Three former Michigan hockey players win Stanley Cup with Colorado Avalanche

On3 imageby:Clayton Sayfie06/26/22

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The Colorado Avalanche have won the most sought-after trophy in all of sports, beating the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games in the Stanley Cup Finals. Three former Michigan Wolverines hockey players are now champions — center Andrew Cogliano, left wing J.T. Compher and defenseman Jack Johnson.

The three players are Michigan’s first Stanley Cup champions since Carl Hagelin and Kevin Porter, who went back to back in 2016 and 2017 with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Several Wolverines have won multiple titles, but the trio are the 11th, 12th and 13th former U-M players to win the cup in history.

The Avalanche won 72 games on the year (regular and postseason), tying the 1976-77 Canadiens, 1983-84 Oilers and 1995-96 Red Wings for the most victories in a season. Colorado defeated the Nashville Predators, St. Louis Blues, Edmonton Oilers and Lightning during their postseason run, with a 16-4 record across those four series.

Cogliano posted four goals and 12 assists in 74 regular-season tilts, before registering three goals and three helpers in the postseason. The former Michigan forward had two assists and one goal in the Finals.

In an interview with ESPN following the win, Avalanche head coach Jared Bedner said he was extra happy for veterans like Cogliano that have now won their first cup.

Johnson did not register any statistics during the playoff run, but he did appear in 12 games. He had five goals and 16 assists in 42 regular-season games. He’s in the same category that Bednar was talking about, a veteran who’s now a world champion.

Compher posted five goals and three assists during the postseason. In 70 regular-season contests, the former Michigan forward notched 18 goals and 15 helpers.

The Hockey News labeled the former Michigan standout as the Avalanche’s “secret weapon” in a June 18 article.

Here’s an excerpt:

It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that few people outside the Avalanche locker room saw Compher’s emergence coming, either. But for those that did, this evolution began long before his ascendance up the lineup. 

“I think somewhere along the line in the St. Louis series, he really started to elevate his game production-wise,” explained Avalanche coach Jared Bednar on the morning of Game 2. 

“But he was also more tenacious on the pucks, getting to the net-front, helping there”

Compher has spent the bulk of his career being the type of effective depth forward with which coaches long to fill their bottom six. His regular-season production is startlingly consistent, with Compher posting point totals of 32, 31, 18 (in 48 games amid a pandemic-shortened schedule), and 33 in his past four seasons, respectively. 

This is a player you can set your watch to. And the Avalanche have done just that for the past half-decade, deploying Compher as a versatile complementary piece whose prowess on both sides of the puck helps tilt the depth battle in their favor night after night.

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