Inside College Hockey has the Pioneers ranked #5 in the first Poll of the season. They mentioned that DU would have been a consensus #1 pick, but for goaltender Sam Brittain's injury, surgery and rehab.
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The DU men's basketball program is in the running an Adidas Super 64 elite player. Dalante Dunklin (San Diego/Francis Parker - 5'11 senior), a stocky point guard prospect who made some significant plays at both ends down the stretch in a Las Vegas summer tournament. Dunklin has offers from University of San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, Cal Poly and the University of Denver.
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Mike Chambers has two postings in his blog this week. One is about new DU volunteer assistant coach Matty Thomas. The other is about DU assistant coach Steve "Killer" Miller.
23 comments:
Five of the top ten are NCHC members, maybe six. Com'on Notre Dame... wouldn't it be sweet?
Chambers had tweet about Miller staying at DU. Didn't read the article yet. I guess he's not going to the USHL which is great news.
Thanks for the heads up about the Chambers postings.
Miller supposedly received a raise and a new title last season. It would of been hard seeing him leave especially with the NCHC just around the corner.
He's a great coach, great recruiter and is a great asset to the university.
DG, Do you have a job?
@ anon 10:53
DG's "job" is to suck at life and he's very good at it!
Boone to the Beach in 2012
@ Mexico
He makes more money than you do for the exact same thing. DU might have a small fan base but it's nice of you to hang out here since you can't get your fill with the other mindless fans down in the springs.
I'm going to posit that Brittain's injury will help the team. If we went into the season ranked #1 it would have the feel of 2009. Top level speed and scoring with an elite goalie.
That year the team depended too much on Cheverie to bail them out and mailed it at the end of the year.
Playing in front of Murray, the team will have to focus more on defense and doing things the right way, which will only help come postseason.
Mexico, you are becoming quite the nuisance. Why don't you go crawl back under your rock and of get a life while you are at it.
great point cis.everyone well have to dig a little deeper. I am hoping that Murray surprises all of us, in a good way! At this point I will take 5th place, the target isn't as big on your back.
made in mexico........yawn. Where are you bro? Come out from your troll hole so you can get pimp slapped.
I think it's interesting that Brittain would be single-handedly the diference-maker like that in a poll; because I bet that if Britt's injury hadn't of happened and right now everything were normal and on track as expected, DU would already be saying that Sam & Adam would be platooning early in 2011.Lot of freshmen on the roster, and alot of very good hockey players. I like DU's position early on. That opening Massacusets weekend will be a tremendous "tone setter" for the young Pioneers. I'm excited to get the season underway. I do see that the USANTDPU18 2011 roster is posted on thier website, so you can get a glimpse of who's coming to Colorado in October. The Canadian universities DU usually plays during pre-season are typically very slow to update thier websites/rosters before the season starts. The McGill Redmen still have last year's team listed.
Sad to know that Mexico takes more of an interest in fomenting conversations about his shmuckness than in talking about hockey. And that we play into it.
And to digress, (since I just proved my own point)-
I think players like Sam are big difference makers in their impact on chemistry and confidence as much or more than their individual talent level.
Jesse was a great player that we missed, but I think the impact went beyond missing his stats, but considering his line's stats, and the stats that are affected by having to move lines around for the rest of the season. The MOM line was great to have.
Hockey is such a team sport that individual personalities make it easy to forget about the teamwork involved. Bozak was an exception in that he, by himself, made a huge difference. Brittain isn't quite yet Cheverie or Mannino- such a dominant goalie that he should singlehandedly save a lot of games- but his absence is probably worth a few ranking spots considering how unstable things just feel with Murray in net, and the way the d-system works around him.
Not sure that having him would convince me that DU is #1 though. I think it will be largely dependent on defensive chemistry (a weak spot as of late), which is hard to call at this point.
DU should be a 3.5 - 4.0 GPG offense next year - With point producers such as Zucker, the Shores, Bennett, and Salazar and puck solid-puck movers like Makowski, Laleggia and Philips, scroring should be good.
As long as Murray and the Finn can keep teams at or under 3 GPG and at around a .900-.910 in saves pct, DU should be just good enough to get into the NCAAs as 3rd or fourth place WCHA team. Adding Brittain, (in his last year's .925 form), would turn into DU a WCHA top level team and a Frozen Four contender.
Last season's stats offer some clues to this upcoming season. DU scored 3.2 goals per game, 18.6% on the power play and scored as many goals in the third period as the first two periods combined.
Until and unless DU gets scoring production out of their 3rd & 4th lines and the power play hovers closer to 25%, they are not going to score 3.5 goals per game, much less 4.0
Why the goal onslaught in the third period? Double shifting the big guns and wearing opponents down in tight games last season.
No doubt the top six can score, but are any of them good enough to carry to marginal scorers to greater heights. Jon Foster made Geoff Paukovich and J.D. Corbin decent forwards in 2005. Bozak made those around him better in the two seasons he was here.
If we stack the top two lines with the 5 that Swami mentions above, those 3rd and 4th liners are Mermis, Larraza, Knowlton, Doremus, Ostrow, Jackson, Dewhurst and several other freshman (man, we have a lot of new guys).
IMO, that's as solid of a 3rd and 4th line crew that we've had since the Foster year you mention DG. However, I think I'd like to see the wealth spread out a bit.
I'm really just pulling names out of a hat, but something like:
Zucker/Jackson/Salazar
B. Bennett/D. Shore/Ostrow
Larraza/N. Shore/Dewhurst(best other frosh.)
Mermis/Knowlton/Doremus
My thought pretty much revolves around the "Goal Czar theory of relativity". Put him on a line with a dynamic player (Bozak/Zucker), he's suddenly a dynamic player putting up great stats. Put him on a 3rd or 4th line and his contribution drops dramatically. The same could occur with a guy like Ostrow this year. Maybe some other guys too. Spread the wealth and only consolidate the lines if we need to late in games.
The"Goal Czar Theory of Relativity."
Classic :-)
Or perhaps "The Goal Czar Theory of Productivity."
Or, maybe the goal cZar just needs to be on a line with a guy with a matching Z in his name like Zucker and boZak. Too bad Nolan isn't coming until next year. A power play unit of Zajac, salaZar, Zucker, olsZweski and larraZa would be unstoppable.
@ mexico 2:43
If I came at you, you would be pulped and rolled in the corner, gurgling and groaning...
Wonder if Coach GwoZdecky will consider the "Z Factor" when setting up line combinations?
Congrats to CC!! #1 in the Reefer Madness poll. Aim high boys!
Thanks for the heads up.
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