News & Notes From Around PioNation

(above) DU alum Mark Matthews was named Player of the Game in his professional debut on Saturday night
The Washington Times projects that the University of Denver Lacrosse team will be #10 next season in the first Poll released for next season.  They list several reasons for DU's rankings.
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Mark Matthews scored four goals for the Denver Outlaws on Saturday night. Matthews was drafted by the Outlaws and appeared in his MLL debut. He added two assists. With these impressive stats Matthews earned himself player of the game in his professional outdoor lacrosse debut.
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DU lacrosse recruit Jake Woodring [Eden Prarie, MN] was named one of the Top 40 high school junior lacrosse players in the country.

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a joke INCH does not have us in the top 10 for 2012.

Anonymous said...

INCH is right. DU will not be top 10 in hockey next year. DU will have very solid goaltending and a talented defense but the huge loss of offensive talent to the NHL is going to keep the Pioneers mired around .500 next year and not likely NCAA tourney material.

You simply cannot replace the loss of Drew Shore, Beau Bennett and Jason Zucker. DU does not have the talent to replace those guys. Nick Shore? Chris Knowlton? Dan Doremus? Not happening. The offensive incoming talent is alos on the worst DU recruiting class in years, at least offensively.

This year will a trying year.

Anonymous said...

Not so much of a joke, really. DU may be borderline top 10, but won't be viewed as a contender until they prove that they can score enough goals without Zucker, D. Shore and Bennett in the lineup. I personally don't care where we are ranked. I look upon it as a bit of a rebuilding year. If we surprise some people by the end of the year, then that's great. We will probably have to get 30% of our scoring from the blue line for the first half of the season.

Anonymous said...

I don't know man; Sophmore years tend to be breakout years for DU guys. look at Drew Shore, once Rahkshani left. So maybe now that Drew & Zucker have cleared out - these 2nd year guys might explode. The 2 returning guys to watch, in my humble opinion, are Doremus and Mayfield. Not in terms of scoring - but overall contributors and career development. I got a feeling that Mayfield's going to be out of fricking control. But if he gets too good..... this could be his last college season

Anonymous said...

Probably the opposite of last year. Didn't win a game this year where we didn't score 3 goals. Next year, we'll probably win every game we DO score 3.

dggoddard said...

Shore, Mermis & Zajac are big-time recruits. Elite 1st & 2nd round NHL draft picks are heading to major juniors in higher frequency, so compared to other WCHA programs, these guys are right up there.

It all starts on the blueline for DU. Makowski [if he recovers], Laleggia, Phillips, Didier, Mermis & Zajac are going to be amazing.

Lets not forget the unbalanced WCHA schedule. DU will easily win 20 games. DU will be heavy favorites in their first 10 games. We'll also sweep CC this season, so there's four easy victories right there.

2012 Recruiting Class
D Dakota Mermis (Green Bay, USHL)
F Garrett Allen (Des Moines, USHL)
D Nolan Zajac (Omaha, USHL)
F Quentin Shore (U.S. Under-18)
F Grant Arnold (Green Bay, USHL)
F Gabe Levin (Fairbanks, NAHL)

Anonymous said...

Dg, are you high? "It all starts with the blue-line"...and you forget to mention Mayfield?

Since when has it all started with the blue-line at DU?....That's just a BS excuse because you realize that DU is going to suck offensively next year.

And, yes, there are still plenty of teams in the WCHA that are getting 1st and 2nd round talent..just not DU.

You amaze me that you can brag about great recruiting classes when DU occasionally lands one and then come up with some lame-ass excuse when they don't.

You have zero credibility.

Anonymous said...

5:06--don't cry. It will be OK. Momma will get you some milk and cookies, OK??

Anonymous said...

anon @5:57(Monday) can shut the hell up, as can anon @5:06(Tuesday)...both of those posts are complete rubbish

dggoddard said...

Inside College Hockey's Ranking of DU's Recruiting Classes.

2011 - #5 - Laleggia, Mayfield, Larraza

2010 - #1 - N. Shore, Bennett, Zucker, Brittain, Makowski

2009 - #2 - Shore, Donovan, Wrenn, Murray, S. Ostrow

2008 - #8 - Colborne, Lee, Wiercioch

2007 - #9 - Bozak, Martin, K. Ostrow, Cheverie

2006 - #4 - Rakhshani, Ruegsegger, Brookwell, Seabrook

2005 - #6 - Butler, Trotter, Mullen, Fast

2004 - #8 - Stastny, Mannino, Dingle, Thomas, May, Paukovich

Anonymous said...

Wow, blogging keeping you up at nights, DG?

dggoddard said...

Cutting and pasting takes around 10 seconds...

http://letsgodu.blogspot.com/2011/10/above-inch-listed-dus-2011-recruiting.html

Anonymous said...

at 1:26am?....Dude,you need a new bed or a girlfriend.

vizoroo said...

My 2 cents:

Key Returnees:
David Makowski* 2-10-12 in 20 games
Sam Brittain** 2.36 .932
Jussi Olkinuora 2.18 .924
Joey LaLeggia 11-27-38
Scott Mayfield 3-9-12
Fron the INCH Top Recruiting Classes add Larraza, N. Shore, S. Ostrow and Murray

Key losses:
Beau Bennett* 4-9-13 in 10 games
Drew Shore* 22-31-53
Jason Zucker* 22-24-46
Luke "Goal Czar" Salazar 12-18-30
Fan favorite--John Ryder led the team with 209 hits

*Key returnees last year
** Key returnee if not injured

Anonymous said...

Nice no-show for DU in INCH's
10 for 13.

vizoroo said...

Ty Loney, 11-10-21, could have a real impact on DU's offense. He didn't really "get" the college game until after Christmas.

Anonymous said...

Yes, strangely enough, there will be a lot of pressure on Loney to lead the offense, along with N. Shore. I hope he can deliver the goods.

Aluuum said...

Inch's pre season power rankings have always proved to be far off when the final season results are in.

Anonymous said...

I find it interesting that this blog has focused almost entirely on lax recently and the comments have been waaaaay down. Now, even in a post that focused predominately on lax again, the talk is about, uh, HOCKEY.

Note to DG: In order to keep this place relevant, don't dismiss what your readers are really here for -- HOCKEY. If that doesn't happen, you should realize that someone may start a DU HOCKEY blog and make this place completely irrelevant.

dggoddard said...

Good points about hockey interest on the blog.

Anyone can start a blog, but the trick is building and maintaining traffic. Doubtful anyone will ever be able to surpass LetsGoDU.

Its the dog days of summer. Not much is going on regarding DU hockey until the NHL draft or if DU announces a new recruit or two.

Anonymous said...

10:02--you sound like a real dimwit (or a CC fan), who can't seem to get through his skull the concept of "Letsgo DU"--not "Let's go DU hockey." Frankly, I (and many others) wouldn't have visited this blog after hockey season ended, if it wasn't for the lax coverage. Some of us are more interested in DU athletics, than just DU hockey. Ponder it...think about it...maybe this concept will finally sink in, if you really concentrate.

Anonymous said...

Nice to see Matthews move on. He was more about individual stats than team play. So sad that this kid had his attention on turning pro instead of focusing on winning the NCAAs.

Anonymous said...

“Sophomore years tend to be breakout years for DU guys. look at Drew Shore, once Rahkshani left.”

That’s because Rahkshani was a puck hog. Of course Drew’s stats went up once he had a chance to touch the puck.

Anonymous said...

3:04: wen you're talking about DU's all-time leading scorer, what's good for Matthews' stats, is what's good for the team. Would you rather have him pass the ball so somebody else could fail to score? Is that what's good for the team?

Or maybe you're the guy who writes the exact same comment about DU hockey players?

Anonymous said...

Pretty sure Rock and D. Shore never played on the same line for any stretch of time. Other than that, your claim of D. Shore never touching the puck because Rock was a puck hog makes total sense.

D. Shore had a big leap in his game his sophomore year because he matured, got better, had better linemates and got more ice time (regular and pp).

Anonymous said...

Some of the comments here (Rahkshani holding back D. Shore's development) are hilariously ignorant! Keep em coming!!