"The Florida Panthers signed 21-year-old prospect Drew Shore to an entry-level contract Monday, three days after Shore's University of Denver team was eliminated in the NCAA hockey tournament. Heralded as one of the top prospects in the Panthers' organization, the American tallied 22 goals and 31 assists in 42 games for Denver in 2011-12. Shore, a second-round pick in 2009, bypassed his senior season and a chance at free agency to sign with the Panthers."According to Western College Hockey & various other outlets, Drew Shore signed a professional contract today with the Florida Panthers of the NHL.
From: Sun Sentinal
Shore scored 50 goals and had 68 assists in three seasons with the Pioneers. He led the team in scoring in both his Sophomore and Junior seasons and anchored a power play unit that improved markedly this season. He scored 12 game winning goals during his career at DU.
Shore's biggest contribution may have been blazing a trail for his brothers at DU. Nick has been a solid contributor in his first two seasons and Quentin will join the team this summer. Youngest brother Baker is waiting in the wings, but hasn't committed to a school yet.
28 comments:
Congrats to Drew. Sensational career at DU and his leap in development from Freshman to Sophomore year was incredible.
Hope he gets a shot to play in the NHL this season.
I would bet the Zucker and Bennett are right behind him.
Hello mid-pack rebuidling year...
Good luck to Drew! He will be playing for ex-DUer and NHL great Kevin Dineen in Florida.
Next season would be a good time to schedule some cupcakes, but I think its loaded again.
Shore was the one non-graduating player hope we had of sticking around, and with him gone, I don't see Zucker and Bennett sticking around, either.
With the under-performing junior forwards we have scheduled to arrive in Denver, be prepared for a rough ride next year...
DU's going to have one of the most dynamic bluelines in college hockey next season. I think you'll see a lot of tap in goals and if the forwards start getting physical around the net, who knows?
Paul Phillips, Joey Leggs, David Makowski, Josiah Didier, Scott Mayfield, Dakota Mermis & Nolan Zajac are going to be very good.
Wisconsin has built a lot of its recent success around its Dmen. This season didn't go too well for them but they sure posed problems for opponents.
Defense looks good for next year assuming no departures. Forwards...a lot of unknowns and doesn't look nearly as strong as prior years. This probably means we'll get to the Frozen Four finally :-)
Assuming Zucker and Bennett are gone also, 47% of our points from the prior year are gone between them and the seniors. Here's projected line ups (mainly just put down players to get a feel, no analysis into what will actually make good combos):
Defense:
Phillips/Makowski
Didier/LaLeggia
Mayfield/D. Mermis
(Van Voorhis/Zajac)
Forwards:
Ostrow/N.Shore/Knowlton
Doremus/Q.Shore/Loney
Larraza/Jacobson/Pham
Tabrum/Olszewski/J.Mermis
(Allen/Arnold/W. Bennett/Levin)
Hope we get to see Drew on the ice with the Panthers in the few games left. Great career at DU.
That's a one line team.
Hello mid-pack.
I doubt you see Olezweski back at DU either, not that he would ever be a WCHA regular.
I think if both Zucker and Bennett go, I think DU will need to reach into the 2013 class for antoerh forward or two.
Wow....I thought for sure he'd atleast start 2012 with both brothers.......good luck Drew
Although we all knew that it was probable that Drew would leave, I am still a little disappointed. It would have been great seeing him play with his two brothers. So many of these guys early, and they can never breakout of the minors.
Assuming Bennett and Zucker leave, will there be a couple of spaces available next year?
Drew had over 50 points this year, and is the most pro-ready player on the DU team. He's a big body, had decent speed, good hands and a strong work-rate.
He might need a year in the minors to round out his game, but in the right situation, he may be smart enough for the NHL now.
The good news for Drew is that he has the body and game to break into the NHL as a 4th line player.
Something that couldn't be said for Gabe Gauthier, Connor James, Joe Colborne and a host of others.
So what are Dingle,Paukovich,Donovan and Colborne doing these days???
I'm not sure if any of DU's 2013 recruits are graduating from high school this summer.
Landon Smith (10/93), Ray Pigozzi (4/94) and Trevor Moore (3/95) are the likely candidates. Will have to figure out their status in school.
And the old question of how many scholies will be available?
Ugh, I was really hoping that Drew would stick around for his final hurrah and play with his two brothers and lead this team next year. But he sure seems ready for the next level. He was outstanding for DU and will be sorely missed. Best of luck, Drew!
San Antonio is a nice place.....
Donovan and Colborne will likely be NHLers next year - both are having fine AHL seasons and both are very much valed by the thier NHL organizations.
Paukovich and Dingle are career minor leaguers.Dingle should never have left school.
Pauko needed a change of scenery after the Bina incident - he was never the same player after that night in St. Paul.
Congrats to Drew. He had a great career at DU. Of course I'm bummed, too. If Drew returned, I thought there would be a decent chance of Beau returning, too. Now, I think we need to count on Zucker, Drew and Bennett as all gone. That could mean a bit of a rebuilding year. But on the other hand, those forward lines that are described above don't look too bad. Loney was very impressive for a freshman, and could have a terrific sophomore campaign. Nick Shore will be very good, same with Ostrow. The wild card to me is Knowlton--he will have a lot more responsibility next year, and if his flashes of brilliance turn into consistent play next year, then we could have a pretty good offense. Supplement that with LaLeggia, Mayfield and Makowski on the blue line, and things don't look too bad.
So here we go DU fans - with calling the first unofficial freshman jersey # assignment, unveiled right here on the LetsGoDU Sports Blog and NOWHERE else in the world - right here, right now. This is unprecidented. Get your cameras ready..... "A FRESHMAN FROM DENVER COLORADO, NUMBER 15 QUENTIN SHORE"
Loney improved a lot, but I wonder how much of his production was linemate-related. His skating needs to get better. Ostrow is a decent college player, but not a special player. Knowlton has some speed, but he's far a from a complete player, especially defensively. Nick Shore is the only proven returning college producer we have up front, and he's a passer, not a scorer.
All of these guys will get better production with increaaed ice time, but I don't see them replacing the 47% of offense that will likely be lost this year.
DU is going to need to win a lot of 2-1 games.
Percentage of scoring production lost is often a misleading stat: it doesn't take into account the remaining players rising up the ranks and improving, players having increased offensive responsibilities, players having more power play time, and changes in coaching strategy which result in different scoring distribution. But in this case, losing who we appear to be losing really should cause a significant drop off in team offense, unless we get 2 or 3 pleasant surprises, in terms of players really stepping up their game. On the other hand, don't forget Makowski--we didn't have him this year, and he could provide the offensive numbers of an above-average forward.
DU has done a good job of reloading when they have lost players to graduation or to the pros pretty much every year, I'm not very worried about this. We lose good players every year and it seems like there are always other players that step up and fill the gap. We may not be the best team next year but we won't be the worst. I'm not worried.
I knew this was coming but I'm still completely shocked by it. As stated by others above, I really thought the draw of being with his brothers would have kept him here next year. Best of luck to you Drew, sure hope you have an outstanding career and enjoy every moment of it!! Thanks for the great 3 years.
My one piece of advice to him: Although tempting......Don't go & buy a house right off the bat (like Carle did in Tampa). RENT Dude!
Carle was in San Jose for a year or two before he was traded to Tampa.
As dg said, "Sensational career at DU and his leap in development from Freshman to Sophomore year was incredible." And he stepped it up again this year.
Congrats to Drew, but we will surely miss you wearing the Crimson and Gold.
Drew will be taking part in the DU Press Conference today along with Bill Tierney.
You can watch the press conference live at Noon MT at www.DenverPioneers.com
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