Godsmack

As much as this pains me, I would have DU in the top ten. Yah, they lost Danton Heinen and Trevor Moore early to the pros but they bring back key leaders such as Will Butcher, Dylan Gambrell, their two veteran goaltenders Tanner Jaillet and Evan Cowley, a stud incoming freshman and first round draft pick Henrik Borgstrom, and, of course, a fantastic coach Jim Montgomery. Considering I'm a CC/UND fan, I don't think I can be accused of being a DU homer. That's why it kills me to say that while DU lost a fair amount of skill and senior leadership, they're a program that consistently reloads and should be contending. I'd be interested to hear from those who do not have DU in their pre-season top ten as to their reasons why. No hazing or ridicule on my part just curious to know their thinking.

Heck, what would they have to lose at this point??? The Avs franchise is in disarray and I've always felt that ever since the Gwoz left Tampa to return home to Denver coaching a high school prep team that he's just been biding his time waiting for the right opportunity.

The Avs haven't drafted a D man with their first pick since 2007 when they took Kevin Shattenkirk. The cupboard is full of skilled forwards, they need to start drafting top caliber D men now in order for them to hopefully blossom in the next few years. Generally speaking, I get that a team should take the best available (Tyson Jost) but at some point you gotta address need. The Avs made some cosmetic changes with the likes of Patrick Wiercioch but hardly considered a top one or two defenseman.

I wonder if Jim Montgomery's name will pop up for consideration for the vacant Avalanche bench boss job? Him or George Gwozdecky?

The guys on the NHL Network gave the Avs upper management a D or D+ grade for their recent roster moves and draft so I'm sure there's plenty of blame and bad feelings all around. Jost was the best available but they didn't address need which is defense.

I think the implication is there in his comments being he went out of his way to name drop UND.

http://m.gazette.com/adding-college-players-likely-behind-roy-avs-rift/article/1582514 Patrick Roy suddenly and unexpectedly resigned as head coach of the Colorado Avalanche this morning. Here is CC Tiger beat writer Joe Paisley's theory as to why...

http://www.inforum.com/opinion/letters/4091597-letter-forum-conducts-witch-hunt-against-ndsu-president This is great! According to this guy, NDSU's and the President's recent problems are all UND's fault!

I was trolling on GPL tonight and was reading the conference realignment thread and a Gopher fan actually had the gall to blame what he deemed to be the conference mess as UND's (and to a lesser extent, DU's) fault. We had the nerve to create the "haves" and "have nots" by bolting from the WCHA and forming the NCHC. Now that's rich.

http://www.gopherhockeyhistory.com/history/schedule.asp Wow, check this out-it looks like Minnesota has scheduled some true powerhouses for the Mariucci Classic....UMass, Huntsville, and Mercyhurst. That lineup oughta get butts in the seats as well as assure the Gophers with a rare home tournament win.

If that's true, that's classic! What a boneheaded move that would be.

http://mapleleafs.nhl.com/club/m_news.htm?id=890182 Trevor Moore signs with the Maple Leafs. Two thirds of the Pacific Rim line are gone, similar to what's happened with the CBS line.

I'll let you know come January 6th and 7th as I plan to attend at least one of the two games between ASU and DU at Magness Arena. Tough to tell though considering the fair weather nature of the Pioneer Nation. I've been to several non-DU/CC or non-DU/UND games over the years and there tend to be lots of empty seats.

Emilio was hurt and missed several games down the stretch so I'm kinda wondering if he left the team but still staying enrolled at school as a sign that it has more to do with his health and well-being than it does any problems with the coaching staff. If it was the latter, chances are he's leave school too. That said, there has been a rather high number of players who've left the program during Haviland's tenure which is concerning. Just off the top of my head, Chase Perry (son of former UND goalie Craig Perry) went on to play in Canada and Garrett Cecere transferred to Northeastern. Personally, as a season ticket holder and friends with other fans, it's not so much how many wins they need to have this season but the quality of play on the ice, which was seriously lacking last three seasons (one of which was under Owens). Winning more than 6 games this year certainly must be a threshold Haviland needs to eclipse to convince fans that he's leading the program in the right direction. It'll be difficult though considering how many freshmen and sophomores will be on this year's squad. My hope is that the sophomores are physically more mature and mentally battle tested after what they went through last year as freshmen.

And the hits keep on comin' at CC. There have been a slug of departures and transfers since Haviland took over. I'm sure some are legit (like Emilio and Marble) but there have been so many players who've left that the pattern is becoming concerning. http://m.gazette.com/marble-emilio-leave-tigers-hockey-program/article/1581131

http://m.gazette.com/silence-says-more-than-announcement-in-churning-nchc-expansion-rumor-mill/article/1580804

Anyone in the know about Miami's roster for the coming season? I'd be curious to know what Red Hawks fans are thinking about how next season will go. Personally, I didn't take Roslovic's departure as an indictment of Blasi. My impression of Blasi and his squads is that they're a pretty tight-knit group.

http://www.miamiredhawks.com/sports/m-hockey/spec-rel/071816aaa.html

http://mankatofreepresshockey.blogspot.com/2016/07/minnesota-state-applies-to-nchc.html?spref=tw&m=1

Joe Paisley of the Gazette commented about AF as a member. All due respect, Air Force would be a perennial bottom feeder in the NCHC. I think Atlantic Hockey is the right fit for AF.

Talk of Mankato applying for membership into the NCHC...

http://m.gazette.com/nchc-may-be-expanding-after-minnesota-state-applies-for-membership/article/1580271

Couldn't blame him if he does-I believe Danton Heinen was their only early departure. Gambrell will be back and he's dangerous. Plus, they locked Monty down in a big new contract so he's happy. DU scares me next year...under Monty the past three seasons, they've only continued to get better.

Not to mention, the uncertainty in what we'll face regarding our opponents, particularly within conference. If nothing else, they'll all be gunning for us.

DU coach Jim Montgomery signs new 5-year contract with DU. Story below. http://www.denverpost.com/2016/06/28/jim-montgomery-contract-denver-pioneers-hockey-coach/