NEWARK, N.J. — From his hotel here Friday night, Avalanche rookie Cale Makar Saw the Massachusetts Minutemen Perform the University of Denver at a rematch of Some 2019 NCAA Frozen Four semifinal. The Pioneers rallied to win 4-2 in Magness Arena.
“I saw a bit of it — most of the moment (span ) but went into bed before the third,” Makar said Saturday from Prudential Center after the Avs’ morning . “It seemed like a fantastic game. ”
UMass and DU cap their two-game nonconference show Saturday night at Denver. Makar’s pick: The Minutemen.
Makar played the past couple of years at UMass, and he had a help against DU in the semifinal — which took place a day until he won the Hobey Baker Award as national player of the year.
On Thursday at the Pepsi Center, Makar reluctantly hosted the Minutemen at Colorado’s 7-3 rout within the St. Louis Blues in the Pepsi Center.
“It was pretty cool — the coincidence that they were able to come to Denver this past year and come to (an Avs) match,” Makar stated. “It was cool with them there. ”
Makar’s brother has been advised to play hockey at UMass, starting next season or the fall of 2022. Taylor Makar, 19, is now a forward for the Brooks Bandits, the junior-A team in Alberta in which Cale played. Taylor has played games for the Bandits, who are 36-2-1 and direct the AJHL with 73 points.
Cale Makar reported the biggest difference from college to the NHL is distance and the time.
“You’re getting relieved if you don’t really expect it. “Guys are great in tiny locations. You make one mistake and it’s coming in the rear of your net. ”
Impressive in net. Finnish goalie Justus Annunen, an Avalanche 2018 third-round select (64th overall), probably helped his contract cause with his performance with the Finns in the World Junior Championship.
Annunen, 19, let four early goals Saturday at Finland’s loss to Canada in the WJC quarterfinals. But he was magnificent in disturbing Team USA 1-0 in the past week’s quarterfinals and required a WJC-best 1.97 goals-against moderate and .936 save portion into Saturday.
Annunen is playing for Karpat in the Finnish pro league this season and includes a team-best 1.26 GAA and .940 SP. Expect him to maintain Avalanche training camp next year with his contract and also set up to win a job with the AHL’so called Colorado Eagles.
The Avs have three goaltenders under contract Supporting the NHL duo of Philipp Grubauer and Pavel Francouz: Adam Werner, Hunter Miska and Antoine Bibeau (injured). Werner made 30 saves Friday as the Eagles extended their winning streak to eight games with a 1-0 win against the Manitoba Moose at Winnipeg.
Going for gold. The Avs will have just two of their four prospects who made WJC teams playing to the gold medal Sunday — supposing Canada’s Bo Byram (drafted No. 4 overall at 2019) recovers from the illness that made him a late scratch Saturday against Finland.
Defenseman Danil Zhuravlyov has played for Russia, which pounded Canada 6-0 at Group B pool drama last week. Zhuravlyov was Colorado’s fifth-round select (146th overall) at 2018.
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