Canisius defeated the University of Denver 4-1 on Saturday night at Magness Arena.
Canisius (1-2), the defending Atlantic Hockey Association playoff champions, earn their first win of the season.
Denver held a 38-21 edge in shots but the only time the Pioneers (3-3) scored was on Quentin Shore’s power-play goal with 7:43 left.
Denver pulled its goalie with 2:42 left but Canisius’ Ralph Cuddemi potted an empty-net goal 11 seconds later to secure the Griffs’ first victory.
27 comments:
Monty: "I really liked our effort..." We're going to lose to the Miami's and ND's of the world by double digits if the Pios show up with this kind of "effort" vs. real teams. We were out hustled to the puck all night long.
Bad game, bad loss for DU last night. The Pios looked listless and uninspired most of the night and never gave the crowd much to get excited about. Frustrating game. Not much else to say except congrats to Canisius--those guys came ready to play and deserved the win.
After 6 non-conference games, DU is now staring at 6 straight NCHC games. Should be a tough stretch.
DU was outplayed and outcoached last night. Canisius was the better team.
And, to make it even worse, Chambers was on Twitter last night saying that Landon Smith from Littleton, leading point scorer in the BCHL, is reconsidering his options after previously committing to DU. Thanks, Peg. If your plan was to lose all our blue chip recruits and replace them with club hockey players, you are doing a great job.
I have resisted the urge to be pessimistic about this season. After last night I may be joining Landon Smith and "reconsidering my options."
Landon Smith retweeted Chambers. There is no "c" for committed next to his name on the Salmon ARm roster.
Last night....AARRRGGGHHH!
Landon Smith is also the leading scorer in the BCHL. Huge loss for DU if he doesn't come next season.
Two interesting comments from "I support Boone" Facebook Page.
https://www.facebook.com/BooneForOfficialMascot?hc_location=timeline
"Apparently last night someone from Marketing tried to have Boone leave, but the students didn't allow it. Then Boone tried to get into Gold Club and the same person tried to stop him there, but the 1960 hockey team who was in attendance wouldn't have that and had him hang out with the team. This is just some accounts I heard from people who were at the game last night."
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"We're cutting our season tickets package in half next year mostly due to the attitude of DU around Boone, but also the schools administration in general. The Food and Beverage choices are lousy this season and this whole anti-Pioneer/pro-whinners attitude of the administration has taken much of the joy out of supporting DU. But I was happy to see Boone at the game, a few t-shirts, signs and a couple of coonskin hats behind the north goal. Glad to hear the students and alumni are not tolerating the management trying to ban Boone's free speech (or cheerfulness, being he doesn't speak), lol."
I wonder if we could get the Argus security staff some coonskin caps. A lot of them that I talked to want to ware them to the hockey games. :)
I was wearing one of the Booneskin caps this weekend, and proud of it. I had a conversation with someone from the athletic department. Needless to say, they are concerned by:
1.) Lack of attendance
2.) Lack of enthusiasm
3.) Anti-Boone sentiment from the Administration.
The attendance issue has turned into a perfect storm against DU.
*Bronco and Avs are winning big-time with marquee players
* DU attendance was already declining in recent seasons, but now its fallen off the cliff
* Lack of marquee opponents.
* The under/over on firing Gwozdecky is probably going to be around 1,000 less fans per game.
DU is missing the boat. With the Avalanche's recent struggles, I was able to pick up season tickets in the first row of the third level for a third the price of my DU tickets, on a per ticket basis. Granted, no where near as close to the ice, but a better product at a better price. In a competitive market, you need a competitive product. Monty's "I really liked our effort" comment makes me wonder what his expectations really are. There's too much to do on a weekend to spend it watching bad hockey (which is what it was on Saturday night), even if you've already paid for the tickets. So DU will keep announcing 5,000+ attendance while 3,000, or less fans, come out to support the Pios.
DU hockey ticket prices are like DU tuition. You keep hiking up the prices and one day you wake up and its overpriced.
CC lowered their hockey ticket prices significantly several years ago and I think it helped them curb the declines.
But DU is in a real jam. If attendance declines and they are forced to consider lowering prices its a double whammy to revenue.
Probably a good idea to lower the prices behind the nets significantly and go after the family and kids business.
Looks like a made the better choice going to the NOtre Dame vs. Air Force football game
I've wondered about DU's strategy when it comes to ticket prices. The University has two major challenges this year that make it different from years past: (1) a very busy market (we all know this) with lots of options for the buying public and (2) a team fresh off an off-season filled with turmoil. If I had to guess I would say this team will be hovering around .500 most of the year. Looking at the schedule, I see only 2 home opponents that I would classify as major draws, CC and UND. Miami possibly, but not sure on that. Bottom line--DU would be wise to put its marketing hat on and be as innovative as possible in getting people in the door.
There's no way DU considered all the ramifications of firing Gwozdecky.
I think they were faced with a tough decision. They only had enough money to keep either Tierney or Gwozdecky.
On the surface it looked like an easy decision. Tierney gets all the PR, lacrosse is on the rise & Tierney gets all the facetime on ESPN.
Here we are six months later and I'm thinking the lacrosse program coached by Matt Brown and the hockey program led by Gwozdecky would leave the Athletic Department on stronger footing than a lacrosse program led by Tierney and a hockey program under Monty.
Time will tell....
On the hockey front, it's a complex problem. New coach, new conference with fewer big name opponents (we lose Minnesota and Wisconsin), controversy and discontent around Boone, lingering ill will around Gwoz's departure, and young team that will go through some growing pains. Lots of layers. It's a tough road ahead.
My guess is DU is banking on men's hoops to continue its rise to help offset any downturn in hockey revenue.
No doubt its a complex situation.
I think it is way too early to draw any conclusions on the Hockey team's performance. They basically have had two weeks of coaching and a ton of injuries on an already thin roster.
I am in the same place as most everyone else on the Gwoz firing but the decision was made. I think it is going to take a couple of seasons and recruiting classes to judge Monty or the program. We have to be careful about taking quotes and blowing them out of proportion. This is a young team in a new system so I would expect him to not blast them publicly. My guess he is plenty tough behind the scenes. He is a competitive guy with a successful background.
As for the crazy stuff like eliminating Boone, Columbus Day & indiginous people, and the other controversies, it is not the fault of the Athletic department or the teams. I am in the camp that they need our support - but I understand the current mood.
Let's see how coach Monty is doing.
Coaching Records 3/6 (.500)
Tournament Champions 0/1
Gold Pan Victories
Games against rivals
- CC
- North Dakota
Conference championships
Playoff championships
NCAA appearances
Frozen Four appearances
National titles
Seasons with 20 wins
Consecutive 20 win seasons
Hobey Baker candidates
All Americans
International Competition
Players going on to play in the NHL
1st round draft picks
Players going on to play in the AHL/Rus
Players going on to play in other conferences
Top Scholar-Athlete Award
All-Academic Team
Distinguished Scholar
I still won't buy any overpriced new gear or concessions until the administration resolves this.
I usually buy a program from the youngsters, but not this year. I need to donate directly to their programs and bypass the DU middleman.
I will cheer loudly for the teams and boo the administration with equal fervor.
The players are in a tough situation. They notice the smaller crowds and have to put on a brave front in public.
Declining attendance had already begun before Monty came on board.
Magness holds 6026 for hockey
2007 6000 avg
2012 5300 avg
2013 4800 avg
Look at basketball with capacity of 7200. Over the last 3 years: 3300,5400, 3300.
Agreed about attendnace declining, but keep in mind that the attendance numbers will be inflated this season because they introduced $20 student season tickets and sold 550 of them.
In recent seasons DU had around 270ish student season tickets at $75 per season.
What can't be denied is that Opening night and Homecoming were always sold out and the place was packed to rafters.
Someone just emailed me that they just received an email for $5 tickets to both this weekends games.
What is the deal with the beverages. Same price for a small shock top or coors light as last year for a large. Beer stand pushed off into the corner. Pushed the coors light bombers down to the student section and you have to get in the sandwich line to get one. Seems like the intent is to cut beer consumption but collect the same revenue.
Come on people. Too much negativity. The season is 6 games old. Stay positive and cheer for Monty and our student athletes. We have enough talent where if we stay healthy, we can make some noise.
DG- I like having Tierney leading our lax program. He will leave after the 2017 season. (I am worried that coach in waiting Matt Brown will get an offer from Michigan that he cannot refuse) I think Tierney's original contract was for $225,000 per. How much of a retroactive raise do you think he got?
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