Mile High Hockey

Denver's new CHL team has name, logo

2012-05-17T16:17:32Z

Denver welcomes the Central Hockey League's newest team: the Denver Cutthroats. Per the official press release, Adrenalin (the local company that designed the logo) wanted to incorporate specific Colorado characteristics into the logo, including the trout, mountains and rivers in the Rockies.

The Cutthroats will bring professional hockey back to the Coliseum for the first time in 13 years, hosting 33 regular season games. The team’s colors consist of green, blue, red, and white, and the team took its name in honor of the state fish of Colorado – the Greenback Cutthroat Trout.

"It’s a great looking logo that really incorporates a lot of what the state of Colorado is about," said head coach Derek Armstrong. "Colorado has always been an active state with beautiful scenery and the logo focuses on that between the Cutthroat Trout, the mountains, the water, and the colors. There’s no other logo like it in hockey."

The team's official Facebook (facebook.com/DenverCutthroats) and Twitter (@DEN_Cutthroats) pages have been set up, and the team's website (http://www.denvercutthroats.com) will be up and running later this summer.

SEASON TICKET DEPOSITS & PRICING

Fans can now reserve their place in line for full-season ticket packages with a deposit of $50. Season tickets start as low as $15 a game and the deposit will provide customers with a priority number for the team’s "Select-a-Seat" event, scheduled for early August in the Coliseum. A seating map can be viewed on the team’s temporary denverchl.com website.

Call (303) 295-FISH (3474) to place your deposit now and lock in your priority number. Numbers will be issued on a firstcome, first-serve basis.

Seating levels, season ticket and game day prices have been finalized for the team’s upcoming season. Four of the five available seating sections will be open for full-season ticket packages starting with Lower Bowl seating for $499. Lower Prime seating begins at $749, packages in the Cutthroats Club start at $899, and glass seating packages cost $1,199.

Season tickets are not available in the Lower End Zone sections.

Game day pricing for Cutthroats contests start at $15 for Lower End Zone tickets, $19 for the Lower Bowl, $27 for Lower Prime, $32 for Cutthroats Club seats, and $44 for Glass seating.

The team’s regular season schedule will be released later this summer.

IIHF World Hockey Championship Quarter Finals Open Thread

2012-05-17T14:18:07Z

Sorry I didn't get this posted sooner. Big news has already happened. Canada is out of the tournament due to a 4-3 upset by Slovakia. Norway and Russia are tied at 2, priming the scene for another upset. (Varly is in net)

Coming up later today is USA vs FIN at 9:15 am MT, a rematch of a game played just four days ago. Sweden and the Czech Republic also face off, at 12:00 pm MT.

Avalanche Final Grade 2012: Steve Downie

2012-05-17T13:01:15Z

Steve Downie

#27 / Right Wing / Colorado Avalanche

Height: 5-11

Weight: 191

Born: Apr 03, 1987

2011 Cap Hit: $1,850,000

2012 Cap Hit: $1,850,000

Steve Downie came to be an Avalanche when Colorado traded Kyle Quincey to Tampa. Tampa then turned around and traded Quincey for a first round pick. It should be said that Downie was taken in the first round (29th overall) in 2005. Steve is one of the rare guys in the NHL that players bigger than he actualy is. At 5'11 and 191 pounds he isn't usually the biggest guy on the ice. In spite of that, or perhaps because of it, he takes up a lot of room by playing a very physical game.

He played 20 games in the Avalanche uniform this year and managed to amass 2 goals, 11 points and a +9 rating. Although Steve plays a very physical game, he manages to stay clear of the penalty box ( at least while he was in Avs gear) . He had a total of 16 penalty minutes in Avs gear this past season, he had over 120 while in the Bolts gear last year (in 55 games) All this while playing with a bum shoulder. He underwent surgery early in the Avalanche offseason and should be ready to go for training camp.

2012 Outlook: Expect more physicality for Steve next year. He had great chemistry with the team last year, and that should stay consistent. He is adding a lot of grit for a team that was lacking it a year ago.

Sandie's Take: His stats as an Avalanche vs his stats as a Lightning are staggering. I think next year will fall somewhere between the two. During the game in Buffalo I remember saying: "that guy plays angry all the time". I expect that will continue, but it'll lead to more time in the Sin Bin for Mr. Downie. He isn't a guy that should be realied on for offensive output, any he does manage to give should be considered a bonus, not an expectation.

DDC's Take: While I still adore this trade, I think we should be careful not to overdo it with Downie. He gave the Avs some much-needed grit, a little offensive pop and some jokey hockey hair. He’ll be a great guy to have in the playoffs, assuming he’s still on the roster when the Avalanche finally get back there. But I like him more as a 3rd or 4th line player with the ability to jump up on occasion if the top lines need more grit (or protection). If we go into next year with Downie in the top 6, I think it will mean we’re in for another disappointing year.

	G	A	P	+/-	PIM
2011 - Steve Downie	14	27	41	-6	137

Poll

What grade do you give for this season for one of the newest Avalanche players?

Daily Cupcakes - Links From Around the NHL - May 17th, 2012

2012-05-17T10:00:16Z

First up: a link from DDC. The Wild have hired a new play-by-play guy.

Fox Sports North and the Wild made it official Tuesday morning: FSNorth veteran Anthony LaPanta is the new television play-by-play voice of the Wild. He replaces Dan Terhaar, whose contract wasn't renewed last month after seven seasons at the mike.
LaPanta, the Gophers' play-by-play voice since 2010 and the Wild, Wolves and Twins studio host since 2004, will join analyst Mike Greenlay as the Wild's television team.
The hire comes after three days worth of almost universally negative feedback from fans over LaPanta's expected hiring on blogs and message boards.

And Hockey Wilderness is thrilled.

About a week ago, the great and all seeing Mike Russo reported that the Wild were close to hiring Anthony LaPanta as the new play by play voice of the team on television broadcasts run by FSN. That post currently has 71 comments, not one of them positive. First Round Bust wrote about the negatively galvanizing effect the decision had for Wild fans, and Nick wrote about the choice being "not acceptable" over at Hitting the Post.

A pretty interesting article about New York Rangers fans.

On its website, for the benefit and/or amusement of its customers, New York’s Madison Square Garden posts a 13-point Code of Conduct.

It’s pretty funny reading, the best thigh-slapper being this beauty — Regulation No. 5: Guests shall refrain from using foul/offensive language, fighting, obscene gestures, throwing objects and engaging in other behaviour detrimental to the experience of other guests.

Some would suggest that these are not forbidden acts at the Garden, but rather prerequisites for being granted admission to New York Rangers games.

MHH Playoffs Live Thread! May 16, 2012

2012-05-16T23:30:26Z

In news unrelated to this game, Martin Hanzal was suspended for Game 3 of the Kings - Coyotes series for boarding, general douchery. No other discipline is coming out of that game.

NEW! #6 New Jersey Devils at #1 New York Rangers, Game 2, 8:00 Eastern, NBC Sports and CBC. Rangers lead series 1-0

I didn't watch Game 1, but the Rangers won it 3-0 by blocking shots and having Thor in net. Not to be outdone, Iron Man and the Devils are looking to take the series back to Newark tied.

No, seriously, there's a story on NHL.com about which Avenger each goaltender is. I don't know if they've started inventing Facebook quizzes for other positions too, but one can only imagine "Which Minecraft creature are you" would return Pierre McGuire as the creeper and Anze Kopitar as the zombie.

If this is what "Goalie Insiders" get paid to do I want to be one.

	STATS
13	GP	15
8	W	9
5	L	6
1	OT	2
0	P	0
0.615	P%	0.600
2.77	G/G	2.13
2.38	GA/G	1.73
19.2	PP%	16.4
74.0	PK%	84.0
31.5	S/G	29.8
27.5	SA/G	27.9
45.9	FO%	48.3

Hump Day Caption Thread

2012-05-16T16:35:18Z

Avalanche Final Grade 2012: Paul Stastny

2012-05-16T13:00:39Z

Paul Stastny

#26 / Center / Colorado Avalanche

Height: 6-0

Weight: 205

Born: Dec 27, 1985

2011 Cap Hit: $6,600,000

2012 Status: 2 years left on the contract

To continue on the Milan Hejduk theme from yesterday, Paul Stastny had the most disappointing season of his NHL career. The problem is, Stastny is 10 years younger than Hejduk and really should be at his peak. Excluding his injury-shortened third season, Stastny had his lowest point output (53) of his career and is now two years removed from his last 70-point season. To put that in perspective, that's 4 more points than Tyler Arnason scored in his first season in Denver. Arnason was about the same age then as Stastny is now. One huge difference: Arnason didn't make $6.6 million per season.

And that's really the heart of the issue with Paul Stastny. Sure, he's great at faceoffs and all that, but he's here to score points. He should be the guy in Colorado, not just a part of the cluster fuck of middling numbers. By my count, 33 forwards made over $6 million last year, just a shade more than one per team. 28 of them had a higher point per game rate than Stastny. (Ironically, 2 of the lowest were Stastny and Ryan Smyth - both Francois Giguere contracts). Stastny is getting paid like a top-tier player, primarily because he used to put up numbers like a top-tier player. Used to. 53 points is nice for Ryan O'Reilly and Tyler Arnason. It should not be good enough for Paul Stastny

2012 Outlook: Barring trade or blossoming career as a commercial actor, Stastny will be the Avs #1 center next year.

DDC's Take: I mentioned money above even though we all know the Avalanche are not hurting for cap space. But Stastny's contract and past performance make him the 1A center that the Avs have built around. The team can't just bring in a pricey free agent center to upgrade the position without doing something with Stastny...but you aren't going anywhere as a franchise if your top center (sorry O'Reilly and Duchene) is barely breaking 50 points. Those 5 $6 million guys with the lowest PPG I mentioned above? They play for Colorado, Minnesota, Calgary, Edmonton and Montreal. I don't think I need to tell you what they have in common.

Steve's Take: Stastny was very average as the year began. Confirmation bias tells me he missed about eleventy billion open nets. However, as was probably mentioned above me, he also played with a veritable tossed salad of wingers. Hejduk? Duchene? Jones? Hlinka I mean Ledin wait no Holøs erm, Lindstrom? Kobasew? Winnik? Galiardi? Stastny's best chemistry has always been with Milan Hejduk, who was uhhhhhh not very good this year. So Pauly's 21 points in 37 games (11g10a) and eye-test phantomness in 2011 can at least be somewhat explained; however, that can't be accepted as good enough for your #1 C. Despite what I felt to be some really odd media about his "poor play" down the stretch, he turned it on to the tune of 32 points in 42 games in 2012, and he was actually driven by assists this time (10g22a). He was maybe a little unlucky (PDO-983, on-ice sh% around 7%) at times, and he led the team's centers with 55.4% at the dot (a stat he has just dominated at Worlds by the way). It's the right pattern for Stastny, slow in the fall and getting hot around the all star game, but it's just not the type of numbers we've come to expect from a guy who's had over 70 points 3 times (once in a season he only played 66 games) and it's not what we need from a #1 C. Maybe with some more consistency (and more talent on the wing:D??????????????) he can return to form next season.

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2011 - Paul Stastny	79	21	32	53	-8	34	7	0	2		190

Poll

Grade Stastny's season

Daily Cupcakes - Links From Around the NHL - May 16th, 2012

2012-05-16T10:00:21Z

Paul Stastny had a good game at the IIHF tournament yesterday.

Paul Stastny (St. Louis, Mo./Colorado Avalanche/University of Denver) had a goal and two assists to help the U.S. Men's National Team defeat Switzerland, 5-2, here tonight in its final preliminary-round game at the 2012 International Ice Hockey Federation Men's World Championship at Hartwall Arena. Team USA, which finished second in Group H, has won six of its first seven games in the world championship for only the second time in history (1939).

Speaking of the tournament, Ryan O`Reilly had a good match for Canada.

Olympic champions Canada's impressive form at the world championships continued here on Tuesday as they rounded off their preliminary group campaign with their sixth win out of seven a 5-1 thrashing of Belarus.

A double by Colorado Avalanche center Ryan O'Reilly inspired them to victory and further boosted their confidence as they try to win their first world title since Moscow in 2007.

Defeat did no favours to Belarus' hopes of gaining the right to host one of the Olympic qualifying tournaments for the 2014 Games in Sochi.

Some interesting tidbits from around the NHL over at the Toronto Sun. Including news - kinda- about Milan Hejduk.

But there could be a change in the makeup of his assistant coaching staff ... Colorado Avalanche captain Milan Hejduk might not go on the free-agent market. The Denver Post is reporting the Avs are working on a contract extension with the 36-year-old Hejduk, which would prevent him from becoming an unrestricted free agent on July 1 ... St. Louis Blues 2010 first-round pick Vladimir Tarasenko still hasn't decided if he wants to play in the NHL next season. The Blues would like to have Tarasenko in camp next fall but he could return to the KHL for another season.