Why Did NHL Scouts Miss The Boat On Stastny

(above) 43 players were drafted ahead of DU Alum Paul Stastny in the 2005 NHL Draft

Its not very often that we post comments from Message Boards, but the comment below was so interesting, I thought we'd pass it along.

From: How Does Stastny Slip To The 2nd round?
Site: Hockey's Future Message Board
Posted By: bleedgreen

"I watched him live quite a bit at the University of Denver and to be honest, he never looked like a stud prospect. He wasn't fast, he never went end to end, he rarely beat goalies with a shot further away than ten feet, he didn't dangle anyone.

Most players in the NCAA who go on to be at Stastny's level in the NHL, were far more dominant individual players in college. He got points for sure, but not very often through highlight reel individual efforts. I'm sure the scouts thought he was too slow and not dominant enough for his game to translate.

Why he did is because of one thing, smarts. He is the closest player I've ever seen to Ronnie Francis. He is always in the right place at the right time, and that translated, as well as his vision and awesome passing. He makes exactly the same plays he made in college, and they're the kind of plays that work at any level.

Scouts couldn't have known that, as I'm sure a lot of guys look like that at lower levels. Stastny is the rare case of a guy being smart enough to fit in with anyone at any level, the better the players around him the more it all works.

I'm curious to see his transition to #1 center continue as the players around him have helped out. As Sakic moves on and the team becomes more his, I wonder if at any point he can become more individually dominant if he is needed to. Hopefully the Avs keep enough skill around him to not worry about it.

After watching him live quite a bit, I didn't think he would ever be more than a third liner, despite him racking points and being a very good player at DU. He just didn't look he was dominant enough. Ironically guys like TJ Hensick [University of Michigan] are the ones who look like studs in college and don't reach the same levels. Hensick is a guy who relies on his skill and speed to get him there; it may not be enough. Whereas Stastny relied on brains and sound instincts.

DU Assistants Hit The Road To Recruit Players

From: DU Clarion
by Brooks Kirchheimer

Life as an assistant coach is no easy job. You don't just sit next to the coach on the bench and help lead the team.

The job of involves much more than coaching. It is scheduling practices, keeping tabs on student's grades and classes, breaking down game video, organizing and scheduling trips and, most importantly, time-consuming recruiting. It is the 365-day job that surrounds every coach.

Recruiting in college is what helps bring in talented and successful athletes year after year. Recruiting is more than just showing up at high school or, in hockey's case, junior hockey games and picking an athlete you like.

Recruiting is about making connections with high school and club coaches, building a solid program that athletes will want to join and having a facility that an athlete will want to practice and compete in.

For the DU hockey program, assistant coaches Steve Miller and Derek Lalonde spend hundreds of hours a season traveling the globe looking for the athletes that will be the right fit as a Pioneer.

"It's a 365-day process that starts years in advance of when the kid shows up on campus and sees us travel to many places," said Lalonde.

The NHL collective bargaining agreement, which is a contract between team owners and the players association and was most recently agreed to on July 13, 2005 after the cancellation of the 2004-05 NHL season, greatly affected college hockey and recruiting.

The agreement reduced the age of unrestricted free agency in the NHL to 27, which forced teams to start signing players at a much younger age so they had more time to develop them.

This greatly affected college hockey and has seen in recent years numerous players leave college earlier. Most notable for DU are Paul Stastny and Matt Carle who are both currently playing in the NHL along with Ryan Dingle, Geoff Paukovich and Brock Trotter who spent the season in the minors.

"I think the NHL teams are more determined than ever before to get the players out of college as early as possible and get them into their organization and see what kind of players they are and give them a chance to develop," said Head Coach George Gwozdecky. "You are a free agent at the age of 27, and the more you stay in college, the less the team has to develop you."

With more and more players leaving early, recruiting is starting at a much younger age.

"Nowadays you start looking at players when they are 14, 15 or 16. Coach (Gwozdecky) and I went to look at the top 15-year olds in the country a day after the WCHA championships and already got a couple verbal commitments," said Lalonde.

After and during every season these days it is almost becoming a norm to see at least one or two players forgo the rest of their college careers to pursue their dream, the NHL.

"I don't think they know. I think many times they don't want to leave, but then they are convinced to leave by a family member or the team that wants to sign them, and then there are other times when they want to leave because they are ready, it varies," said Gwozdecky about why players are leaving.

With the collective bargaining agreement came a change in the salary cap, allowing teams to sign players for much less than they used to receive.

"The money is not as big as it used to be. Prior to the new collective bargaining agreement money was millions; now, it is only hundreds of thousands. It is a lot of money to us but not a lot of money to a professional franchise," said Gwozdecky.

It is money that might have lured Dingle and Paukovich away from the college game and has seen them play a full season in the dreaded minors.

"I have talked to both of the guys, and they are not really happy with their situation. I have heard from many of the guys that have left or graduated and they say playing minor league hockey is not a lot of fun," said Gwozdecky about Paukovich and Dingle.

Dingle spent the season up and down between the Anaheim Ducks AHL affiliate, Portland Pirates and the ECHL affiliate Augusta Lynx, while Paukovich spent the season with the Stockton Thunder of the ECHL.

"It is a struggle because you have guys that come from different environments, you have a mixture of guys that have a whole different agenda," said Gwozdecky about minor league hockey.

The recruiting process is becoming a win-loss situation for the Pioneers.

Instead of signing players and thinking they will play for four years, the top athletes are quickly leaving for the NHL even if that means time in the minor leagues.

With the collective bargaining agreement came more work for Lalonde and Miller who are now at task to find last minute recruits to fill the spaces of Pioneers who decide to make the step to the NHL.

It is a recruiting process that includes trips like Lalonde took during his time as a coach at Ferris State, where on a four-hour drive to Northern Canada only one radio program was available, bingo.

As more and more players leave college early the recruiting process becomes more important than ever for assistant coaches everywhere.

Stastny Featured In ESPN Magazine Article

From: ESPN The Magazine
by Jeff Bradley

The old man is tough, but he could have been a lot tougher.

You think you have it bad? You grew up in big houses in St. Louis and the New Jersey suburbs; I shared a one-bedroom apartment with four brothers and a sister. You gripe about cell phone reception; I worried about my phone calls being wiretapped! You complain, period. I wasn't allowed to complain until I escaped Czechoslovakia 27 years ago!

Paul Stastny, budding NHL star, hasn't heard these exact words from his dad, but that doesn't mean that Peter Stastny, legendary NHL star, isn't paying attention. Peter, after all, is a Hall of Fame forward renowned as much for focus and attention to detail over 15 NHL seasons as for his 450 goals, 789 assists and daring 1980 defection. In many ways, Peter's decision to leave home and country cleared the ice for an era of Eastern European stars in the NHL. But his escape also allowed his talented son to grow up playing the game as it should be played—for fun. Turns out, that may be the way to set up Gen Next for a shot at greatness.

Twenty-two sons of NHL Hall of Famers have gone on to skate in the bigs, but only a handful developed into stars. In fact, most sons of greatness are more Pete Rose Jr. than Sr.

Maybe it's those famous names on their backs (and, in Paul's case, the same number). Maybe it's a lack of talent or drive. Maybe it's the unrealistic expectations. Or maybe it's just the heckling from fans jealous of the multiply blessed. "You've got to try to block it out," says Paul, a laid-back 22-year-old. "But it's not always easy."

Paul learned early how to filter out taunts and other harsh comments, which served him nicely while he learned the game under the pointed guidance of his father—who still calls when he sees the kid lose the puck or spectate on the penalty kill—and later when he first skated into an NHL arena. And just as Paul can block out the tone of Peter's voice so he can concentrate on the wisdom, so too can he laugh off a coach's tirade and trust his own talent.

Yes, that talent. Paul does not possess jaw-dropping moves or blazing speed, but he's preternaturally economical when he traverses the ice. Somehow he gets there, before fans or foes think he will. That efficiency earned him serious time on the Avs penalty kill and man advantage. The game's movements, the split-second decisions about where to be and when to get there, are second nature to him. (Avs coach Joel Quenneville marvels at how "the puck just finds him.") And those who saw Peter watch Paul and say, "We know where that came from."

Joe Sakic, who called himself "officially old" when he became the first to play with both Peter (on the 1988-89 Nordiques) and Paul, is amazed at the similarities. "They're built the same," the Avs captain says. "Both are powerful skaters. And they look the same. Paul wears the same type of skates his dad wore, all beat-up and old-school, and uses the same old wood stick."

Peter says the resemblance goes deeper, that the game is in his son's blood. He sees instinct in Paul's effortless ability to ghost himself into the play, in the angles of his passes and the paths he takes when he plays without the puck. Says Dad: "I don't like to boast, but when I watch Paul, it's like watching myself." Peter also believes his son was born to be a center. "You have to have those instincts and qualities to anticipate and to know how to react," he says. "You cannot teach what he has." Will Paul ever be as good as his father? "I think he will be better," says Peter.

He's definitely different, at least in one key way: Paul says he'll never match Peter's intensity, and that may be another reason he's succeeded where other sons have failed. "My dad is the kind of guy who can't live with mistakes," says Paul. "He'll beat himself up over the smallest error. I can't play well unless I'm having fun. My dad loved to play hockey, but it became a job for him at a young age. For me, there's more to life than hockey."

These days, that goes for the father as well as the son. Peter is out of hockey now. Since 2004 he has represented Slovakia in the European Parliament and lives in his hometown of Bratislava. Some 18 years after communism's fall, Peter is trying to help the country he left—and never stopped loving—find its democratic footing. He's got a lot going on in his life, and a lot of stories to tell. About how he, his wife and his brother sneaked out a side door of the Innsbruck Holiday Inn in the middle of the night, hopped into a Mercedes driven by a representative of the Nordiques and sped toward Vienna and the Canadian embassy. About how he taught himself to speak French (the language of Quebec City) and English (the language of the locker room) within a couple of years of arriving in the NHL. About how he responded to any player who dared call him a "commie" without a ref's seeing the payback. The man who scored more points in the 1980s than any other player not named Gretzky can tell how he was asked to carry Slovakia's flag at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics and could not contain his tears, then scored five goals in eight games for his country.

Still, the best story is what's happening on the ice in Denver (and St. Louis, where 25-year-old Yan Stastny just got a call-up to the Blues). The Avs are fighting for a playoff spot, and Paul leads the team in scoring with 50 points in 47 games. The kid has been benched recently by an emergency surgery (appendix) and a groin pull, but Peter likes the direction the boy's career is heading. "Leaving Czechoslovakia was the best decision in my life," he says. "The hardest, but also the best. And the biggest beneficiaries are my children. Watching them is my greatest thrill."

Paul smiles when told that, exposing a gaping hole where a tooth once lived. "Believe me," the son says. "He's not too thrilled when I play like garbage. He can be tough."

But he could have been a lot tougher.

Stastny Media Transcript - NHL Player Of The Week

From: NHL.com

(left) DU Alum Paul Stastny was named NHL Player Of The Week

DAVID KEON: Good afternoon, everyone. I'm David Keon with the National Hockey League's Public Relations Department. And I'd like to welcome you to our call. Our guest is Colorado Avalanche Forward Paul Stastny. Thanks to Paul for taking the time today to answer your questions and thanks to the Avs' public relations staff for helping to arrange the call.

Yesterday Paul was named the First Star for the opening week of the season after leading all NHL scorers with eight points on four goals and four assists as the Avalanche posted two victories in three starts. In the season opener in Denver on October 3rd, Paul recorded his first career NHL hat trick as the Avs defeated the Dallas Stars 4-3. After being held off the scoresheet the following night in Nashville, he finished the week by recording one goal and four assists in a 6-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks.

Last year Paul was runner-up to Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin for the Calder Trophy as the National Hockey League Rookie of the Year after posting 78 points on 28 goals and 50 assists playing in all 82 Avs games. He was also tied with linemate Milan Hejduk with six winning game goals. Thank you, Paul, for taking the time to answer questions.

Q: It's always hard to predict how a young player coming out of U.S. college makes the adjustment to the NHL. Some take a long time and some take a very short period of time. Can you pinpoint why there doesn't seem to have been the steep learning curve that some young players have had, why it seems to have gone so relatively smoothly for you?

STASTNY: I don't know if it was quick. But I was in college for two years. And so when I came up, I was already 20, 21. Pretty mature for my age, and it was easier for me, maybe because I was a little smarter. Some of the things you can't teach I got from my dad. Playing with better players I think makes it a lot easier for me, just knowing that you can give and go. They think the way I do and it makes it that much easier.

Q. Last year, during the spring, the Niedermayer brothers talked about how much they enjoyed playing together and winning the Stanley Cup together, and both your father and uncles had a chance to play with each other. Do you speak to your brother about that in your hockey playing lives, to play together and have a chance to win a Stanley Cup together?

STASTNY: We talked about that growing up. I think we're both trying to battle for jobs in the NHL and hopefully one day if we're both fortunate our paths might cross. I think the two happiest people would be our parents besides me and my brother. But that's the only thing we've talked about. Can't really predict or look forward to that because you never know if it's going to happen.

Q. You're playing for basically the same franchise that your father played for. Do you have any memories of Quebec and when you were growing up?

STASTNY: Yeah, not too much. Not hockey specifically. I remember growing up, the cold winters and playing on the ponds right across the street from where we lived, going to the rink, just me and my brother. Obviously it was fond memories. Then when I went back there for the Quebec Peewee tournament, it really showed up. My dad was there.

Q. Do you remember how old you were when you started to realize what hockey legends your dad and uncles were, any stories that stick out? And can you describe growing up in St. Louis with your brother and how competitive you were with each other?

STASTNY: As I got older, I think just from hearing from other people, obviously my dad and uncle are two humble guys. Just from hearing from other people how respected of a player my dad and uncles were, how good of players they were. As you get older you start reading stuff and seeing more highlights. I was probably 15, 16, right around there, when hockey started getting serious. Growing up in St. Louis, I think it's changed from the moment - from day one from when I've been there the last 12, 13 years hockey has been growing big. Me and my brother have been best friends and working out and doing everything side by side for the last seven, eight summers. One big reason I'm here is we compete against each other and we're always trying to do what we can to help each other out.

Q. I think there's a sense around the league that last year you guys scored a lot of goals, but this year you might be more dynamic. Is there a sense around the team that you're the sort of team that is capable where no lead will be safe, that you have the ability to get four goals a game?

STASTNY: I think we're just - we can't think like that, because when we do that's when we end up getting in trouble, we're playing the high and taking too many chances. We're focused on playing defense. And like you said, with the players we've added offensively, we know we can score. If we're playing a tight game or open up game, I think we're comfortable playing both ways.

Q. How has the attitude in the dressing room changed from last year to this year? Is there a sense that this team has all the tools necessary to make a real serious run at the Cup?

STASTNY: I don't know. I think it's a lot similar to the way it ended last year with the run we went on. And it's a loose atmosphere. And obviously it's well ran by the coaches down to our captains leading the way. Obviously we're having fun out there, and we're working hard. But I think when it comes game-wise we're just trying to focus on one game at a time instead of looking forward to halfway down the year or the next couple of games. I think we're taking it one at a time. We put ourselves in a better position once the season rolls around.

Q. Playing in the WCHA, what did that do to prepare you for the National Hockey League and playing now with the Avalanche?

STASTNY: I think the WCHA was really good for me, a big stepping stone to where I am now. Just obviously it shows - obviously when I was there it was top-end competition all around, from the first place team to the 10th place team. It's starting to show more and more now with more guys leaving school early. And I think it's getting the respect that maybe it finally deserves.

Q. On that team you've got a future Hall of Famer in Joe Sakic, can you talk about what kind of a mentor he's been to you, if in any way he has been?

STASTNY: Yeah, I think he's been good. He's a quiet guy. I think once you get to know him he opens up. If I ever needed little questions, small questions answered, he's always there to help me. Obviously he's making sure I'm having fun out there, always saying little jokes about my old man when they played together. But I think it's more of you just watch the way he presents himself the way he is on and off the ice and you learn more from that than just asking him questions.

Q. You were born in Quebec, raised in St. Louis. There was a story that was making the rounds in the spring that because you hadn't played internationally for either Canada or U.S. you were sort of an international free agent, and then ultimately opted to play for the U.S. So I guess my question is, one, was that true that you had a choice? And, two, if so, why did you decide to play for the Americans?

STASTNY: I could play either one since I hadn't played in any IIHF competitions. But I think I had maybe a better opportunity or I think the U.S. wanted me and maybe looking to the future, my brother already played for the U.S. So like you said it's always a dream of ours to play together and maybe one day we'll play together in an international event like that. But obviously they gave me an opportunity and you can never turn that down.

Q. Can you talk about how intense it was as you approached the streak last year, the record?

STASTNY: (Chuckling) it wasn't too bad until I got to 13, 14 games. Until then I didn't even think about it then I started hearing about it all the time. I think it wasn't something I was worried about, just because we kept winning it made it that much easier. Obviously when your team is winning and you're having fun, I think everything was rolling smoothly there. Obviously no one on my team or in this organization gave me added pressure. So I think it was something that was maybe a little easier said than it actually appeared.

Q. Obviously you had all summer to think about how your sophomore season would get kicked off. It's been a great start for you. Can you talk about how good it feels to pick up where you left off?

STASTNY: It's always good to know you get a good start to the season. Always in the past I've been a slow starter, but obviously you adapt and you learn - I learned a lot last year, and I trained a lot harder this summer thinking this year would be a lot harder than last year. Now everyone knows you. You can't get away with little things anymore. I think I prepared myself pretty well this summer.

NHL Avalanche & DU Forge Unique Bond

Editors Note: Last week we published a link to an article about the relationship between the Pioneers and the Avalanche. It was pretty obvious that the writer wasn't your usual "WCHA Hack Blogger." Sure enough a little research revealed that the author was Chuck Mindenhall, who has written for Entertainment Weekly, Dazed & Confused, Village Voice, Blender and others. When we provided the link last week it was in a PDF File. LetsGoDU received permission to run the article in its entirety below.

The Icemen Cometh (Together)

The long-lasting relationship between the DU Pioneers and the Colorado Avalanche
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From: Denver Sports Guide
By Chuck Mindenhall

Back in 1995, when the Quebec Nordiques relocated to Denver, the newly christened Avalanche players learned of the local flora & fauna (or, more technically, of the local barley hops and co-eds) from the nearby DU Pioneers. The Avs felt right at home because, as George Gwozdecky remembers, “[the Pioneers] were the only other hockey guys they knew in town, and many of them had known each other from the juniors.”

In retrospect this union would seem inevitable for three basic reasons: (a) hockey players, no matter where the game is played, speak hockeyese, a sort of pidgin polyglot of which only those who lace them up are fluent, (b) Canadians, whenever they can, like to party, and (c) college kids, as often as they can, like to party.

But at the time, Peter Forsberg (22), Mike Ricci (23) and Adam Deadmarsh (20) were in fact as young (and in most cases as single) as the crimson and gold’s Charlie Host (23), Brent Cary (24), Sinuhe Wallinheimo (23), and Antti Laaksonen (22). Besides, nobody in Denver could tell the difference between the previous year’s Calder Trophy winner (Foppa) and DU’s Petri Gynther (a fellow Finn), and that, used properly, was fun.

Theirs would prove a lasting embrace.

Today, Detroit still calls itself “Hockeytown, USA,” which is only slightly more accurate than the Raiders archaic “Commitment to Excellence” BS. In point of fact, Denver has become the true Hockeytown, U.S.A, with four combined championships in the past twelve seasons between DU and the Avs—more than any other professional and collegiate combo anywhere in that span. That means that every third year (or so) somebody’s hoisting Lord Stanley’s Cup, or the prestigious Cutting Board—and nearly every year guys are wearing their beards longer than Pissarro deep into the playoffs.

Which is good because the Front Range fans love a winner, and that’s all we have when it comes to hockey. We support the Avs and Pios through thick (DU has 39 consecutive sellouts, and the Avs only recently had their sellout streak end at 487 games)—and luckily we don’t know too much about thin. For the sake of comparison, consider the Denver Nuggets, who seldom sell out, or the DU hoops team that drew a measly 797 people for its home opener this year (Yemi couldn’t have mattered that much, could he?). They have a combined zero championships between them—ever—so a basketball town we ain’t (just ask Charles Barkley who loves to throw beaks this way). In sticking with hockey, Detroit has won three Stanley Cups, but the Wolverines (and Spartans, for that matter) have come up nil. Boston College and Boston University have won a combined three titles in that span, but the Bruins haven’t summited.

No, as of 1:29pm, November 15, 2006, Denver is hockey supremacy.

And much of that has to do with the continued relationship between the two clubs.

This year’s Avalanche team has three former DU players—Paul Stastny, Antti Laaksonen and Mark Rycroft. Stastny has limited speed, but good woodwork, whereas Laaksonen has ridiculous speed and average woodwork, but his scoring ability is suspect—and Rycroft came out of the Blues woodwork (mostly because he likes the city of Denver). Yet these are right living DU boys, and it’s no coincidence that three of the five DU alum now in the NHL have wound up in Avalanche sweaters—though the NHL is a business and in business this kind of thing is called “coincidence.” For one, Joel Quenneville and George Gwozdecky are on the phone at least once a week, and not always to shoot the breeze. When the NHL returned after the lockout, Quenneville called Gwozdecky with no small amount of curiosity about how to handle the notable loss of red line. Gwozdecky, who laughs because the NHL bettered itself by mirroring the long-standing rules of the college game, was only too happy to oblige. Perhaps Quenneville could use a refresher course, I dunno.

But the point is that Quenneville and Gwozdecky trust one another from the original days when Coach Q was an assistant under Marc Crawford (also a friendly in DU circles). Thus Rycroft slinks into town almost unceremoniously, and Laaksonen becomes a fourth-line fixture. Meanwhile Paul Stastny (who also knows Quenneville from his days with the St. Louis AAA Blues) is drafted and given an enviable chance to succeed. Clearly, Gwozdecky has somebody’s ear.

By now you’ve heard the “Peter Stastny taking a young Joe Sakic under wing” story from back in Sakic’s early days with the Nordiques, and how Sakic will now take young Paul Stastny (or “Staz,” as he’s known) into his care in the same fashion. Sakic has between one year and six left in him (depending on whom you ask, and on what day), and Paul is being groomed to be The Man in Colorado. What this means is that Joe Sakic’s son Mitchell (incidentally a junior Pioneer), should be ready for reciprocal guidance by 2018, when Paul is the resident graybeard of the Avs. That is certain. What isn’t as certain is if Paul’s name is pronounced STOSS-knee (as the old schoolers call him) or STAZ-knee (the preferred pronunciation for those born in the mid-1980s)—and the media wags are split 50/50 on that issue.

The DU/Avs link goes eerily deeper than that. Stastny still lives on DU campus with Peter Mannino, the 2004 Frozen Four MOP (which is college’s Most Outstanding Player, because, apparently, it’s less isolationist to be Outstanding than Valuable). Mark Rycroft is married to Steven Cook’s sister, Dominique. Steven Cook is of course the third-line kamikaze for the Pioneers whom DU radio voice Jay Stickney called “the Gerald Wilhite of hockey” because he can’t stop without crashing. “Cookie” leads the WCHA in surgeries with seven—and he is a battle-tested warrior who’s allergic to beer. This, without a doubt, renders him a college coach’s dream. At any rate, Rycroft is living with Steven Cook’s parents during the season because, well, why not.

DU’s senior speedster J.D. Corbin is an Avalanche prospect whom some think skates more like Antti Laaksonen than Antti Laaksonen (which isn’t exactly Pro-Laaksonen—but I’ve always suspected Corbs’ game to be more like how I’d imagined Howie Morenz’s to be). Bryan Vines, who captained the 2002 DU team, is now the video coordinator for the Avs, and for this he thanks Gwozdecky. Meanwhile Ron Grahame, the Assistant Vice Chancellor Senior Associate Athletic Director for Intercollegiate Sports Programs at Denver (a beautiful title for a writer who’s paid by the word), holds the all-time record for saves at DU with 3,565, has a son who scouted for the Avs and a wife, Charlotte, who serves as the Executive Director of Hockey Administration there. Oh, and Norm Jones, a former DU alum and radio voice of the Pios is now play-by-play radio voice of the Avs. Ditto Peter McNab as a DU alumnus. It really verges on (good, clean, American) incest.

Right, but the glue that holds everyone together, at least unofficially, is Jim Wiste. Wiste co-captained the 1968 DU championship team alongside Cliff Koroll, and now owns and operates the Denver hockey man’s lushing crib, The Campus Lounge (at the corner of University and Exposition). On any given day a smattering of DU officials, alum and Avalanche cognoscenti can be spotted dining (Tony Granato eats a chicken burrito there before home games) and imbibing together at the Campus Lounge. Wiste’s owned the joint for 30 years, and golfs with Quenneville when he gets a day off. He’s a wonderful host who speaks to everyone from Ray Ferrero to Gerry Powers as a professional courtesy—but always in haste, as if there’s a roast in the oven.

I know what you’re saying, “yeah, but perchance this kind of cross-pollination and interconnectedness is more prevalent to other sports than you’re leading on,” and you’re probably right. But we’re talking Denver, and in Denver the hockey family is so vastly familiar with itself, that thesedays if you are rooting for the Avalanche, then you’re pulling for the Pios and vice-versa. You can’t make that argument for the Broncos and CU, or the Nuggets and Metropolitan State (though, I guess Mike Dunlap could have started a trend) or the Rockies and, what, the Sill-Terhar Ford sponsored little league baseball team.

In all of those instances there are too many egos at play.

No, the Avalanche and Pioneers are class organizations that are genuinely interesting in each other’s successes, and each does what it can to ensure those successes continue. And, just like all classic hockey lore, it all started around a keg.