TAMPA, Fla. — Devon Toews entered the dressing room after the first period of the Avalanche’s game in San Jose on Thursday night and immediately looked for a TV.
Toews, 29, a proud Quinnipiac alum, knew the Bobcats were facing Michigan in the Frozen Four semifinals that night. But when the fifth-year NHL defenseman got ESPN on, it looked like the game was already over.
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“I was waiting for somebody to be like, ‘Congrats, they won!'” Toews recalled Friday in a phone call with The Athletic. “Nobody said anything. And I was too nervous to go look. Then after the second period, I said, ‘I can’t take it anymore. I have to ask someone.'”
When Toews finally found out the result, a 5-2 Quinnipiac win, he was pumped. And nostalgic. He has been in the exact spot the Bobcats are in now, playing in a national title game in Tampa. It was 2016, and Toews and the Bobcats got beaten 5-1 by North Dakota. It’s the one game in Toews’ life he wishes he could replay.
“It’s kind of a redemption story working itself out there,” Toews said. “A really cool moment.”
And the Bobcats feel like a Toews pre-tournament pep talk helped spark their run to the title game, Saturday night against top-ranked Minnesota.
It was about a month ago, after Quinnipiac’s double-overtime loss to Colgate in the ECAC Tournament. They were ranked in the top five in the country all year, No. 2 currently, but they played their worst game of the season. They were down. And after having lost in the NCAA regional semifinal or final three of the past four years, they were looking for answers before this year’s tournament.
Captain Zach Metsa sent a text message to Toews, who played three years at Quinnipiac and got to know Metsa during his first two NHL seasons when he played for the Islanders and would skate near the Hamden, Conn., campus each summer.
“Can you hop on a call and talk to us a little bit?” Metsa wrote. “Give us some insight.”
Metsa said the group wanted to get over the hump — felt it was in a “playoff rut.” With Toews coming off a championship season with the Avalanche, Metsa figured who better to ask about dealing with pressure situations. Metsa lives with alternate captains Mike Lombardi, Ethan de Jong and Desi Burgart, so they set up a phone call with Toews on an Avalanche off day, where Metsa would put his phone on speaker and they’d all listen in.
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Toews was at home doing rehab and spent 30 minutes with the captains talking about his time in Quinnipiac, plus stories about the Avalanche’s Cup run and their toughest moments.
“He told us to stay in the moment,” Metsa said. “His advice was (to) make sure the guys understand: ‘You’ve proven (it) all year long by being a top-five team. That’s not easy to do. You’ve got to be a really special team to do that. You have to understand how talented you are — how good you are. Carry that confidence and swagger with you. Realize you don’t need to be perfect to beat everyone. You can play at 80, 90 percent and find a way to grind it out. You’re going to make mistakes, it’s going to happen. As long as you show up and give it everything, don’t have any regrets on effort and commitment five, 10 years down the road, you guys will be totally fine.'”
The captains each asked questions. It wasn’t just a sermon or speech by Toews — more of a give-and-take. The Bobcats players vented a bit on what had gone wrong and their frustration on falling short. Toews offered advice and told a few stories. Then Metsa and the leadership group shared it with the rest of the team at their next meeting.
They haven’t lost since.
“It changed the mood of everyone,” Metsa said. “It refocused everyone.”
Toews brought up how the Avalanche had to refocus after their Game 5 loss to the Lightning in the Stanley Cup Final. The Cup was in the building. The city was ready to erupt. Family, friends and fans were all in their ears. Toews told them that guys went home that night and were distraught that they hadn’t been able to get it done in front of their home fans. Then came Andrew Cogliano’s infamous speech.
Andrew Cogliano basks in Avalanche’s victory after 1,140 games and key Stanley Cup speech
via @TheAthletic
— Peter Baugh (@Peter_Baugh) June 30, 2022
“They had to rally back — realize it was not the end of the world,” Metsa said.
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“It was definitely a difference-maker,” Toews said.
Quinnipiac has had a hockey program for around 50 years but has only been in Division I for about 25. So they’re far from the “blue blood” programs they came to the Frozen Four with: Michigan, Minnesota and Boston University. But they’ve reached the national title game three times in the past 10 years, and that’s more than the Gophers and Wolverines combined.
The Bobcats are No. 2 in the nation, right behind Minnesota.
“You’re going to Frozen Four with Michigan, BU and Minnesota, which are considered household names in college hockey, but if you look at the stats and what Quinnipiac and (coach) Rand (Pecknold) and the staff have been able to do there, we should be a household name,” Toews said. “I like that we’re not. I like that we have that underdog mentality, being a smaller school and not having the draft picks. It’s guys that put on the work boots and go to work and play for each other. It’s a lot about culture that’s been built.”
Toews recalled that his group in 2015-16 — having set school record for wins and blowing through the regional — felt nervous in the title game. They played tight and were undone by a couple of bad breaks.
“If someone asked, ‘Is there one game you wish you could go back and play over again?’ it would be that game,” Toews said.
“It wasn’t our time. Hopefully, it’s these guys’ time now.”
Toews didn’t stop with the advice. He and his class covered the bill for the Bobcats’ team dinner Tuesday night in Tampa. Toews set them up at his favorite spot when he visits, an Italian restaurant called DeVito’s. Toews said several teammates from his class planned to make the trip for Saturday’s game, including Thomas Schutt, KJ Tiefenwerth, Derek Smith and Joe Fiala.
Toews can’t make it. The Avalanche have a road game in L.A. “I don’t want to lose my job,” Toews said. “I kind of like my job.”
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But Toews has been keeping in touch with the coaches and Metsa via text. Once he found out the Bobcats were in the same visitor’s dressing room at Amalie Arena that the Avalanche were in when they celebrated their Cup, Toews had some more advice.
Look for the marks/dents in the ceiling from their champagne popping.
Lombardi said the team found some, took some pictures and sent them to Toews. “We told him it’s good juju we’re in the same room,” Metsa said.
With it being college kids, the Bobcats won’t be having quite the same wild celebration if they win.
“Well, hopefully, they can have some sparkling apple juice,” Toews said with a chuckle. “They’ll have their fun. They deserve it.
“They’ve gone on a heck of a run.”
(Photo of Devon Toews with the Stanley Cup in June: Geoff Burke / USA Today)
