What's new
By:
USCHO Fan Forum

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • The USCHO Fan Forum has migrated to a new plaform, xenForo. Most of the function of the forum should work in familiar ways. Please note that you can switch between light and dark modes by clicking on the gear icon in the upper right of the main menu bar. We are hoping that this new platform will prove to be faster and more reliable. Please feel free to explore its features.

All Things Denver XXIX

Status
Not open for further replies.
Re: All Things Denver XXIX

I guess the issue would be how to get the winner their trophy. Here is the solution. Have your first 2 games at the campus locations for each of the colo teams. then have the last 3 games as an single event like the pepsi center. kind of a day of hockey. after the last game figure the winner and present the trophy otherwise if it is a visiting team meet them at the airport and say here's your trophy.
 
Re: All Things Denver XXIX

I'm surprised by Denver's start - not only the results, but also the all-around solid play - but this wouldn't be the first time a team has suffered significant losses and been surprisingly good the next year. I can think of two recent examples for the team I follow. In 1999, UND graduated a large senior class that dominated the WCHA for two years; the next year they won the national title. In 2004, UND lost Parise, Bochenski and Blais (the 1-0 year); in 2005, they played for the national title. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out in this case.
 
Re: All Things Denver XXIX

jk said:
I'm surprised by Denver's start - not only the results, but also the all-around solid play - but this wouldn't be the first time a team has suffered significant losses and been surprisingly good the next year. I can think of two recent examples for the team I follow. In 1999, UND graduated a large senior class that dominated the WCHA for two years; the next year they won the national title. In 2004, UND lost Parise, Bochenski and Blais (the 1-0 year); in 2005, they played for the national title. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out in this case.
Click to expand...
Its all about recruiting. Fans put too much stock in who's leaving and never factor in who's arriving.

In '05 the Sioux had Travis Zajac & Spirko come in and score 36 goals. They had the #1 recruiting class according to INCH.

This year DU has Zucker & Brittain. DU had the #1 recruiting class.
 
Re: All Things Denver XXIX

rickkyboy said:
How about a Colorado Challege Cup. AF, CC and DU take on 3 visiting teams with standings and a trophy for the top point winning team (points for winning, ties, and then goal differential)?? maybe one of the day's slate of games could all be at one location.
Click to expand...
As I understand it, when DU started the Denver Cup in 1992, DU naturally wanted CC to participate and build the gate. At first CC said "no thanks," but after a few years had trouble finding opponents to come out to Colorado, so they participated in the Tourney from 1995-1999. In 1999 Lucia bolted, but CC was one of the top programs in the country at the time and said, why don't we co-host it and split the gate. There is also a chance that they got tired of DU sticking them against so pretty nasty competition each year in the first game of the Tourney (Cornell, New Hampshire, Maine).

DU said thanks but um...no and CC decided to do their own thing. Thanks to a plethora of holiday tournaments, Colorado College started having a harder and harder time drawing name brand opponents to the Springs around the holidays. So much so, that in recent years CC had to hit the road and visit XMAS tourneys in Michigan and Florida.

Correct me if anything above is incorrect.
 
Last edited:
Re: All Things Denver XXIX

College Hoops Statemant and question: We are the first 0-4 team in the country. Our team is very experienced as well as one that traveled and practiced in Spain together in August.
Perhaps just a slow start against teams that are pretty good. I hope this is the case.
However, I fear the following as in Scott's Princeton story: The Princeton kids said all he did was yell. It got tiring. They tuned him out and had their spirit broken. (he destroyed their program) From what I read on the Hoops blogs, this does not seem to be the case, but I am far away.
So, would one of the local contributors please give me his or her take.

thanks, Go DU, Dunker
 
Last edited:
Re: All Things Denver XXIX

Hate to state the obvious, but huge Pairwise ramifications this weekend.

DU needs a win against Lake State to gain common opponent advantages on CCHA foes. But the Air Force game is even more critical. Yale is certain to be an NCAA Tourney team and they have already beaten CC and luckily for DU, lost to Air Force. A DU win over Air Force and hopefully a Vermont victory over Yale in a few weeks would give DU an advantage in the common opponents category. DU's 1-2-1 non-conference record & 2-3-0 record against TUC's is weighing DU down in the Pairwise.
 
Last edited:
Re: All Things Denver XXIX

DU has played four very good teams, three of them away from home. The feeling I get is that there is enough talent at DU to compete well with all of them, but all four games have seen DU come out cold in the second half after a pretty good to good first half and not really make the kind of second half run that strikes fear in the opponent. DU was one of the top shooting teams in the country last year, and this year, they have not shot as well. DU will never have the thoroughbred athletes that other programs do, so they need to win by good shooting and playing gritty, tough defense. Both have been in shorter supply than expectations.

I think DU will get better this year, but it needs to happen soon. The experienced players should be better than they've shown so far.

Scott built the Air Force program from nothing into an NCAA team, and they fell apart after he left. At Princeton, they were already prettty good., and I am sure he learned some things from the struggles they had. He's had a lot of success building DU from the bottom into the top half, but going from top half to elite is a big jump. Give him some time.

I think he has a good shot to build DU into tournament level team, but he needs to start winning...
 
Re: All Things Denver XXIX

College sports is 99% recruiting. Its true in hockey, true in lacrosse and its especially true in Hoops.

What I'm failing to see throughout this "WACsperiment" is the desire on behalf of the alumni to win at Hoops at all costs. When Gwozdecky was brought in, I think is pretty obvious that Ritchie gave him a blank check and a new Arena. With Tierney it was Pat Bowlin. Who's the major donor(s) that are willling to stand up and if neccessary throw millions at making hoops competitive.

I agree that it was a good move to join the WAC, but what I'm not buying is that DU has the money, commitment, interest or ability to build a top-notch Hoops program.

This is what it costs to play with the big boys.

Code: 
John Calipari 	Kentucky 	$4 million per year
Billy Donovan 	Florida 	$3.5 million per year
Bill Self 	Kansas 	        $3 million per year
Thad Matta 	Ohio State 	$2.5 million per year
Jim Calhoun 	Connecticut 	$2.3 million per year
Rick Pitino 	Louisville 	$2.25 million per year
Roy Williams 	North Carolina 	$2.11 million per year
Rick Barnes 	Texas 	        $2 million per year
Tom Izzo 	Michigan State 	$1.735 million per year
Ben Howland 	UCLA 	        $1.5 million per year
Tom Crean 	Indiana 	$1.48 million per year
Mike Krzyzewski Duke 	        $1.2 million per year 
Jim Boeheim 	Syracuse 	$1-plus million per year
 
Last edited:
Re: All Things Denver XXIX

DU has no pretentions about competing for an NCAA hoops title. DU can't play with the top 20 and they don't have the money to do it. What DU DOES want is to pay $400K to a coach who can get them to the dance and maybe win a game or two. DU doesn't pretened they want to be Michigan State or Kentucky. They want to be Gonzaga or St. Mary's. Win enough to get on TV, put 4-5,000 fans in the barn and be the best program on the Front Range.
 
Re: All Things Denver XXIX

dggoddard said:
College sports is 99% recruiting. Its true in hockey, true in lacrosse and its especially true in Hoops.

What I'm failing to see throughout this "WACsperiment" is the desire on behalf of the alumni to win at Hoops at all costs. When Gwozdecky was brought in, I think is pretty obvious that Ritchie gave him a blank check and a new Arena. With Tierney it was Pat Bowlin. Who's the major donor(s) that are willling to stand up and if neccessary throw millions at making hoops competitive.

I agree that it was a good move to join the WAC, but what I'm not buying is that DU has the money, commitment, interest or ability to build a top-notch Hoops program.

This is what it costs to play with the big boys.

Code: 
John Calipari 	Kentucky 	$4 million per year
Billy Donovan 	Florida 	$3.5 million per year
Bill Self 	Kansas 	        $3 million per year
Thad Matta 	Ohio State 	$2.5 million per year
Jim Calhoun 	Connecticut 	$2.3 million per year
Rick Pitino 	Louisville 	$2.25 million per year
Roy Williams 	North Carolina 	$2.11 million per year
Rick Barnes 	Texas 	        $2 million per year
Tom Izzo 	Michigan State 	$1.735 million per year
Ben Howland 	UCLA 	        $1.5 million per year
Tom Crean 	Indiana 	$1.48 million per year
Mike Krzyzewski Duke 	        $1.2 million per year 
Jim Boeheim 	Syracuse 	$1-plus million per year
Click to expand...

Yeah. For 4 mil, Kentucky gets that paragon of virtue Calipari. If they thought he could sign the next MJ, and could get him freed, they'd hire OJ. That crook Calipari gets 4 mil and coach K gets 1.2 mil? What's wrong with this picture?
 
Last edited:
Re: All Things Denver XXIX

dggoddard said:
Hate to state the obvious, but huge Pairwise ramifications this weekend.

DU needs a win against Lake State to gain common opponent advantages on CCHA foes. But the Air Force game is even more critical. Yale is certain to be an NCAA Tourney team and they have already beaten CC and luckily for DU, lost to Air Force. A DU win over Air Force and hopefully a Vermont victory over Yale in a few weeks would give DU an advantage in the common opponents category. DU's 1-2-1 non-conference record & 2-3-0 record against TUC's is weighing DU down in the Pairwise.
Click to expand...

Yeah, no repeat of the '05-06 season's Denver Cup, please. Crapping the bed in that tourney cost DU dearly...
 
Re: All Things Denver XXIX

I would not be looking for vermont to beat yale. I'd say that was unlikely.
Beating lake state is very do-able. they are Dr jekyll and mr hyde type of a team.

also being another Gonzaga or St Mary's is a very tall order. might take some time. You might want to start by beating Air Force, and maybe some of the lower Mountain West teams.
The points about recruiting are very well made.
 
Re: All Things Denver XXIX

Moving the Denver Cup to November and the way the rest of the schedule falls, the only games that conflict with the WJC are the 2 against Northern Michigan. Surely Zucker will be in Buffalo and maybe Drew Shore.
 
Re: All Things Denver XXIX

In honor of Dmann, I am happy to provide the needed bump. I'm excited for the Denver Cup to begin, as Friday will be the first DU game I shall attend in person this season. I sure hope they bring their 'A' game and get two much needed ooc wins!
 
Re: All Things Denver XXIX

My guess as to why the schedule falls the way it does is that DU is just afraid to play Clarkson ;).

Really, hoping Clarkson at least wins Friday and competes well Saturday; so far this year, it all comes down to our goalie. The offense will score 3-4 goals pretty consistently.
 
Re: All Things Denver XXIX

co14ers said:
In honor of Dmann, I am happy to provide the needed bump. I'm excited for the Denver Cup to begin, as Friday will be the first DU game I shall attend in person this season. I sure hope they bring their 'A' game and get two much needed ooc wins!
Click to expand...

Need these two games big time. DU has 4 OOC games left including these two and the 2-game series with NMU at New Year's in Magness. All 4 are big PWR games. I think it is a shame that so muich weight is now given to the OOC games. In the olden days, the OOC games were the chance for a lot of the non-regulars to get their chance to play and experience playing a full game taking a regular shift. It also gave the coaches a chance to rest some of the regulars. Now with the NCAA tourney all predicated on the PWR, potential tourney teams can't afford to slip up in the OOC games when facing non-ranked opponents.

Gwoz press conference today at 12 PM MT for free on Pio Vision at www.denverpioneers.com.
 
Last edited:
Re: All Things Denver XXIX

du78 said:
Need these two games big time. DU has 4 OOC games left including these two and the 2-game series with NMU at New Year's in Magness. All 4 are big PWR games. I think it is a shame that so muich weight is now given to the OOC games. In the olden days, the OOC games were the chance for a lot of the non-regulars to get their chance to play and experience playing a full game taking a regular shift. It also gave the coaches a chance to rest some of the regulars. Now with the NCAA tourney all predicated on the PWR, potential tourney teams can't afford to slip up in the OOC games when facing non-ranked opponents.

Gwoz press conference today at 12 PM MT for free on Pio Vision at www.denverpioneers.com.
Click to expand...

I agree. With DU losing 2 to BC earlier this season, the OOC imperative takes on even more importance this year. DU's is in a winning groove right now, and I wouldn't want to mess with it, I don't think that I would start Murray right now. I'd play Brittain, and if DU can build a 3 goal lead on either of these teams, then I'd bring in Murray. Do goalies who only play two games a week really need rest? On the other hand, if Murray starts and plays well, it could be a big boost for him and the team. Right now, the jury is still out out whether Murray can play effectively at this level.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top