The Colorado Avalanche are coming off a 3-2 overtime win over the Calgary Flames in Game 2 on Saturday night, which evened the series at one-apiece on Nathan MacKinnon's goal. They added some depth to their blue line on Sunday, signing the reigning Hobey Baker Award winner in Cale Makar on Sunday. The former UMass defenseman won the award while leading the Minutemen to the Nationals Championship Game against Minnesota Duluth, which they dropped, 3-0, on Saturday. He will now quickly move on to go for a much larger trophy in the Stanley Cup.
Makar was in his sophomore season with UMass, and was the fourth overall pick in the 2017 NHL Draft, which was the highest such pick in program history. The 20-year-old led the Minutemen to their first No. 1 overall ranking, their first Frozen Four, and was the first defenseman to lead Hockey East with 49 points over 40 games.
The Avalanche made the announcement via Twitter on Sunday morning, tweeting out a picture of Makar from when he was drafted with the caption "M O O D #GoAvsGo." Makar also released a statement saying "I'm very excited to start the next chapter of my hockey career," while also adding "I can't wait to see what it has in store." The Calgary native could be facing his hometown team very soon, as it is likely that he will be available as soon as Game 3 of their first round series.
Makar was in his sophomore season with UMass, and was the fourth overall pick in the 2017 NHL Draft, which was the highest such pick in program history. The 20-year-old led the Minutemen to their first No. 1 overall ranking, their first Frozen Four, and was the first defenseman to lead Hockey East with 49 points over 40 games.
The Avalanche made the announcement via Twitter on Sunday morning, tweeting out a picture of Makar from when he was drafted with the caption "M O O D #GoAvsGo." Makar also released a statement saying "I'm very excited to start the next chapter of my hockey career," while also adding "I can't wait to see what it has in store." The Calgary native could be facing his hometown team very soon, as it is likely that he will be available as soon as Game 3 of their first round series.