How Denver's David Carle overcame a career-ending heart condition to become a top hockey coach

University of Denver hockey coach Gary Gwozdecky didn't hesitate. Neither do the school administrators.

They didn't have to think twice in 2008 about honoring the athletic scholarship of David Carle, who was once among the most promising young hockey players in the world. That year, Carle was diagnosed with a heart condition that forced him to stop playing just months before he was set to start his freshman season in Denver.

Today, Carle is the head coach of a Denver team that will play Boston University in the NCAA tournament Frozen Four on Thursday in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It is the third time Carle has led the Pioneers to the national semifinals since becoming head coach before the 2018-19 season.

At age 34, Carle is considered one of the best hockey coaches in the U.S., a path that began 16 years ago when Gwozdecky insisted that Carle remain involved with the Pioneers in some capacity. However, according to Gwozdecky, the plan for Carle at the time was very loosely structured.

There was no idea you would graduate in four years and start a coaching career, said Gwozdecky, who now coaches at Valor Christian High School in Highland Ranch, Colorado. didn't mean anything, okay, we're going to coach you. We just want you to continue to be a part of our program even if you can't play. It was that simple.

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Coaching wasn't what Carle had in mind when he committed to Denver. He grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, playing on the outdoor track in his backyard and in youth leagues. His family had season tickets to University of Alaska-Anchorages home games when the Seawolves played in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association against vaunted programs like Denver, Minnesota, Minnesota-Duluth, North Dakota and Wisconsin.

Matt Carle, his older brother, played in the US National Team Development Program and the United States Hockey League (USHL) before enrolling with Denver, where he won national titles in 2004 and 2005 and the 2006 Hobey Baker Award for the best player in college hockey. He then played in the NHL from 2006 to 2017.

David Carle, meanwhile, played at Shattuck-St. Marys in Minnesota, perhaps the best prep school program in the country. He was a defender, like his brother, and attracted the attention of top coaches.

It was uncanny how his skating style was so similar to that of his older brother Matt, Gwozdecky said. If you didn't know any better, you might definitely think this was Matt on the ice.

In late May 2008, Carle was invited to the NHL Combine, where he interviewed with franchises and underwent tests and physicals. He was expected to be picked in the second or third round. But medical professionals performed an electrocardiogram and noticed a problem with his heart. The following month, the day before the draft, Carle traveled to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and was diagnosed with hypertopic cardiomyopathy, which the Mayo Clinic diagnosed. defines As a disease in which the heart muscle thickens, the thickened heart muscle can make it harder for the heart to pump blood.

The Tampa Bay Lightning ultimately selected Carle with the last pick of the draft, but it was a symbolic gesture. By then, Carle had decided his playing career was over.

Earlier that year, Mickey Renaud, a 19-year-old draft pick from the Calgary Flames, said collapsed and died due to hypertopic cardiomyopathy. And later that year, Alexei Cherepanov, the New York Rangers' 2007 first-round draft pick, collapsed while sitting on a bench in the game and died due to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Renaud and Cherepanov had not been diagnosed with hypertopic cardiomyopathy, which is common with the condition, before their deaths.

It was a lot of sadness to have to go through that at that age, but I was really grateful to get the diagnosis, Carle said. I was truly blessed and fortunate to have many wonderful people around me, from my family to this university.

When Carle arrived on campus, he was given the title of student assistant coach, but his duties evolved over time. During Carles' freshman year, Gwozdecky took him along slowly, having Carle perform menial tasks such as passing pucks to players during shooting drills. Still, Carle was just happy to be on the rink.

For me, being at the game was therapeutic, Carle said. For some people it is understandably the opposite. I think everyone is different in the way they deal with big changes, but for me at that age it was good for me to be at the rink, be with the team, get involved and see if this was something that I wanted to do. .

Entering his sophomore year, Carle considered returning to play because his condition had improved. But he collapsed on the ice while skating and later underwent two surgeries, as reported by the Denver Post recorded at the time. After that, he stopped trying to make comebacks. Instead, he turned to coaching.

During Carles' junior and senior years, he was a regular at the coaches' meetings, helping Gwozdecky and the full-time assistants prepare for upcoming opponents and assess how the Pioneers were performing.

He was very helpful as a go-between, Gwozdecky said. We could contact him and say, OK, David, are we right in analyzing what's happening with this player or that player? Is there something we're missing here that's happening off the ice, or is there something we might not be aware of? David was very helpful in that regard, but it puts a young man in a very difficult position. He has to be very careful about how he handles all the information he has.

After graduating in 2012, Carle accepted a job as an assistant with the USHL's Green Bay Gamblers, whose coach, Derek Lalonde, was a former Denver assistant. Lalonde is now the coach of the Detroit Red Wings.

In January 2014, Carle was hired as an assistant at Denver under head coach Jim Montgomery. When Montgomery left to take over as Dallas Stars coach in 2018, Carle replaced him. At age 28, Carle was the youngest head coach in NCAA Division I men's hockey.

Yet, despite his young age, Carle adapted to his new role without any problems. That first season, Carle led Denver to the Frozen Four, where the Pioneers lost in overtime to the University of Massachusetts. The Pioneers returned to the Frozen Four in 2022 and won their ninth national title over Denver, which is tied with Michigan. Carle attributes his success to what he learned from Gwozdecky, Lalonde and Montgomery, who is now the Boston Bruins coach.

You couldn't ask for three better mentors, Carle said. First and foremost, they are all excellent people. Their vision and view of the game is also central. I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with and for all three of them and without all three of them I would certainly not be where I am today.

Gowzdecky isn't surprised by Carle's success. He remembers that Carle immersed himself in getting to know and understand the intricacies of the sport better and better.

David always learned quickly, Gwozdecky said. He was always a very intelligent, smart guy. He would think before he spoke. He was always very calm and collected, even under duress, and did not just blurt out things for the sake of blurting things out.

Carle has also become adept at recruiting, focusing primarily on players from the Midwest and Western America, Western Canada and the Scandinavian countries such as Finland and Sweden. This year's team features 11 freshmen among the 27-man roster, including defenseman Zeev Buium, who is second on the Pioneers with 49 points (11 goals and 38 assists). Buium is projected to be a first-round pick in June's draft.

Denver has 12 players already drafted by NHL teams, including four second-round picks: defensemen Sean Behrens and Shai Buium (Zeeev's brother) and forwards Tristan Broz and Rieger Lorenz.

During Denver's NCAA tournament first-round game, Broz scored the game-winner in double overtime in a 2–1 victory over UMass. Boston freshman Buckberger scored the other goal. Matikka and fellow freshman Sam Harris scored in Denver's 2-1 win over Cornell in the Northeast Regional final, clinching another Frozen Four berth.

On Thursday, No. 3 Denver (30-9-3) faces No. 2 Boston University (28-9-2), whose top player, freshman Macklin Celebrini, is the projected No. 1 overall pick in Junes' draft. The game will take place at the Xcel Energy Center, the same arena where Denver won the National Collegiate Hockey Conference title on March 23. It is also the same building where Matt Carle scored his first NHL goal on March 25, 2006.

David Carle was there that day 18 years ago, when he still dreamed of playing in the NHL and winning national titles as a player. This week in the arena, Matt Carle will watch his brother in a job that suits him perfectly, coaching Denver to another deep NCAA Tournament run.

“I'm just very honored and indebted to the university for what they've done for me and to now be able to serve in this role and help showcase our great institution and our great hockey program,” Carle said. It is a tremendous honor and privilege that I do not take lightly.