Don’t look now, but the Avalanche has an exciting young prospect — again.
The young fella is making noise at just the right time in the NHL calendar — again.
And his addition will give Colorado coach Jared Bednar another weapon in his team’s quest for its first Stanley Cup title since 2001 — again.
lex Newhook — ATo paraphrase Jack Nicholson’s Joker: Where does Joe Sakic get those wonderful toys?
Even as the Avs were in the midst of chasing down their first Presidents’ Trophy in two decades, they still had time to break in rookie forward Alex Newhook and watch him produce in a game with major stakes — Monday night’s 2-1 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena.
Sound familiar?
Granted, Newhook’s two-assist performance in the third-to-last regular-season game isn’t quite the same as Avs defenseman Cale Makar showing up in the first round of the 2019 NHL playoffs and scoring a goal in his very first game. But Newhook’s contributions were far from hollow.
Colorado needed every bit of what the 20-year-old brought to Sin City in Monday night’s grinder of a game that ultimately decided the Presidents’ Trophy race.
Now Bednar can breath a little easier if he loses a forward to injury during the team’s first-round series against the Blues. And Sakic won’t have to grit his teeth so much during this summer’s expansion draft.
As good as Newhook appears to already be — the Boston College product has 12 points over 14 games between the Avs and Eagles — Colorado doesn’t even need him for its upcoming Stanley Cup Playoff run.
But it sure is nice to have an up-and-comer waiting in the wings — again.
George Kliavkoff — B+
The Pac-12 being the Pac-12, they just couldn’t help themselves this week.
They had to hire “the new prototype for a sports commissioner” in Kliavkoff — a sports business executive with zero experience in college athletics but just the right amount of “different” to fire up the buzzword machine.
Sure sounds a lot like outgoing (and reviled) commissioner Larry Scott. Except when you start listening to George talk.
“I want to be clear,” he said on a video conference call with media announcing his hire Thursday. “We know where the bread is buttered. We’re focused on revenue sports and winning in men’s basketball and football.”
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Colorado Avalanche vs. St. Louis Blues: Who has the edge, five things to watch and predictions What makes Avalanche’s top line so good? Speed, strength, hockey IQ … and everything else Avalanche won five straight to secure NHL Presidents’ Trophy — now comes the tough part Avalanche sweeps Kings, wins Presidents’ Trophy with NHL’s best record Stanley Cup Playoffs schedule: Avalanche vs. Blues in first roundWell, be still our Conference-of-Champions-loving hearts. That’s something ol’ Limousine Larry never would’ve said in a million years.
And he definitely never said the following, even if he very clearly should have during the past three-plus years:
“I want to go on the record that the Pac-12 is in favor of the expansion of the College Football Playoff. … We think that both CFP expansion and NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) legislation are good for college sports fans, good for our student athletes and can be a significant competitive advantage for the Pac-12.”
Yes, it’s safe to say George hit all of the Grading the Week staff’s pleasure centers in his hour-long introductory news conference.
Now comes the hard part: Actually making the Pac-12 relevant again.
Marc Johnson — A+
The Cherry Creek High School baseball coach crossed over into the realm of the immortal Wednesday when his Bruins rallied from four runs down to beat Grandview 6-5 at Tom McCollum Field.
The victory gave the 76-year-old Hall of Fame coach 808 wins for his career — one more than Eaton’s Jim Danley (807) and a new CHSAA record.
It takes a special talent to be great at something for 10 years.
It takes a legend to be the best at it for 50.
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