A pitched battle is heating up in the Springs. What appeared to be a project to build a small hockey practice facility on the CC campus has morphed into a full-blown on-campus arena. The upscale Old North End Neighborhood is not happy about the sleight of hand by Colorado College leadership.
The announcement of the new Robson Arena was made before consulting with neighbors. Continue reading Old North End neighbors fight CC’s new arena plans
It’s going to happen sometime. Denver’s four-year winning streak against the University of Nebraska Omaha, dating back to January of 2015, is eventually going to end. Whether it’s because of the planet’s inevitable destruction due to climate change or because of an incredible individual performance by Omaha goalie Evan Weninger, it’s going to end. For more than 58 minutes of hockey on Saturday night, it appeared the latter was going to happen. But with just 1:21 left in regulation, Ian Mitchell scored to tie the game at 2 before Cole Guttman scored less than a minute into overtime to lift the #3 Denver Pioneers to a 3-2 overtime win over the Mavericks for the second straight night. Continue reading Denver rallies to sweep Omaha and keep four-year winning streak over Mavs alive
Photo courtesy of DenverPioneers.com
The Denver Pioneers defeated the Omaha Mavericks 1-0 with the help of Filip Larsson’s 21 saves
After being on the road for all of December, the Pioneers returned to Magness Arena and came away with a win against Omaha 1-0. It was a true goaltender dual between Denver’s Filip Larsson and Omaha’s Evan Weninger, but the Pioneers came out on top. The game’s only goal came from Jarid Lukosevicious who was set up nicely by Emilio Pettersen at the end of the second period. The Pioneers ride a six-game winning streak into next week when they face Colorado College.
Let’s get into tonight’s recap.
Continue reading Denver Wins Sixth Straight Behind Lukosevicius, Larsson
One of the University of Denver’s greatest-ever athletes, senior soccer striker Andre Shinyahshiki, was selected fifth overall in the First Round of the MLS Superdraft by the hometown side, the Colorado Rapids.
The most decorated student-athlete in program history, Shinyashiki’s senior offseason has seen him win the 2018 Senior CLASS Award, be named the United Soccer Coaches’ Scholar Athlete of the Year and earn MAC Hermann Trophy finalist honors.
Link to Shinyashiki’s Draft Day Interview
Shinyshiki, a first team all-American who led the nation in scoring this season (28 goals) and rewrote much of the DU soccer record book in the process, will join former DU teammate Kortne Ford on the Rapids’ roster. The Sao Paulo, Brazil-native has already signed an MLS contract and will join the Rapids in the pre-season camp on Jan. 21.
The Rapids, a club in dire need of goalscoring, have been following Shinyashiki’s progress at DU for four years now, and have also seen him play on the Rapids’ summer development team. The Rapids were apparently eager to sign Shinyashiki, trading up in the draft to get him, giving up the 15th pick in the first round and $100,000 of allocation money to the Chicago Fire in return for Chicago’s fifth overall first-round pick in this year’s draft. Additionally, the Rapids are also using one of a limited number of international MLS roster spots for the Brazilian Shinyashiki.
“We’re thrilled to get Andre,” Rapids Executive Vice President and general manager Pádraig Smith told Denver’s 9News, who has been following Shinyashiki’s career for the last few years. “He’s driven, coachable, and wants to be a top-level player. We believe he’s the best player in the draft and we’re very lucky to get him with the 5th pick.”
Smith added that he’s not just a top-class finisher, but it’s his intelligence and his mentality that make him the complete package, something he credits to DU head coach Jamie Franks and his staff.
“Coach Franks produces not just good players, but good men,” said Smith, listing out current Rapids and former Pioneer Kortne Ford as well as Sam Hamilton, who was released by Colorado last November.
“Our mission is to develop authentic leaders who strive to make the best version of themselves every day,” said Franks to 9News, who is also in Chicago for the SuperDraft
Shinyashiki made 83 appearances, including 67 starts, in his four-year Pioneer career, netting 51 goals and adding 15 assists. In 2018, Shinyashiki bagged 28 goals in 21 matches, including his first five career hat tricks and a four goal game in the Summit League opener at Omaha. Shinyashiki ranked first in the country in points per game (2.86), total points (60), goals per game (1.33), goals (28), game-winning goals (11) and shots on goal per game (2.86) this fall.
Shinyashiki is the latest of 10 Pioneers drafted by MLS teams in the last 11 seasons.
The Denver co-captain joins:
2019: Andre Shinyashiki (Colorado – 5th Overall)
2018: Graham Smith (Sporting Kansas City – 18th Overall)
2017: Reagan Dunk (Real Salt Lake – 13th Overall) and Sam Hamilton (Colorado – 15th Overall)
2015: Taylor Hunter (Houston – 49th Overall)
2014: Zach Bolden (Chicago – 61st Overall)
2013: Drew Beckie (Columbus – 28th Overall)
2011: Joe Willis (D.C. United – 50th Overall)
2010: Kris Banghart (Real Salt Lake – 64th Overall)
2009: Kyle Christensen (Chivas USA – 35th Overall)
In the last four seasons, both Ford (Colorado – 2017) and Jordan Schweitzer (Seattle – 2016) signed homegrown deals with their academy parents clubs prior to the draft.
We are also following DU senior Moshe Perez, who was among the 60 NCAA players selected for last week’s MLS Combine to see if he is selected in the final two rounds of the 2019 MLS Draft on Monday, Jan 14.
Photo courtesy of the Omaha World-Herald
It’s amazing to witness the speed at which the Denver Pioneers culture can shape young hockey players. Coming into this season, most expected a steep drop off given the amount of talent and coaching that left the program after last season, but the 2018-19 Pioneers have proven that while the names on the back have changed, the name on the front and the status that comes with it haven’t. With their fifth consecutive road win heading into the second half of the season, these Pioneers are producing at the right time with team-wide contributions.
Continue reading Denver Hockey Series Preview: Omaha
It is clear by now that the DU coaching staff and players know what the problems is – it is defense. And the stats are there for all to see. Over the past 10 games, Denver (5-13, 0-4 Summit League) has allowed 50.2% shooting from the field, 47.2% from 3-point range and 91 points per game. Denver is 294th/350 in the nation in points allowed and to make matters worse, they are 344th in turnovers.
The coaching staff has tried every floor combination possible with the same result. And, before we point fingers at the coaching staff, we all saw this roster before the season started and believed that they had the potential to be outstanding.
The issue: These Denver players are not comfortable playing fast – they are rushing on offense but, more importantly, this harried approach is bleeding over to their defense.
Continue reading For Denver Men’s Hoops, it starts and ends with defense
They don’t come much prettier for an NHL first goal, and former Denver Pioneer Trevor Moore made himself a very memorable moment on January 5, 2019.
In his fifth NHL game, playing limited minutes on the Toronto Maple Leafs’ fourth line, Moore took a puck deep in his own zone, charged up the boards with a capacity Saturday night crowd of 19,000+ home crowd in Toronto roaring in his ears, with millions more nationwide watching on “Hockey Night in Canada” broadcast.
Moore blew by Vancouver Canucks defenseman Benoit Puliot and then cruised in alone on Jacob Markstrom, one of the better goalies in the NHL. Moore fired the puck five-hole between Markstrom’s pads for a goal that brought the Toronto crowd to its feet.
For an undrafted California-to-DU player who has spent the last two years working his butt off in the AHL with his high work ethic (and no hype) to make it to the NHL, this was a moment that the knowledgeable fans of Toronto really appreciated. Watch the whole 80 second video at full size and crank up your sound to enjoy this moment – look into his eyes and just imagine how living your childhood hockey dream must feel…Bravo Trevor!
Photo: Courtesy of Denver Hockey Twitter
Despite out playing Wisconsin, Denver (12-4-2, 4-4-0) never had the lead until Freshman Slava Demin scored the game winning goal in overtime for a 4-3 win.
Five minutes into the first period, Denver gave up two quick goals in 31 seconds to trail 2-0 at the Kohl Center. But DU crawled back three minutes later with a goal by Tyler Ward at 8:10. The Badgers out-shot the Pioneers 12-7 in the period. Continue reading Denver Wins OT Thriller Against the Badgers, 4-3
Photo: Courtesy of Georgia Peachy.
Head Coach Rodney Billups said, “It was a piss poor effort.” He was right.
The day started with a Tory Stewart Miller migraine that kept him on the bench. But, the real mental anguish was experienced by the witnesses to this afternoon contest. A couple of stats say it all. Steals 11-0. Turnovers 18-8. Three-point field goals 15 to 7. 41% shooting to 48% for the visitors. Denver, now 5-13, was beaten in every way possible Saturday afternoon from start to finish.
Denver never led in this one. Continue reading North Dakota Schools DU at Magness Arena, 80-59
