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| Quentin Shore |
If any DU player was interested in transferring to a major junior team, it would come as a mild surprise. But the Shore family is anchored to the University of Denver as can be. Quentin's older brother Drew attended DU and is the second leading scorer [5g,10a] for the AHL San Antonio Rampage this winter. Second eldest brother Nick is the leading scorer [6g,12a] for the Pioneers this season. Youngest brother Baker plays youth hockey and is on DU's recruiting radar. Finally both parents graduated from DU's Law School.
The University of Denver is on its annual academic Christmas Break [Thanksgiving to New Years] the timing is certainly right for a player looking to make the jump to Major Juniors. In the past DU defenesemen William Wrenn and T.J. Fast left DU after the academic Fall Quarter. However in both instances it was after DU had completed the first half of the season.
Could Quentin Shore have struggled academically in the Fall Quarter and decided that college wasn't for him? "Unlikely" said an unnamed source with knowledge of the Shore brothers and their family.
Possible Quentin Shore ties to the WHL Portland Winterhawks include star defenseman Seth Jones. Jones is the likely #1 or #2 overall pick in the upcoming NHL Draft. Shore & Jones were close friends on the USNDT for two years in Ann Arbor.
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Quentin Shore is the 9th leading scorer [3g,4a] for the Pioneers this season and centers DU's third line. Although he is logging plenty of minutes this season, perhaps he is unhappy with DU's power player situation or minutes? DU has been rolling three D-men on the first unit all season, and after a torrid start, the first power play unit has been silent lately in addition to giving up three shorthanded goals in recent weeks.
Quentin Shore was not drafted by an NHL team last summer. Perhaps he feels he needs to crank up the stats and showcase his skills in the wide open Western Hockey League to raise his stock next summer in the 2013 NHL Draft.
Which brings us to Kennedy's Twitter Post last night. Its possible that Portland encouraged Seth Jones to reach out to Quentin to see if he was interested. Or its possible that the Shore family reached out to the Winterhawks to evaluate their options going forward. Either way, expect DU to quickly try and quell this rumor with the North Dakota series upcoming this weekend.
The longer questions remain unanswered, the higher the possibility that the rumor is true.
9 comments:
I'd put the odds of this rumor being true in the 10-20% category.
Quentin's stats are on pace to match Drew & Nicks' Freshman seasons at DU. Both older brothers made a huge leap in development during their Sophomore years.
The only difference is that Quentin wasn't drafted, so perhaps that's adding pressure to the situation.
Guesssing we'll hear something via backdoor channels today.
FWIW, A Boston University player just left the team this week for major juniors.
"BU redshirt sophomore forward Yasin Cissé has left the Terriers, according to a school-issued press release Tuesday afternoon."
tis the season....
I don't think we have much to be worried about but I guess anything can happen. I would guess that maybe Portland reached out to Q and he possibly didn't shoot them down but that doesn't prove he is ready to bolt.
I usually hear about stuff and didn't hear anything about this over the weekend, which doesn't prove anything.
I'm not too worried, though most rumors are based on fact at some level.
Ugh. This seems to be one of those classic situations in which the silence is deafening.
It's sure hard to imagine Quentin's legacy at DU ending after only 1/2 of one season.
Lots of people are doubting that Q will be going to Portland. Chambers is going to get to the bottom of it per his tweet. My guess is that Portland planted the story.
Kennedy just tweeted that Q is not leaving Devner yet due to the controversy in Portland. So he leaves the door open for Q to leave in the future.
Keep in mind that Kennedy just threw these two tweets out there without saying who gave him the info or offering any proof of their validity. His second tweet lets him back down from the first without saying he got it wrong. I think it is time to start looking ahead to the UND series.
"Last week the Western Hockey League suspended Portland Winterhawks coach and GM Mike Johnston for the rest of the season, fined the team $200,000 and took away several draft picks because of player-benefit violations over the past four seasons.
The Winterhawks will be excluded from the first five rounds of the 2013 WHL bantam draft and will forfeit their first-round selections in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. Should the first-round selection in 2014 not be available due to a conditional trade, Portland will surrender its second- and third-round picks."
It would be interesting to know how much they paid Seth Jones and William Wrenn.
. It should also be noted through the course of the investigation there was no evidence of any payments or enhanced education benefits provided to players that would be contrary to WHL Regulations as previous media reports indicated.”
You left out the part about the WHL saying there was no pay - oh wait, Wrenn got a cell phone for being team captain - Big news!
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