Denver Pioneers 2024

[DU-fan]

Scrimmage this weekend at USNA. Going to be cold. But should be evenly matched teams.

It looks cold watching the Ravens.

Can someone share updates on scrimmages? Playing both Highpoint and Navy on Sunday.

[Puck Swami]

Inside Lacrosse update on the Scrimmages - Nothing very exciting to report

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/ ... e_vignette

[cherrylax]

Seems from the report and unofficial scores, that the defense looked good and offense was lacking (for both teams). Also from what I took from the report it sounds as if Richie Connell didn't play in the scrimmage, but can't confirm. I really wonder if this was truly the case why they wouldn't run Malawsky in his spot and keep Sillstrop at X. I'm sure week one will look different.

Guessing these reporters were asked to be somewhat vague, as it was a preseason scrimmage.

I am excited to hear Mercurio is still dominating. Think he could have double digit points this year, if the staff lets him go. On to Hop.

[gunnerz]

New Roles, Personnel & A Replay: Scrimmage Takeaways From Denver, High Point at Navy

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/ ... navy/62450

[cherrylax]

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/ ... 2024/62474

Good amount of pressure on Matt Brown going into this year. Feel like I've read the same article twenty times about him taking over.

Has anyone found anything about where this game will be streamed this weekend? Since it is Hopkins I'm guessing its on an ESPN affiliate but can't find anything.

[enterprise]

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/ ... 2024/62474

Good amount of pressure on Matt Brown going into this year. Feel like I've read the same article twenty times about him taking over.

Has anyone found anything about where this game will be streamed this weekend? Since it is Hopkins I'm guessing its on an ESPN affiliate but can't find anything.

Hopkins has a Sidearm Sports All-Access site but no live events are listed in any sport and the "on demand" offerings do not include any actual games in any sport. Very weird.

[HopFan16]

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/ ... 2024/62474

Good amount of pressure on Matt Brown going into this year. Feel like I've read the same article twenty times about him taking over.

Has anyone found anything about where this game will be streamed this weekend? Since it is Hopkins I'm guessing its on an ESPN affiliate but can't find anything.

Hopkins has a Sidearm Sports All-Access site but no live events are listed in any sport and the "on demand" offerings do not include any actual games in any sport. Very weird.

ESPN hasn't released its TV/streaming schedule yet. They likely will sometime this week. The game will either be on ESPN+ or ESPNU.

[tech37]

Great comeback Pios!

[The Orfling]

Congratulations on the first win of the Matt Brown era -- what a classic! Great composure by the Pios -- seems like there were a few places where Hop could have pulled away -- and what a hell of an ending.

[DU-fan]

Clutch play by JJ Sillstrop. It great to see your stud players step up and get the win for you. Great to see Cody Malawsky made an impact right away. He is going to be a star. Denver played great. I love to see AJ Mercurio with the green light to shoot. He was tied for 3rd with shots. Hopkins made a lot of mistakes at the end and had some costly penalties. I am excited for the season.

[primitiveskills]

From a displeased Hopkins' fan- happy for JJ Sillstrop. Remember watching him in HS. I know he's had some ups and downs at Denver but he was an absolute beast today. Good luck the rest of the year.

[darkhaha]

What a gritty performance today! Sillstrop was great, of course, but also impressed with how Kleban bounced back from a bit of a rough first half to make some big saves in the third quarter that kept us in the game. And so happy for Matt Brown…

Didn’t see Mic Kelly or Richie Connell in the game or on the sidelines — anyone know what’s up with them? Also hope that Lampert can bounce back after absorbing several big hits.

[Farfromgeneva]

Tye Scott didn’t play it appears. Is he just heading to Canadian pro box soon?

[3rdPersonPlural]

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/ ... 2024/62474

Good amount of pressure on Matt Brown going into this year. Feel like I've read the same article twenty times about him taking over.

Has anyone found anything about where this game will be streamed this weekend? Since it is Hopkins I'm guessing its on an ESPN affiliate but can't find anything.

IL has livestreams included in their day-by-day game calendar: https://www.insidelacrosse.com/league/di/calendar/2024

[cherrylax]

The Good the Meh and the Ugly: Week 1 Edition

The Good

1-0: Great to get the first win for Coach Brown, and can't overstate how important this win will be for RPI purposes. As long as Hopkins has a DECENT year in the big ten this win will carry some serious weight. I feel like this is a game that Denver would've lost the last few years, but the team showed some real grit and came up with great win.

JJ: What a monster performance in the second half. Really didn't hear much from him in the first half, but after the one handed gem of a goal he seemed to dial it in and deliver for this team.

First :50 seconds of the shotclock on D: Defense looked sound and dialed early on in possessions. Jack DiBenedetto was his usual quiet self while keeping there best dodging attackmen to 1 and 1. AJ Mercurio is a PLL player no doubt about it, his tenacity on ball and on the ground is huge for this team.

The Meh

Midfield Production: Looking at the box score it looks like the midfield accounted for 4 goals. Stephen Avery didn't create a whole lot until the second half and was kept quiet most of the game. Jack Tortalani seems like a guy they've been trying to get going for 4 years now and looked like he could be a twenty point guy.

Freshmen: Looking at the boxscore it looks like three freshmen played in the game: Clark, Klokiw, and Davis. Davis seemed to get the most run at SSDM and looked like a freshmen, had some great plays and some really bad plays including two penalties. Clark only played on man up, and saw a look on the second man up but wasn't able to convert. I will die on this hill, THIS KID NEEDS TO PLAY. Klokiw seemed to only get run in the 4th quarter, but did have a nice assist to Sillstrop. *Not including Malawsky in this as he is technically a sophomore.

Goaltending: Par for the course. Made some nice saves and looked like he was heating up than gave up a lemon to Peschko from 15 on the run. Ended the game at 40%.

Face-offs: 14-26 so over 50% but a lot of those wins lead to immediate turnovers. This was against a team that was sub 50% last year, and it seemed like an area that could've been a real advantage for us. There's a lot of areas that this team can improve, but I think at the Face off dot what we have is what we have and Saturday was not up to usual standards.

officiating: Trying to stay nonbias here as much as I can, but the refs seemed to miss a fair amount of calls both that could've gone Denvers way. First off Lampert puts himself in a position to get crushed, but either of those could've been IBC's. Another time in the 4th where JJ clearly got pushed in the back out of bounds and the official gave the ball to Hopkins. Seems like a game we could've used a crazed lunatic roaming the sideline keeping the refs accountable...

The Ugly

Clearing and uncaused turnovers: Holy Moly was this rough. Pole's looking lost, poor stick work, shorties being timid. Second half was an improvement but this has to be a point of emphases this week, as I'm sure it was last week after the Navy scrimmage. Denver better be ready to get 10 manned, because after that showing I would be locking off shorties (and Mercurio) and pressuring our poles all over the field. My second point is about getting beat to the endline after shots. I counted 4 or 5 times Denver got beat to the endline, which may not go down as a turnover on the stat sheet, but is one. Simply cannot happen.

Last :10 seconds of the shotclock on D: After holding Hopkins at bay for most of the possession in the last :10 we seemed to absolutely lose our minds. Not pressuring hands, sliding from two guys, and just losing composure. So disheartening for a team when you hold them for that long and then give up a goal with no time on the clock.

Guys Missing: This is a two parter, first off losing Lampert really hurt. He seemed to be one of the few guys who could actually beat his man on Saturday. Saying that I'm concerned that with his style of play this isn't going to happen more often. I love how hard he plays but we need him on the field. It looked as if Josh Carlson also got hurt in the first half, and that is another guy we cannot afford to lose.

My second part of Guys missing, is about some older players who didn't even appear to be on the sideline, and I haven't heard were hurt. One of which has some real ties to the area. The other of which may have permanently given up his spot after another player who plays the same position showed real promise. Don't know why either of these guys weren't there and playing, and don't want to speculate, but you don't want to have two of your upperclassmen missing games for any reason.

On to Air Force.

[LaxAllStars]

Pioneers engineer epic comeback.

https://laxallstars.com/anatomy-of-a-co ... -pioneers/

[cherrylax]

One of the worst wins DU has ever had. Plain and simple.

I usually rewatch the games, but I just couldn't stomach it. Can someone who was at the game please tell me it was -10 degrees with 60 MPH winds, cause that would be the only reason to justify 30 turnovers. Air Force to there credit battled all game, but they are just not going to be good this year.

Lone bright spot was Goaltending and Mic Kelly. Being north of 50% is always something to be happy about. Unfortunately I think we are a decent ball stopping team, but when it comes to the clear we have no assertiveness and lack composure completely. Late in the game Air Force steals one out of the back of the crease with 3 DU players around, simply unfathomable and unacceptable.

Mic Kelly looked like he had something to prove. Absolutely dominated at times, and looks like he wanted to make up for missing last week. If this team is going to make the tournament this year Mic is going to have to be a 3-5 point a game guy.

9 failed clears. A lot of them were just due to poor stick work as well. Hate to break it to the guys, but every single team is going to pressure ride them this year. I'm just shocked that team with this much experience at the back can be this bad at clearing the ball.

Avery has been very quiet in our first two outings. Luckily I think Kelly will start drawing a pole and creating more opportunities for #50 to get going.

Utah Is a very good team, who is very well coached. Need to improve on both ends of the field this week if they don't want to slip up.

[getitdone]

Well Said Clearing is common sense. Look for the 2 v 1 and push it to that player. Make the rider player commit Not hard

[ChrisM]

One of the worst wins DU has ever had. Plain and simple.

I usually rewatch the games, but I just couldn't stomach it. Can someone who was at the game please tell me it was -10 degrees with 60 MPH winds, cause that would be the only reason to justify 30 turnovers. Air Force to there credit battled all game, but they are just not going to be good this year.

Lone bright spot was Goaltending and Mic Kelly. Being north of 50% is always something to be happy about. Unfortunately I think we are a decent ball stopping team, but when it comes to the clear we have no assertiveness and lack composure completely. Late in the game Air Force steals one out of the back of the crease with 3 DU players around, simply unfathomable and unacceptable.

Mic Kelly looked like he had something to prove. Absolutely dominated at times, and looks like he wanted to make up for missing last week. If this team is going to make the tournament this year Mic is going to have to be a 3-5 point a game guy.

9 failed clears. A lot of them were just due to poor stick work as well. Hate to break it to the guys, but every single team is going to pressure ride them this year. I'm just shocked that team with this much experience at the back can be this bad at clearing the ball.

Avery has been very quiet in our first two outings. Luckily I think Kelly will start drawing a pole and creating more opportunities for #50 to get going.

Utah Is a very good team, who is very well coached. Need to improve on both ends of the field this week if they don't want to slip up.

I was at the game, it was not 10 degrees with 60mph winds, but it was breezy, cold, snowing and wet. The boys mesh on both DU and AF was freezing which contributed to the turnovers however, our clears are a mess and is a POE at practice from what I am being told. An ugly win is still a win, on to Utah!

[cherrylax]

Much better outing against the Utes. Offense looked like Denver of old with a number of doorstep assisted goals. Very cool to see different guys step up in different games, with Carlson being our latest offensive player of the game. Huge to have him and Lampert back. 18 turnovers is still too many, and with the Big Red coming to town we cannot afford to give them second chance opportunities.

Defensively another good game by our goaltending and keeping Steins to 1&1 is a win in itself. 4 failed clears is definitely an improvement, but would love for us to get up over 90% clearing. On another note is there a more underrated defender than Jack DiBenedetto? Not a super flashy defensemen but rarely makes mistakes and just does his job. Mercurio gets the goals and the attention, but #31 is going to be a pro, and a good one at that.

Big Read come in after beating Lehigh 17-13 in a snow globe. Kirst is a beast, and D1's reigning points champion, guess I'll see if my DiBenedetto praise is warranted. Long is a great facilitator, and may actually draw #31. Firth is a guy I know DU recruited very hard, and looks like he's going to be a very good player.

Saturday is looking gorgeous, and Pbart should be packed. If the Pio's pull this one out the team will be a in a great spot.