DALLAS — In five seasons with the St. Louis Blues’ American Hockey League affiliates, the Worcester IceCats and the Peoria Rivermen, former University of Denver defenseman Aaron MacKenzie didn’t even get a cup-of-coffee callup.
In July, MacKenzie — already an offseason resident of Boulder — signed with the Avalanche. On opening night in two weeks, he almost certainly will be back in the AHL with the Lake Erie Monsters. Yet MacKenzie is getting enough of a look in camp and the outset of the exhibition season to perhaps help stamp him as a reliable defenseman who could be called up for fill-in duty if Colorado has another injury-plagued season.
MacKenzie was in the lineup Thursday for Colorado’s 4-2 exhibition victory over the Dallas Stars at the American Airlines Center, in a pairing with veteran defenseman Jordan Leopold. They finally were teammates after seeing each other as collegiate opponents, when Leopold was starring at the University of Minnesota and winning the Hobey Baker Award as the college game’s top player as a senior.
A year behind Leopold, MacKenzie, from Terrace Bay, Ontario, was an all-Western Collegiate Hockey Association choice and DU’s captain as a senior in 2002-03.
Against the Stars, MacKenzie had 15:07 of ice time, had three blocked shots, and didn’t log a point. But considering he has only 10 goals in five AHL seasons, it’s obvious he isn’t going to crack the NHL as anything other than a stay-at-home, solid, physical defenseman.
“You just have to be in the right place at the right time,” MacKenzie said after the game. “There’s always injuries in this game. … You don’t fail unless you give up, so I’m just going to keep working at it and see where it takes me.”
MacKenzie, who served as team captain for the AHL’s Peoria Rivermen last season, said he “had five good years at St. Louis, but it didn’t seem like it was going to work out. I live in Colorado in the summertime, so everything came together and it worked out really nice.”
Avalanche general manager Francois Giguere said MacKenzie “brings character and organizational depth. You need to have your young guys around character like that, and that’s what he brings.”
Coach Tony Granato was impressed with MacKenzie’s work against the Stars.
“I thought he was really good,” Granato said. “When we got him, we were thinking depth at the blueline, a guy we could rely on and potentially be a callup guy. He’s certainly had a solid enough camp to make us think we got the right guy. He’s very poised back there, fits in very well in the group, had a smile on his face, and played a great game.”
Footnotes
Avalanche goalie Peter Budaj stopped 16 of 17 Dallas shots while playing the first 30:09. In Colorado’s two exhibitions, he has allowed two goals on 39 shots. … Andrew Raycroft came on for the last period and a half, allowing one goal and making eight saves. “He looked very confident and relaxed,” said Granato. “Both those guys did a really nice job.” … Brian Willsie, Ryan Smyth, T.J. Hensick and Matt Hendricks (empty-netter) had the Colorado goals. … Mike Ribeiro and Brenden Morrow scored for Dallas. … Colorado’s healthy scratches included Joe Sakic, Milan Hejduk, Paul Stastny, Adam Foote, John-Michael Liles and Darcy Tucker. … The Avs reduced their roster to 33 for the trip that continues against Los Angeles Saturday at Las Vegas. Defensemen Kevin Montgomery and Michael Vernace, plus center Philippe Dupuis, were assigned to Lake Erie. … The Avalanche skated Thursday morning at Family Sports Center, then traveled to Dallas. The team’s chartered flight was delayed because of a mechanical issue, but the Avs made it to the arena two hours before gametime.
Terry Frei: 303-954-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com
