ReportWire

Tag: colorado college

  • Quentin Miller has huge shoes to fill as DU’s No. 1 goalie, but the freshman looks up to the task

    [ad_1]

    There is tough news for the other top NCAA hockey programs that were happy to see Matt Davis exhaust his college eligibility: It appears the University of Denver has found another one.

    It was a winding journey for Quentin Miller to get here, but he looks quite at home in net for the Pioneers. He made 29 saves Friday night, outdueling Colorado College star netminder Kaidan Mbereko in a 2-1 overtime win in front of the largest crowd ever for a hockey game at Magness Arena (7,073).

    “He’s amazing. He’s the best person and kid too, so you just want to see him have success,” DU defenseman Boston Buckberger said. “I think what he’s done for our team, being kind of a brick and our foundation back there, we know we can rely on him. He’s bailed us out numerous times already. When we go the other way and get our chances, we’ve got to look back and give kudos and credit to him.

    “If it weren’t for him, we wouldn’t have been able to come back (Friday) night. Huge credit to him. I just hope he keeps it rolling, because it’s awesome.”

    People toss around the term legend too loosely in sports, but Davis became one at DU after his incredible 2024 postseason run leading the Pioneers to an NCAA-record 10th national championship. He also helped the Pios back to the Frozen Four last year, and finished his career 6-1 in NCAA Tournament games with eight goals allowed.

    Those are massive skates to fill. Enter Miller, who played for three different Canadian junior teams and 10 months ago wasn’t playing at all because of an injury.

    A Montreal native, Miller was the backup goalie for the Patrick Roy-led Quebec Ramparts in 2022-23. That team won the Memorial Cup, and helped Roy return to the NHL with the New York Islanders. His work also made him a fourth-round pick in the 2023 NHL draft by his hometown Montreal Canadiens.

    Miller was traded in the middle of the next season to Rimouski. He needed shoulder surgery in September 2024, so Rimouski, which was hosting the Memorial Cup, traded for another goaltender. When he was getting close to returning from the surgery, there wasn’t going to be obvious playing time for him, so he went west to the BCHL and joined the Chilliwack Chiefs.

    That’s when the Pioneers got involved. Before players with CHL experience were granted NCAA eligibility, junior players often committed years in advance of college. The forthcoming rule change drastically altered the recruiting landscape last season.

    “(Assistant coach Tavis MacMillian) learned of a guy in Chilliwack that was coming out of injuries, so just connections and people that we know up there,” DU coach David Carle said. “We didn’t have a long time to watch him, because he came back from injury sometime in late January, early February. We made the decision to recruit him and fortunately for us, he was able to get (33) games in through the BCHL playoffs.

    “We have good connections in the Montreal organization as well, and they were supportive of him coming here. That all kind of factors into it.”

    Miller played 10 regular-season games for the Chiefs, then helped them to the BCHL championship series before losing to the Brooks Bandits. The Pios not only had to replace Davis, but his backup from the past two seasons, Freddie Halyk, also transferred to Brown.

    The three goalies on the roster are two freshmen — Miller and Johnny Hicks — plus junior Paxton Geisel, who had appeared in one game in two years.

    “I think that was the big question coming into this year. We didn’t really have a goalie,” junior defenseman Eric Pohlkamp said. “But (Miller) has come in and he’s been fantastic. Even from game one against Air Force, he had a really good game, and he’s just embraced it. He’s super confident. He’s easy to play with. He’s getting better on his goalie breakouts and just keeps improving.”

    Miller improved to 6-2-1 with a .941 save percentage after the win Friday night. He helped DU go to Western Michigan, the defending NCAA champs, and sweep the Broncos last weekend with 76 saves on 80 shots.

    [ad_2]

    Corey Masisak

    Source link

  • Auraria student organizers reject $15,000 donation offer to remove pro-Palestine encampment

    Auraria student organizers reject $15,000 donation offer to remove pro-Palestine encampment

    [ad_1]

    Auraria student organizers on Thursday rejected a proposal from campus officials to remove the week-old Denver encampment in exchange for a $15,000 donation to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

    In a letter posted online, campus leaders said a group of donors came forward with a “nonpartisan humanitarian solution to restore order to the Quad by removing the encampment.”

    The donation on behalf of Students for a Democratic Society was contingent on the pro-Palestine encampment being removed by 5 p.m. Thursday and for future protests to comply with campus policies, campus officials wrote.

    In posts on Instagram and X, SDS’s Denver chapter said campus administrators were trying to buy them out and students will not end the encampment until their demands are met.

    A second campus demonstration began in Colorado Springs on Thursday, where protesters set up an encampment on Colorado College’s Tava Quad.

    The encampment had at least 10 tents, student journalists at The Catalyst reported.

    An Instagram page for the encampment described it as a “community-liberated zone” in solidarity with Gaza and listed demands similar to those made by Auraria organizers, including transparency about the private college’s endowment, divestment from weapons companies and canceling summer study abroad trips in Israel.

    Get more Colorado news by signing up for our daily Your Morning Dozen email newsletter.

    [ad_2]

    Katie Langford

    Source link

  • Brandon Duhaime’s journey from Alligator Alley to the Avalanche included integral help from Colorado College’s Kris Mayotte

    Brandon Duhaime’s journey from Alligator Alley to the Avalanche included integral help from Colorado College’s Kris Mayotte

    [ad_1]

    Locke Mayotte will be one of the unexpected winners after the Colorado Avalanche’s flurry of moves before the NHL trade deadline earlier this month.

    Brandon Duhaime was one of four new additions to the Avs roster. The importance of his acquisition gained more clarity a few days later when the club announced Logan O’Connor needed season-ending hip surgery.

    Duhaime arrived in Colorado to help bolster the Avalanche’s depth at forward and on the penalty kill. He’s one of those guys who embraces playing one of the more thankless roles on an NHL team.

    How did he evolve into that type of player? Locke’s dad, Kris Mayotte, who is now the head coach at Colorado College, played an integral role in Duhaime’s development when he was an assistant at Providence.

    “I love Dewey,” Kris Mayotte said. “Such a great kid, such a hard worker, very dedicated, doesn’t leave a stone unturned in terms of him trying to become the best player he can become.

    “I was so excited to see that he got traded to Colorado. I sent him a text right away. I have a 2-year-old and I was like, ‘I can’t wait to get him a Duhaime jersey.’ We’re so excited that he’s here.”

    Duhaime grew up in Parkland, Fla., near the Florida Panthers’ practice facility. He played on a youth team with Ottawa’s Jakob Chychrun and Boston’s Andrew Peeke. As they got older and sought better competition, Duhaime and Chychrun played for the Junior Everblades in Estero, Fla., which meant a nearly 150-mile commute across Alligator Alley every weekend.

    Eventually, Duhaime moved to British Columbia and began a journey that included two years at a B.C. prep school, one year in the BCHL and one year split between two teams in the USHL. Originally committed to Brown, Duhaime re-opened his recruitment, and that’s where Mayotte comes in.

    Duhaime had interest from Boston College and Michigan, but ultimately chose Providence over the University of Denver.

    “(Mayotte) was huge in the recruiting process,” Duhaime said. “He was calling me all the time. When I got to Providence, he did the exact thing he said he was going to do. He helped develop me into the player I am. A huge shout out to those guys for kind of taking care of me and doing the right things for me.”

    The pitch that helped lead him to Rhode Island centered around Duhaime’s style of play and what type of player he wanted to, or needed to become. Duhaime was a fourth-round pick in the 2016 NHL draft by the Minnesota Wild, but the chances of him developing into a frontline player at the highest level were slim.

    The raw materials to mold a high-level role player were there, though. Duhaime has good size and above-average skating ability. But not every player who is always one of the best on every team he plays on as a kid can make that transition.

    “He was always a sponge,” Mayotte said. “Wanted to watch the video, wanted any tip that you could possibly give him, whether it was diet, whether it was skills, whether it didn’t matter — he wanted it.

    “A big part of what we were able to do was build that belief that you don’t have to be Macklin Celebrini or Connor McDavid to play in the NHL. They need guys that can kill penalties and be F1 on the forecheck and do those hard things. If you can become one of the best in the world at that, you get to play in the NHL. So it’s developing the skills that are required to play at this level, but also building in an understanding of what it means to find a role, embrace a role and excel at it.”

    Duhaime thrived at Providence, helping the Friars to back-to-back berths in the Frozen Four. He signed with the Wild after his junior season and put in two more years of development time in the AHL.

    This is his third season in the NHL, and it didn’t take long for Duhaime to become a fan favorite in the Twin Cities. The guy on the Avs whose style might resemble his the best is Miles Wood — big, fast and enjoys creating high-speed collisions with players in different-colored jerseys.

    Duhaime had to play his old mates in his first game with the Avalanche, which is always a weird day but especially so when it happens so soon. Since then, it’s been a pretty seamless transition.

    He’s made the penalty kill deeper. He’s helped make the fastest team in the league look even faster. And both he and Yakov Trenin look like the type of additions that pay big dividends when the games really start to matter in late April and beyond.

    [ad_2]

    Corey Masisak

    Source link