Here’s the $64,000 question for a talented DU hockey team that sometimes isn’t worth two bits: Why can’t these Pioneers kick butt and take names every night, the way they did Saturday in a 6-0 rout of St. Cloud State? “Why is it a $64,000 question?” DU coach David Carle, playfully turni ng the question back on me. At age 35, Carle is much too young to remember a TV game show from the 1950s. But he has a hockey team that is in jeopardy of missing the NCAA Tournament if it keeps messing around with the rules of old-time winning hockey.. “We’ve got a real bad habit of shooting ourselves in the foot,” Carle said. “That’s between our ears. It’s a maturity thing.” DU can play like chumps or champs, all within a span of 24 hours. On this frigid January night, they were wicked hot, with two goals by Eric Pohlkamp providing redemption for an inexplicably bad loss to St. Cloud State in the series-opener. Why can’t these Pioneers get on a good time roll? “That’s a question I ask myself every day. There are really no words to describe it. There’s been a lot of frustration,” said Pohlkamp, who set a conference record for most goals (16) by a defenseman in a single season. The DU junior honed his shot as a kid on a Minnesota lake, firing pucks at targets lovingly constructed by his father, who taught shop in middle school. Thanks, Pops! With 10 national championships, the Pioneers are the premier college program in the sport’s history.  Carle already stands at the right hand of legendary Murray Armstrong in the pantheon of DU coaches. During seven previous seasons on the Pioneers bench, the only thing that has stopped Carle from earning a berth in the NCAA tournament is a pandemic. Under Carle’s guidance, the Pioneers have won two national championships and 192 games, quietly building a dynasty in the middle of Broncos Country. In a city blessed with the presence of Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon and Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, there’s no bigger winner than Carle. But there have been too many times when this DU season has appeared to be on the verge of slip-sliding away into mediocrity that the Pioneers don’t wear well. The Crimson and Gold have too often looked dazed and confused. A case in point: On Friday, after building a quick 2-0 lead against St. Cloud State the Pioneers surrendered four straight scores and took a loss that dropped their record on home ice to below .500. It’s a mystery how within a span of 24 hours, Denver can get spanked 5-0 at North Dakota, then walk out of one of the most inhospitable barns in the sport with a 3-2 victory. “That’s the game of hockey. That’s the beauty of it,” Pohlkamp said. “As soon as you think you’re doing really well, you’re not. It’s what keeps you coming back the next day. To chase that feeling of playing great hockey. The book on DU’s scoring attack is written backwards and upside down. Pohlkamp and Boston Buckberger might both be worthy of consideration for the Hobey Baker Award as the best player in college hockey. But should the top two scorers on a legit national championship contender both be found on the blue line? Pohlkamp leads the Pioneers in goals, and Buckberger ranks second behind him in points These Pioneers have been tested to trust the process as the hockey gods seem intent on conspiring against them. Freshman goaltender Quentin Miller made his 24th consecutive start between the pipes against the Huskies, but departed for the DU locker room less than five minutes into the opening period with a lower body injury. Johnny Hicks came on to record 22 saves and preserve a shutout behind a group that played disciplined and smart. “We’ve got to keep it on the rails. When we go off the rails or go off script, it gets ugly for us,” Carle said. “If we can play a predictable almost boring game, where we’re dictating how things are unfolding on the ice, it puts us in a much better position to generate offensively and takeaway chances defensively.” During the last week of March,one of the four regionals in the NCAA tourney will be staged up the road from the DU campus at the Blue Arena in Loveland. It was assumed the Pioneers would be there to exploit the advantage of advancing to the Frozen Four without leaving their home state. But now that I think about it, what does a salty old sports cliche say about what happens to a team that assumes anything? Nothing good. To make a run at the 11th national championship in DU program history, these talented but inconsistent Pioneers must learn to make a habit of kicking arse. ...read more read less