O'Connor Reflects on DU's 2017 National Championship

Ahead of the Colorado Avalanche's eventual 2-1 shootout win over the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night, Logan O'Connor was informed that his alma mater the University of Denver Pioneers were trailing 1-0 to the Minnesota State Mavericks in the NCAA national championship game.

But come the first intermission and on a live interview with Altitude's broadcast, O'Connor was informed that the Pioneers had come back with a decisive third-period effort in their 5-1 win as they were crowned the champions of college hockey and claimed their ninth NCAA Division 1 hockey title, tied with the University of Michigan for the most.
"It was pretty cool to sort of relive moments that I had when I was there," O'Connor said. "Then, watch those guys through it."

While O'Connor's focus was on the immediate task at hand with the Avalanche, as they completed their road trip 3-0-0 and recorded its franchise-record tying 52nd win of the season, he made sure on his off day to go back and watch Denver's victory from beginning-to-end.
For O'Connor, who played three seasons at DU from 2015-18, it was not just an opportunity to brag about his powerhouse Pios as they further cemented their place as a dynasty in the sport, but to also relive his own memories of becoming a national champion as he did with the Crimson and Gold in 2017.
O'Connor, who grew up in Calgary, Alberta, always had his sights set on pursuing the college hockey route even despite the aura of playing in the Canadian Hockey League. Denver wasn't on his immediate radar, but when the opportunity presented itself it was a seamless fit.
"My dad went to college, he played at Michigan so that was always my goal to go to university," O'Connor said. "When the opportunity came when I was in the USHL to go to a historic program like DU when I was being recruited by [former Denver Head Coach Jim Montgomery] that was impossible to pass up. It all worked out for a reason."
Upon arriving at Denver in the fall of 2015, O'Connor joined freshman class comprised of some future NHLers in Troy Terry (currently with Anaheim and a 2022 NHL All Star) and Dylan Gambrell (currently with Ottawa) as well as some upperclassmen Will Butcher (currently with Buffalo), Trevor Moore (currently with Los Angeles) and Danton Heinen (currently with Pittsburgh).
The program, which was in its third season with former Montgomery at the helm, was determined to claim a national title which it hadn't accomplished since 2005. O'Connor's freshman year featured a deep and promising run, but the group fell short as the Pioneers suffered a heartbreaking 4-2 loss in the 2016 Frozen Four to North Dakota.
The following season, the majority of the team returned during O'Connor's sophomore season and concentrated their focus on ensuring the season went the distance with a celebration come April.

"We had a big chip on our shoulder," O'Connor recalled. "That was a big thing we felt was that we let a lot of people down, we let the program down, getting to that point and knowing the hype we had around our team going into the season so we knew that expectations would be high again. But we learned a lot from my freshman year and that run, about the mistakes we made and knew how to correct those mistakes and details. Everyone was really bought into not slipping back to that again and everyone just aimed to lead the program to a big win, nothing less."
They got the job done.
With a 3-2 victory over Minnesota Duluth at Chicago's United Center, the full-team effort featured a hat trick by O'Connor's close friend and roommate Jarid Lukosevicius as the Pioneers earned the title as kings of college hockey for the eighth time in program history.
"We had everyone pulling on the same rope, everyone knew their responsibilities," O'Connor said. "Everyone relished their role.
"That team had a special buzz to it, which this [Avalanche] team sort of reminds me of," O'Connor continued. "The winning culture and that we're all in this together. At DU, that was a big part of the swagger we had that we felt like we couldn't be stopped. It wasn't cocky cockiness, we'd try and start games one leg up because of how we felt as a team and how strong we felt about what we could do together going into it."
Following that victorious run his sophomore season, the program saw the departures of a few of those NHL-drafted players. During his junior - and eventual final - season at DU, O'Connor continued to instill the expectations of excellence and pass on the detailed culture to the future generations.
The summer ahead of his senior season, O'Connor made the most of his opportunity when the Avalanche invited him to their development camp in July 2018. So while, he didn't get to experience David Carle take over the program as head coach that fall, he was overjoyed to follow Carle lead the program to append upon its already storied legacy.

"It's unbelievable to see, he deserves all the success that he's had," O'Connor said. "The coaching staff, the whole team. DC was great when I had him. He was the assistant coach there and was learning a lot under Montgomery. He was always a good presence in the locker room and a good voice. We would bounce stuff off of him. To see his growth over the past couple of years and going back every summer and keeping in touch with those guys is pretty awesome."
The players and staff from Denver's 2022 championship squad will be in attendance on Thursday night at Ball Arena as they travel up north on I-25. The Pios will be honored in-game for their impressive accomplishment last weekend. They'll also get the chance to watch one of their own in game action as O'Connor and the Avalanche take on the New Jersey Devils.
"DU does a really good job of grooming guys that - if they get that opportunity - to be able to succeed and seize that opportunity," O'Connor said. "Every year I was there, we had guys leaving early and going on to do great things in the NHL. Now, you see guys - it's taken some guys a couple of years like myself or like Troy Terry and he's having a phenomenal year, but it took him a little bit of time - but you see these guys now having success in the NHL. A big reason we are and I think what we all would attest to is that too is the culture we had at DU, the coaching staff we had at DU, the winning culture, it's handled like a pro-type program. I think that's what gives guys a leg up when we come into pro hockey."