TAMPA, Fla. – Logan O’Connor is a champion at the pinnacle of his sport once again. Five years after winning a NCAA national championship and the NCHC’s Penrose Cup with the University of Denver in 2017, O’Connor helped the Colorado Avalanche capture the Stanley Cup on Sunday night. The Avalanche won their first Stanley Cup since 2001 with a 2-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning Sunday at Amalie Arena to win the best-of-seven series, 4-2.

O’Connor played in 17 Stanley Cup Playoff games this postseason, including all six Stanley Cup Final games, helping the Avalanche go 16-4 in the 2022 playoffs. He compiled four points on the road to the Cup, scoring his first and only career NHL postseason goal on May 21 against the St. Louis Blues in the Western Conference Semifinals. O’Connor also handed out three assists in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, including one in a win in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final (June 18).

This marks the third straight year a National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) alumnus is a Stanley Cup champion and the fifth former NCHC player to hoist the Cup, all since 2017. O’Connor joins former Miami forward Blake Coleman, who won back-to-back Stanley Cups with Tampa Bay in 2020 and 2021, former North Dakota forward Shane Gersich (Washington, 2018) and former Omaha forwards Josh Archibald and Jake Guentzel, who won the Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2017.

A three-year standout at Denver, O’Connor played for the Pioneers from 2015-18, helping DU win plenty of hardware, as well. He adds the Stanley Cup to a resume that already included 2017 NCAA national champion, 2017 NCHC regular-season champion (Penrose Cup) and 2018 NCHC Frozen Faceoff champion. The Calgary, Alta. product was a member of the 2018 NCHC Frozen Faceoff All-Tournament Team, as well. O’Connor totaled 43 points (16g/27a) in 108 career games as a Pioneer.

During the 2021-22 NHL regular season, O’Connor played in a career-high 81 games for the Avalanche, missing only one, while more than doubling his career total. He tallied a career-high 24 points this past regular season, including career bests of eight goals and 16 assists. O’Connor had five goals and seven points combined in three previous NHL seasons with the Avs (43 games).

O’Connor’s alma mater won the NCAA men’s ice hockey national championship this season, as well, giving the city of Denver (and state of Colorado) both the NCAA and Stanley Cup champions. It’s the first time a U.S. state has been home to the NCAA men’s Division I ice hockey champion and Stanley Cup champion in the same year since Michigan in 1998 when the University of Michigan and Detroit Red Wings both won championships.

NCHC Alumni to Hoist the Stanley Cup
2017 – Jake Guentzel (Omaha, 2013-16) and Josh Archibald (Omaha, 2011-14), Pittsburgh Penguins
2018 – Shane Gersich (North Dakota, 2015-18), Washington Capitals
2020 – Blake Coleman (Miami, 2011-15), Tampa Bay Lightning
2021 – Blake Coleman (Miami, 2011-15), Tampa Bay Lightning
2022 – Logan O’Connor (Denver, 2015-18), Colorado Avalanche

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