News & Notes From Around PioNation

Mike Chambers Blog speculated that University of Denver associate head coach Steve "Killer" Miller may be a candidate for the recently vacated USHL Green Bay Gamblers job.   Former Colorado College player Eric Rud has resigned as head coach of Green Bay to return to Colorado Springs as an assistant coach with the Tigers. EDIT: Miller said he has not been contacted about vacancy.
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Former DU hockey captain Dr. Brian Konowalchuk ('91-'94) has been named the head coach of the first ever girl's team at Duluth's Marshall High School. The Hilltoppers will play the 2011-2012 season at the U14 level and its second and third seasons at the U16 and U18 levels, respectively.  Konowalchuk had 37 goals and 71 assists at DU.  He was drafted by the San Jose Sharks and graduated from the University of Minnesota Medical School in 2000.  He will continue to practice medicine in the Duluth area.
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Another article on Beau Bennett in the Pittsburgh Tribune. Bennett wants to have a great year at Denver, and then re-evaluate his pro options.
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The University of Denver has the #3 incoming Freshman Class according to the Redline Report.  The Redline Report rankings only factor in the NHL potential for the Freshman Class, not how they are expected to perform in college.  Nonetheless, its the highest DU has ever been ranked by Redline.
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DU hockey alum Marc Cheverie signed a one year extension with the Florida Panthers organization. He played in 30 games with Cincinnati (ECHL) and 15 games with Rochester (AHL) for a combined record of 15-16-6. He was drafted by Florida in the seventh round in 2006.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

the NCHC and Big10 are already owning recruiting... seems like the new conferences will only reenforce this

dggoddard said...

I'd agree with that and take it one step further.

The long term goal of the Big Ten and NCHC is to grab recruits that college hockey is currently losing to the OHL and major juniors.

miller said...

while it is great to see DU as a founding member of NCHC, it is a little sad seeing the WCHA becoming a second rate league.

dggoddard said...

In 2013-14 DU is going to have home games against Miami (2), UND (2), CC (2), UMD (2), Omaha (2), probably Notre Dame (2), Air Force (1), Denver Cup games (2), Hockey East or Big Ten (2) & one other series (2).

For season ticket holders its going to be the best schedule in Magness history.

dggoddard said...

BTW. In those Redline Recruiting Rankings, NCHC schools are 1...2...3.

1). UND
2). Miami
3). DU

Anonymous said...

Unless they want to start out with an entire team of freshmen when they start play, is Penn State going to start secretly pursuing transfer students? Perhaps from the left over WCHA teams? How will they start with any upperclassmen? I'm unclear on that, thanks ...

du78 said...

Anon 10:32

Penn State is already recruiting players that will start playing for the club team next year. By the time the B10 league starts these players will be juniors. Check out Heisenberg's site for the players thay have recruited. So far they have 11 players coming in next year and 8 the following year.

Anonymous said...

I would imagine most of the guys Penn State is bringing in to the club team with varsity potential down the road are resident PA players who will pay in state tuition to start and compete for scholarship money later.

PA produces 50+ D-I players a year already, and even if they only get 10% of them, it saves them money.

dggoddard said...

Another question might be, "Will any recruits de-commit from SCSU, MSUM or Bemidji?"

The likely answer is probably not.

I have a hard time believing their recruiting will drop off at all. Perhaps they will recruit more local players.

And if UAA or Tech start winning, they might even see an increase in the quality of recruits.

Anonymous said...

I'd be happiest if the Gwozdecky-Miller-LaLonde group rides out of the WCHA together and intact. If DU did something exorbent here in the next 2 years like win a national championship or maybe go back to back as Final Five Champs....I would almost expect Miller in particular to be a flight risk...

du78 said...

Anon 2:00
Only 3 of the recruits are from PA. 5 are from Canada and the other 11 are from 8 other states from Connecticut to California. There are kids from the USHL, NAHL, EJHL, SJHL and BCHL on the list. PSU needs to be competitive ASAP. Don't know what kind of deal thes kids are getting but obviously they are better than your typical club player.

Anonymous said...

So...how much weight has Beau actually added? One article said he was up to 196 lbs and another says he is up to 180 lbs...