Gwozdecky Addresses California Prospects Camp

(above) University of Denver hockey coach George Gwozdecky was in California this week

From: Anaheim Calling Blog
by Arthur


From high in the stands at Anaheim Ice, donning his school's crimson colors, the focused gaze of University of Denver Head Coach George Gwozdecky is unmistakable. This was the coach's first trip to the Ducks West Coast Prospects Camp, though members of his staff have attended two of the previous three, and if anyone knows the value of a strong California player, it's the University of Denver.

"We've had Rhett Rakhshani, we've had Gabe Gauthier, and we're going to have Beau Bennett," Coach Gwozdecky says of the steady stream of California impact players coming through his program, "Gauthier scored the game winning goal for us in the 2004 National Championship game. He wore number 9, and when he graduated, he passed it on to Rhett, who just left us. And now, Beau's going to wear the number 9, so our 'California Connection' [even] maintains the same number." (read rest of article)

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is that the same rhett that everyone was ripping on a few months back about" no more California roller hockey players." ......;)

Anonymous said...

Let's not forget other great # 9's. Masterton,Beers,Dineen and Mathiasen.

Puck Swami said...

Don't just read the article - listen to the presentation on college hockey these guys gave to the CA kids - it's linked on the article.

It's a fascinating listen inside how college hockey is positioning itself against major junior in the recruiting wars.

dggoddard said...

When Jason Zucker committed to DU in 2008 he was described at the time as one of the best rollerblade hockey players in the country.

Recruit Rocco Grimaldi is from California and had narrowed his choices down to DU, UND & Notre Dame. Guessing that ND Coach Jeff Jackson & Gwoz weren't just out in California for the Draft.

Anonymous said...

I'm waiting to see how long it's going to take before we start getting kids from like Fort Worth and Orlando and Ft. Myers that are great players. With the NHL expanding down south, it's going to happen some day.

dggoddard said...

We already got Donovan from Oklahoma and he played his AAA hockey with the Dallas Junior Stars.

DU Soccer and Lax have been grabbing recruits from Dallas lately, so a pipeline is developing there.

We all know about Zucker from Vegas but next year Zac Larazza will be coming to DU from Phoenix.

The big advantage for DU out west is that Denver is the closest D-1 hockey school.

Guessing the Florida kids will gravitate to the East Coast schools.

vizoroo said...

Dallas-NHL
Houston, San Antonio and Austin-AHL
6 or 7 teams in the CHL
Hockey is spreading throughout the Lome Star state.