The Blue Devils Outscored Denver 7-0 in 4th Quarter
“I think this win was significant in that this particular group of seniors has never beaten Denver so that was a stepping stone in a season,” said head coach John Danowski. “Also to win at home and to play a little better than last week there were a lot of lessons learned here tonight.”
Source: No. 1 Duke Rallies Past No. 4 Denver, 15-12
I had called this game almost perfectly. I believe my statement was, “Baptiste would keep things close, but Duke would pull it out as they are too complete of a team”, and that’s how it played out. I love it when I come off as smart.
What I didn’t see over the horizon was freshman Joe Robertson going off for 4 goals down the stretch when Duke needed a spark most… in the 4th quarter… with the game on the line. We knew Justin Guterding was going to go for 6 to 10 points because that’s just how he rolls. But Robertson is supposed to be wearing his little boy pants still, maybe soiling them here and there as he earns his stripes. Nopesies. Not Friday night. This kid walked into the office and put his big hairy balls right out there on the table for us all to see, and boy were we all impressed (I was anyway).
No worries for Denver though. No shame in coming to Duke and dropping a close game to the #1 team in the land. Coach Tierney will have them ready to go next week, and we know they will be totally ready to go come playoff time. There were worries about “who would carry the torch, aka the rock” for Denver and I think Ethan Walker putting up 6 goals on this stage answers that question. Walker being a sophomore Canadian (not normally guys known for dodging) scored goals both dodging, and spotting up. Duke made the mistake of not staying on this kids hands after he torched them for 3 goals early, and he proceeded to punish them for their lack of course correction.
And for Duke, we’ve all been waiting for them to drop that one ugly game early on that they seem to lose each year. Well we’re still waiting, and we may be waiting into next spring the way they look so far.