The Cale Makar Show is coming to an Avalanche game near you soon

AMHERST, Mass. – Snow is falling hard and heavy on the University of Massachusetts campus on a mid-February afternoon, so much that buildings are closing early so faculty and off-campus enrollees can get on Route 116 and call it a day. At Roots Cafe, one of the main student hangouts on campus, the short-order cooking staff is pleasantly surprised by this turn of events. The line that had snaked around the 360-degree cooking station just 30 minutes before has all eaten and gotten the heck out of Dodge before the weather gets – as it would – even worse.

One block away, though, at the William D. Mullins Memorial Center, a group of young men ironically nicknamed the Minutemen will keep working for the next two hours. There is a hard and heavy hockey practice (“Tuesdays are always the hardest ones”, UMass associate director of communications Jillian Jakuba says), followed by a roughly hour-long mandatory weight-room session.

The last player out from the weight room is a sandy-haired, rouge-cheeked, perspiring young man whose handshake is hockey firm and whose demeanor is hockey reserved.

“Hi, Cale Makar,” he tells a reporter in for a visit from Denver. This little moment says a lot about this young man. Despite the fact that many Colorado Avalanche fans are calling him a “savior” these days, despite the fact that he is the Big Man on Campus right now and despite the fact that his YouTube UMass highlights are getting “OMG” remarks in the comment boxes, Makar goes into a meeting with a Denver reporter unassuming enough that he should maybe brief him on who he is.

It probably won’t be much longer before Makar will need no introduction to Avalanche fans and the larger hockey world. The Massachusetts sophomore defenseman is highly likely to declare himself pro and sign an entry-level contract with the Avs when his current college season is over. When that happens, and whether he plays this current season for the Avs or has to wait until the start of the next one, the Avs will get the player some believe is the best amateur player in the world right now. If he were draft-eligible these days, there no doubt would be many variations of #TankforCale-style hashtags among fans of bottom-feeding NHL teams.

The fact that the Avalanche owns his rights, having drafted him fourth overall in 2017, has become the mother of all silver linings after falling to fourth in the draft order despite a historically bad 48-point season in 2016-17. Add in the fact that the Avs own the 2019 first-round pick of the Ottawa Senators – the NHL’s current worst team in the standings – and their own first-round pick – which might yet give a run to the Senators’ pick as the potential No. 1 overall – and this is why Avs fans should still regard the near-term future as very hopeful.

A lot of Avs fans (and some in management probably) hoped Makar would turn pro last year, but he didn’t feel he was ready. He felt he needed another year at UMass to get better in all areas, to get stronger and mature that much more.

And now? Well, Makar sure looks ready. His thighs are well-muscled. His shoulders have that wide, defined slope of someone who’s done more than a few side laterals. On the ice, he’s had a season that should guarantee him as a finalist for the Hobey Baker award (fans can vote for the award here). In 27 games for the Minutemen, he’s scored nine goals and 31 points, with a plus-22. He truly has made many opponents look like they’re standing still trying to keep up with his speed. He’s also made UMass a winner again. The program has gone to the NCAA tournament just once in its history (2007, with a goalie named Jonathan Quick), but is guaranteed to go this spring. UMass is coming off a tough loss to Hockey East rival UMass-Lowell, but the team still has a record of 21-6 (13-4 in conference).

So, while Makar looks ready to turn pro, now he also sounds like it.

“My original goal coming to UMass was two years, and hopefully I’d be ready. I feel like I’m relatively on that track,” Makar told BSN Denver. “I guess we’ll play it by ear, but I’m not too worried about that right now.”

Makar’s chief goal right now is to get the Minutemen their first NCAA championship. That’s the goal, too, of coach Greg Carvel. A former NHL assistant coach with Anaheim and Ottawa, who was instrumental in the development of former Senators star Erik Karlsson, Carvel knows he’ll probably only get to coach Makar another couple months or so.

Sure, Carvel would love to have the 20-year-old Calgary native around another couple of years. But even he says what’s best for Makar is probably to get on to the bigger stage and leave Amherst behind.

“I won’t be surprised if he moves on,” is how Carvel diplomatically puts it to BSN Denver. “I know scouts think he could play (at the NHL level) right now, and maybe he could, but the thing I respect about Cale is, he’ll decide when he’s ready. It’s not up to me, it’s not up to Joe Sakic, it’s up to Cale Makar.”

Makar lives dormitory housing on the same floor with his teammates, four to a room. He likes to play video games, and watches any NHL game that’s on TV. Mostly, that’s the Boston Bruins, on NESN, because that’s the only thing they get. But he does keep tabs on the Avs.

“I try and watch them at least once a week,” he said. “I’m a pretty big fan of hockey and try to watch as many NHL games as I can. I try and stream the Avs games when I can. I like to watch how fast they play and the speed they bring to every game.”

It was quite a culture shock for him moving here before the 2017-18 season, a kid from Calgary playing U.S. college hockey in a small town in Western Massachusetts. They don’t pronounce their Rs too well around here, and the school is accessible only by the narrow, two-lane 116, about 10 miles down from Interstate 91.

When he came here, too, the coach who had recruited him, John Micheletto, was fired after an 8-24-4 record in 2015-16. In came Carvel, who coached the team to an even worse record – 5-29-2 – his first season. What had Makar gotten himself into?

Makar could have redshirted and transferred somewhere else, but he chose to stay loyal to UMass, with the stated goal of putting the program back on the map. Judging by the packed houses at the Mullins Center and the winning record (the Minutemen were even ranked first in the nation earlier this season), consider that Makar Mission accomplished.

That probably helps explain why there is no hint of melancholy to Carvel’s voice when the subject of Makar comes up, even if these are the final days.

“Cale’s played his part. I think part of the reason he came here was the challenge of putting UMass on the college hockey map,” Carvel said. “He’s been extremely coachable. Takes direction well. He speaks his mind. You can have very honest discussions with him, but if you tell him something you think he needs to do, he’ll think about it for a second and if he disagrees with you, he’s mature enough to say so. But he’s very thankful that you pointed things out to him. He’s been an absolute pleasure to coach, and he’ll always be one of the great players that comes out of this program.”

Just how did Makar go from a really fast player to “warp speed ahead” fast, seemingly overnight? He credits a friend and teammate from his midget hockey days, Zac Whitby, for part of it.

“He really pushed me. He’s starting his own company called DASH Training (Facebook page here) in Calgary,” said Makar, who likes to read books about human psychology in his spare time.

Makar could make Tyson Barrie expendable right away. With the NHL trade deadline less than two weeks away, and with the Avs reeling in the standings, Barrie could be on the way out for much-needed top-six forward help. But if the Avs are well out of the playoffs by the deadline – and, especially, by the time Makar’s college season ends – a Barrie trade might not happen until the summer or right before the next season. Or, maybe not at all.

A lot of things remain undecided, including, officially, Makar’s decision to turn pro. Oh, and one other thing: Does he really want to play for the Avalanche? Hey, it may seem like a silly question (he would have to play two more years in college to even get that chance) but some pretty big-name college players have spurned the teams that drafted them and turned unrestricted free agent because of contract problems or desires to go somewhere else. One of those players was Will Butcher, originally drafted by the Avs but who turned UFA after winning the Hobey Baker with the University of Denver. Others, such as Kevin Hayes, Jimmy Vesey and the Avs’ own Alexander Kerfoot have done the same thing.

Makar is asked about the possibility of this happening.

“No, I don’t think so. Personally, I feel that you have to remain loyal to the people that gave you chances,” Makar said.

Can you say, PHEWWW?

“I think you’ve got to just stay true to who you are,” he says, shortly before leaving with teammates to grab some dinner. “For me, the (biggest) factor is just being able to play the game you love every day, regardless of what’s going in your bank account.”