like discipline and details, and becoming increasingly irritated by interlopers mentioning the phrase complacency.

Friday night, the DU series against rival North Dakota opened with humor and urgency. Piercing the silence before the national anthem, a voice from the student section informed North Dakota goalie T.J. Semptimphelter that he was, um, not handsome. Then, the Pios peppered him like he was their favorite pasta dish.

Sixteen first-period shots vs. the Fighting Hawks is an anomaly. But it provided a peek inside the minds of DU’s players. They recognize the importance of Magness Arena, where they entered Saturday with 14 consecutive sellouts. They are the NCAA’s highest-scoring team. It’s time to go on a run. Give the people what they want.

“There’s nothing like playing at home,” said junior forward Aidan Thompson, a Fort Collins forward who is part of the in-state talent that has become common at DU over the last decade. “I grew up going to games here. There is nowhere else I would rather be.”

The Pios are ranked sixth in the nation, a reflection of their talent and inconsistency. One night, their penalty-killing unit is a vise. The next, the grip loosens. Then they dominate 5-on-5s and get sloppy on the power play. That is what made Friday significant. They were relentless in every way in a 4-0 shutout, their first since Nov. 1.

It was the manifestation of a message. Being great is about being good every day. The aggregate becomes the identity. Plastered along the walls of the Miller Hockey Complex leading into the locker room are pictures of joyous players in crimson and gold. This is by design.

“They are not all angels in there. The majority of the time, they make the right choices. We are human. Our staff, myself, we all screw up sometimes. We are open about that, too. But, if you are two feet in, the future will take care of itself,” Carle said.  “We have a track record and history of these things kind of happening now. If the first thing out of your mouth is, ‘I just want to go to the place that is going to best prepare me for the NHL,’ well, we think that winning is a big part of getting there.”

DU demands excellence. Yet some opponents and their fans view the Pios as Duke basketball on ice — villains, elitists.

So when students change the words to John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” — cleverly swapping out West Virginia for Colorado during the in-game singalong — critics suggest the lyrics should include “country club roads.”

Those folks have not watched this hockey team. They are not white-collar. They are physical, rugged, tough, light on excuses, heavy on effort. The Pios’ first score Friday ricocheted off the boards, and a hustling Kieran Cebrian, taking a break from irritating defensemen in front of the net, clicked it in.

“We needed a greasy goal,” the Kent Denver graduate said with a smile.

Defenseman Zeev Buium absorbed a clean hit into the boards and shook it off like a kid playing tackle football in the street. He did not miss a shift. Big deal? Well, his game gives off Cale Makar vibes, and yet his focus remains on his obligation to teammates, not his future 15-year pro career.

“You can’t walk into the rink on any day and be selfish or cocky, or the guys will get on you right away,” Buium said. “My brother (former DU standout Shai) always said, ‘You leave your ego at the door when you come to Denver.’ That is the tightness of our group.”

No school can match DU’s 10 national titles. The Pioneers have gone back-to-back twice, but not since 2005. Each of the title teams dealt with adversity in some fashion. Schedule. Injuries. This season, the Pioneers’ problem has been closing. Consider it a side effect of wearing the crown.

“Name a body part and there is a target on it,” Carle said. “Everybody knows who we are, and they are going to play their best. But it is also a really good thing because it hardens you for the NCAA Tournament.”

As a long Friday night prepared to turn into early Saturday morning, Carle looked serious, talking about improvement but offering reminders of previous mental lapses. He appreciates the wins. But the players must feel the pain of their mistakes.

This is who DU is. What they are. They don’t set modest goals.

“You see the trophies, you know that’s the standard, that’s the expectation. And if you don’t do it, it’s not a successful year,” Buium said. “Not everyone wants the pressure. We do. The championships are the way the people before us paved the path, and it’s up to us to continue it.”

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